Level 1

147 points

iPad just stopped working; will not turn on

My iPad has suddenly stopped working. I picked it up this morning to read one of my newspaper apps and it won't turn on. The screen is completely blank. It was working normally last night. I thought maybe the battery had run out so I plugged it is to recharge but it still would not turn on. Do you think it might be the battery? I bought it in July. Thought the battery would last longer than that.

Macbook Pro 13, iPad 3g 32gb

Posted on Nov 14, 2010 11:46 AM

141 replies

SWII

Level 1

15 points

Apr 7, 2011 9:44 PM in response to Dasiy

the reason the iPad "stops working" is that when you press the home button to leave an app, you are not closing the app, only leaving it. it continues to run in the background. if too many apps are running the iPad shuts down to protect it self. To solve this problem, and end these shut downs, double push the home button. all the open apps will appear, press one, so they wiggle and a X will appear. press it again and it will close. this will NOT uninstall the app, only close it. Also by doing this you should notice an increase in your battery life. 🙂

SWII

Level 1

15 points

Apr 7, 2011 10:28 PM in response to SWII

Oops, it's not an X, it's a red minus ➖ sign.

Landrix

Level 1

29 points

Apr 8, 2011 3:26 AM in response to SWII

SWII wrote:
the reason the iPad "stops working" is that when you press the home button to leave an app, you are not closing the app, only leaving it. it continues to run in the background. if too many apps are running the iPad shuts down to protect it self. To solve this problem, and end these shut downs, double push the home button. all the open apps will appear, press one, so they wiggle and a X will appear. press it again and it will close. this will NOT uninstall the app, only close it. Also by doing this you should notice an increase in your battery life. 🙂

I appreciate that you are trying to help, but this statement isn't so accurate.

The black screen is not a "feature" and not your iPad trying to protect itself. It is the result of a "hang" or data corruption--similar to what is known as a "Kernel Panic" on Mac OS, but the iPad typically immediately restarts itself on it's own version of Kernel Panic. Sometimes the system part of the iPad itself is so irrevocably hung that it cannot restart itself. Also, this is why the user above saw the "connect to iTunes" screen after doing the "hard reset" procedure described in this thread.

It, however, has absolutely nothing at all to do with the icons that appear in the task-switching dialog.

The task-switching dialog that appears when you double-tap the home button shows icons for your MOST RECENTLY USED APPS. These apps are not running in the background nor are they using system memory UNLESS they are actively performing background tasks. Very, very few apps have this feature, but things like Pandora which plays music in the background, or apps that are allowed to download content you purchased (like the loader portion of the app store) or even iTunes purchased, are using memory or CPU cycles.

In short, there is no reason to bother with closing apps in the task switcher. It will in NO way help prevent this problem in the future. It's a lot of headache to be doing that all the time, which is EXACTLY why apple created it's multitasking system to never require you to fiddle with it and manually shut down tasks. Doing so does nothing but waste your time.

If, however, your iPad goes blank like this more than once a month or even twice a year and using the home power10 seconds method worries you, then consider taking it to be serviced/replaced because the data corruption that is causing it could be the result of faulty system ram/ SOC.

May 11, 2011 2:31 PM in response to Dasiy

Thank you! Was just about to make the 75 mile round trip to the Apple store. Hope

this is a one time thing.

May 15, 2011 4:36 AM in response to Dasiy

Wow. My iPad stopped working inexplicably yesterday at what was 40% battery life. Wouldn't charge, wouldn't sync, totally black screen. Somehow, the size of it makes it more disturbing. With my iTouch I would have gone for the Power button and Home button option automatically, but just didn't occur to me this time until I saw this thread.

All I could think was: "Typical the darn thing lasts 2 weeks longer than 1 year! There goes my guarantee.."

Holding down the two buttons took more like 14 seconds to work but I have my iPad back... albeit it was on very low power and needed an immediate re-charge.

Amazing how many others have posted the same problem, and that this thread has over 10k views! Sounds like a much wider problem than Apple may want to admit to...

Demo

Level 10

166,747 points

May 15, 2011 5:03 AM in response to Sleepy_Gonzales

Not sure why I'm bother to reply to this, but your statement about Apple not wanting to admit to this problem is not true because they devote a support site for what you should do if your iPad becomes unresponsive. Apple knows this can happen, that's why they have a support page for it.

The 10K people that viewed this thread obviously don't know how to do a Google search like this ....

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3281

Apple doesn't claim their devices are perfect or they would not offer support for issues that may arise. BTW it took me about five seconds to find that support site. Problem with most people is they run to this site without looking on their own for a solution.

Jul 8, 2011 6:34 PM in response to Demo

thanx folks - i nearly had a heart attack when my IPad wouldn't turn on this morning - made me think about how lazy i have been with respect to making sure I had a backup of all the important items i have stored on it. It hasnt missed a beat since I purchased it over a year ago and it is such a great product / tool that the last thing I have been thinking about is it failing - but like everything (including us humans) - it does.

btw - I found this site on my first go by typing in 'my iPad wont turn on' and it was great to see that it was an Apple site that responded at the top of the list. (and I don't work for Apple)

Jul 8, 2011 6:38 PM in response to earthener

earthener wrote:

thanx folks - i nearly had a heart attack when my IPad wouldn't turn on this morning - made me think about how lazy i have been with respect to making sure I had a backup of all the important items i have stored on it. It hasnt missed a beat since I purchased it over a year ago and it is such a great product / tool that the last thing I have been thinking about is it failing - but like everything (including us humans) - it does.

btw - I found this site on my first go by typing in 'my iPad wont turn on' and it was great to see that it was an Apple site that responded at the top of the list. (and I don't work for Apple)

You may be surprised to know that absolutely no one who contributes to this site, works for Apple. We are all users. Some are here because they have an issue and need help, and some are here to help people with their issues.

Jul 20, 2011 4:59 AM in response to Dasiy

Same thing happened to me. Was reading a news app and iPad went blank. It had more than 50% battery but still tried to charge it. It still wouldn't come on. Connected it to the computer and nothing. Computer didn't even recognize it. Tried holding the home screen button and the on/off button for almost 30 seconds before it actually came on but it worked. Yay. Thanks.

Aug 2, 2011 8:45 PM in response to AldoFish

Same thing just happened to me. I just got mine on Wednesday jul 27 thank you all for the tip worked like a charm

Jrca_02

Level 1

0 points

Aug 6, 2011 1:09 PM in response to Dasiy

Thank Goodness!!!! The Home & Sleep Button together really do work! I've only had my ipad for about 6 months and freaked out when it wouldn't turn on. I was so happy to find this answer site!

dixitp

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2011 11:29 AM in response to Ham297

Dear Ham297,

Thank you..thank you so much. Your technique really worked and it saved so much time and frustration.

dixit patel

Aug 19, 2011 7:23 PM in response to Dasiy

Thank you so much. I was about to head out to the Apple Store tomorrow. This was a great help.

Sep 10, 2011 3:50 PM in response to Dasiy

The same thing just happened to me... (By the way, thanks everyone!) HOME + POWER worked, but it took closer to 20 seconds, so dont give up if nothing happens right at the 10 second mark,,,,

Oct 24, 2011 8:19 PM in response to Dasiy

YOU ROCK...THANKS SO SO MUCH

Christina

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iPad just stopped working; will not turn on