Q: Stuck on "preparing ipad to restore"

I have gone through the full restore 3 times this week on my Retina 32GB  iOS 8 something ( I cant remember and cant check)  but now I can't get past Preparing iPad for restore.  I have tried two cables on two computers both Win 7 both fully updated OS and iTunes.  Symptoms exactly as above, works ok put it down then come back and it is dead.

Mine as well, same exact thing.....let it restore all night and still in "preparing ipad to restore" mode....no clue how to fix

Please tell me that it has NEVER been jailbroke.  If it has, all bets are off.

If you're unable to do the Restore (or it doesn't help), go into Recovery Mode per the instructions here.  You WILL lose all of your data (game scores, etc,) but, for the most part, you can redownload apps and music without being charged again.  Also, read this.

Im sure your response was to the first question, but for mine, it HAS NEVER been jailbroken...bought it new about 2-3 years ago

If you're unable to do the Restore (or it doesn't help), go into Recovery Mode per the instructions here.  You WILL lose all of your data (game scores, etc,) but, for the most part, you can redownload apps and music without being charged again.  Also, read this.

I too have the same exact problem with the same exact symptoms. After extracting software, never gets beyond full progress bar in the "preparing ipad for restore" mode.