iPad A1396 unresponsive after 'UNKNOWN DEVICE' error

You may not be able to use it again. Last fall, Apple changed the system requirements for iCloud services to support only OS 11 or higher. An A1396 is an iPad 2, constrained to no higher iPadOS than 9.3.6. This is the Apple reference:

System requirements for iCloud - Apple Support

Although it is not stated in the article, since then we (other end users) have see many reports like yours stating that old iPads cannot be activated. If reset, they are stuck.

This affects these iPads that cannot run iPadOS 11:

—iPad 1

— iPad 2

— iPad s

— iPad 4

— iPad Mini First Generation

You would need to contact Apple for official verification, but the clues left in these forms point to your being unable to reactivate that iPad.

EDIT:

...and the battery shows empty although it was fully charged yesterday and has not been on since.

The is a common symptom of a battery that has given its last.

barrie161 wrote:

I have a very old ipad which i only use for pictures which I inadvertently let go flat, it would not charge from the charger so I connected it to the Mac and the attached message came up, I started the restore and all went well until after it had spent a few minuets saying it was configuring the ipad the screen changed to say UNKNOWN DEVICE and directed me to a service centre web address.

The ipad is model number A1396, the software is the latest that the model would accept. The ipad will now not start or connect to the Mac and the battery shows empty although it was fully charged yesterday and has not been on since.

Any help very much appreciated.

Official Apple Support Community

The image confirms your iPad is stuck in DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode, which is the deepest recovery state possible. Because the restore process failed midway with a hardware error, the iPad's system storage is entirely empty and cannot boot on its own power.

Next Steps to Advance

• Click OK on your Mac.
• Click the Restore button that appears next. Do not disconnect the cable.
• Let the Mac download the legacy software and attempt to write it to the iPad again.

The A1396 model number relates to a second generation iPad (a.k.a. iPad2). The iPad2 is long ago obsolete and unsupported.

Multiple recent posts suggest that Apple has finally removed all server-side and re-activation support for obsolete 32-bit devices:

• iPad1
• iPad2
• iPad3
• iPad4
• iPad mini1

As such restoring and re-activation of your iPad2 may now be impossible, rendering the iPad unusable.

App Developers have also dropped all support for 32-bit devices - and have withdrawn older versions of their Apps from the Apple App Store. Withdrawal of Apps supporting older models of iPad is making their utility and usefulness significantly more limited. Even if you are able to restore the iPad2, you’ll not be able (re)download or (re)install any Apps from the App Store. Most online services require capabilities not supported by your iPad.

Sorry, while perhaps unwelcome news, your iPad2 has reached the end of the road.