iPad randomly turns off in the middle of operation

I have the same randomly crashing/rebooting issue, as you can see my situation is worse —
There were about 4 "kernel panic"s on last week. And my iPad sometimes reboots to "connect to iTunes" screen (recovery mode) and sometimes to "DFU mode" (blank screen, but when gets connected to iTunes showing "recovery needed") and sometimes boots to lockscreen normally.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2692043&tstart=0

And I thought that it was after 4.2.1 update.

Resetting didn't help, neither did restoring to clean firmware.
Please read my topic and share crash logs (if there any) to compare (is this exactly the same problem or not).

Thanks in advance.

I am having the exact same issue with my 64gb/3g. I will be using an app, any app, any suddenly the screen goes black, and I am returned to the main screen, the app having shut down. Sometimes I will return to the app and it will continue doing it or sometimes it is fine. There is no app that does it more than others, it happens in Safari, Weather Channel, whatever. This began about 2-3 weeks ago and has gotten progressively worse.

I'm having the exact same issue with my 3G + wifi iPad as Terry Neal describes above. It is what brought me to the discussion boards this evening. It has happened with various apps and safari...it shutdown, goes black then brings me back to the main screen.

I have an iPad 64GB 3G and it is doing the sames thing. I have removed a ton of apps. It will be in Safari, YouTube, iBooks and the application will shut down and return me to the Home Screen. I have reset, powered down, reset applications, just about everything. Nothing works. I saw a discussion thread around the NY Times application. Just removed that from the iPad to no avail.

Any suggestions?

This problem became so bad that I called Apple Support and was promised a new iPad. The next day I took mine in for an exchange but the Genius Bar guy insisted I didn't need a new iPad. Here's what he told me and so far it seems to have solved the problem.

1. First, I blame Apple for this because this has to do with navigating the multi-tasking functions downloaded with 4.2.1 The guy insisted I received a change screen with instructions, but I did not. I was a little upset with his condescending ways but that's for the survey when I fill it out.

2. Back to the issue: the first iPads have 256k (the new iphones have 512k)...before multi-tasking you turn off an app by depressing the HOME button (at the bottom of the iPad.) NOT SO IN MULTI-TASKING iPAD!

3. What is causing the crashing APPS is that there are multiple apps running in the background...never shut down. He double-clicked the HOME button for me and there was an app that I opened 6 months ago...still open and running.

4. To stop the crashing APPS you must close APPS the new way. To do this, double-click the HOME button and you get the multi-task bar. HOLD one of the APP buttons and they will all start to wiggle. There will be a minus sign in a red circle in the upper left of the APP box. Tap it and the app will click. Do this with all the apps to close them.

5. I don't like this and APPLE needs a better way to close APPS, but closing these apps will free up your RAM and stop the crashing APP problem...at least it has for me thus far.

I don't know if I'm supposed to be posting here, but I'm new to the IPad. Mine keeps shutting down while I'm using it and I don't understand how to fix this! Can someone please help me? I'm disabled and it is difficult for me to get out and go to the Apple store. Thank you.

These are the first start fixes if you experience problems with your iPad. Making sure that your iPad is properly charged would be the absolute first place to start. If the battery has enough power, try these things first. I know you say the iPad is shutting down on it's own, but give these a shot.

For problems with a specific app .... Quit the app by double tapping the home button to bring up the multitasking/recents tray at the bottom, hold down on any of the app icons in the tray until all the icons wiggle, then tap the minus sign in the corner to quit the offending app or apps. Try your app again.

Otherwise try these steps ....

Restart the iPad by holding down on the sleep button at the top of the iPad until the red slider appears, then slide to the right to power off the iPad. Turn the iPad on again by pressing the sleep button until the Apple logo appears. Once the iPad has fully rebooted, tap an app icon and see what happens after you use the iPad for a while.

This may be the best of these fixes for your situation ... Try a hard reset by pressing and holding down on the sleep button at the top of the iPad while holding down on the home button at the bottom, until the Apple logo appears and the iPad restarts. Launch any app again and see what happens.

Thank you very much for the quick response. I will try either/or your suggestions and hope one works!

Same issue here, running ios 3.1.2, never updated since I got it and it's been perfect until 3 days ago. Now it shuts off randomly. Not keen to update coz did every update on the last one ( this is the second, dropped the first ... Oops ) and had endless problems since the second update. I'm not too worried as it always restarts at the home screen and not losing any information, also I'm too in love with it to trade it in for something else ( except maybe iPad 2 ) Any thoughts ? Oh also haven't installed any new apps in the last 3 months so I have ruled that out