i am sooo cofused my phone m860 says no uim card

I have YouTube vids galore but don't get it. Too many different apps, ways, etc etc. Now everything is a mess. Apps wont run so I have to force stop, my phone info is gone. Obama phone, metro pcs! Such binary code wont update. Trying to root, update version, (have 2.2.2), and words like firmware, far file unzip, web server reboot, app division, cyanogenmod 7, k mods, busybody, modup, etc. Etc. Is just a big pot of alphabet soup to me..me..HELP