iPad 2 won’t activate because the activation server is temporarily unavailable

A1396

My iPad 2 wifi and cellular both

We are seeing an increased incidence of issues activating 9 year old iPad2 devices. If restart of your home router - or changing your DNS Server settings do not resolve the issue, you should directly contact Apple Support for assistance.

To restart you home router, disconnect power - then wait at least 30 seconds before restarting. When you router has rebooted (which may take several minutes), force-restart your iPad:

• On an iPad with a Home button: Press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
• On an iPad with Face ID: Press and quickly release the volume up button, press and quickly release the volume down button, then press and hold the top button. When the Apple logo appears, release the button.

For recommended DNS servers (configured at your home router and/or your iPad), you might choose one of the following highly regarded Recursive DNS Providers (IPv4 and IPv6 addresses included below):

Quad9

9.9.9.9

149.112.112.112

2620:fe::fe

2620:fe::9

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

2620:0:ccc::2

2620:0:ccd::2

Cloudflare+APNIC

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

This help page may also be helpful. Whilst references are to iPhone, the process is the same for iPad.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201407

Should it be necessary to escalate your issue to Apple Support, during the current exceptional global situation, the quickest route to engaging with Apple Support will be via the Contact Support link at top-right of this page.

Okay. That's good. So, what is going on with the iPad 2 activation server? My iPad failed 2 nights ago while I was watching a YouTube vid. The screen went blank and there was a message displayed that said I needed to activate my device.

I have attempted both 'Update' and 'Restore'. Now my iPad is in it's original new state and while I have a good wifi connection, and it is connected to my iMac (running Catalina), I get the 'activation server is temporarily unavailable' message.

What, precisely, are you having difficulty in working out?

A cable has two ends, each with a plug that connects to either an iPad or USB socket.