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iPad2 Home Button unresponsive

I recently started experiencing an issue with the Home button on my iPad 2. Occasionally, pressing it will do nothing. So I press it again -- sometimes upwards of 4 or 5 presses before it finally responds. I'm not mashing the button and am certain that each press is an appropriate amount of force (I proudly own an iPhone 3, 3GS, 4, iPad 1 and now iPad 2, so I'm confident about how much force to press these Home buttons).
I tried power cycling the iPad 2, but that didn't help. I closed all running applications. At first, that seemed to work. For several hours, the Home button was perfectly responsive.
But alas, here I am this evening, again frustrated with the non-responsive Home button. At times, I can't even turn on my iPad since the button won't respond for several seconds.

I backed it up in iTunes and restored the factory settings. I notice it's still being unresponsive. It's so odd that the problem is intermittent. Much of the time it works fine. Then all of a sudden, when I press the Home button.... nada. It's like there is some kind of lag from when I press it and when (if) it responds. There are times when after a few presses, a brief moment later, the iPad 2 will open up the task switcher (indicating that I pushed it twice). Other times, it'll go to the search screen.

Again, this is occurring whether I'm using my configuration (latest IOS version) or even with the factory default setting.

Could really use some help or advice. Is anyone else experiencing this? I did a google search, and it seems very few are experiencing it. But it does seem to be more than just myself (if only a very small handful of people).

Thanks in advance!

iPad 2, iOS 4, Home button unresponsive

Posted on Mar 30, 2011 1:09 AM

Reply
98 replies

Sep 20, 2011 10:28 PM in response to Nakaima

I have the same problem with my iPad2 (had it for about 2 weeks). I tried all the standard -- factory reset, turn on/off, etc. with no luck. I sent it in for repair at Apple and they sent it back the same day having done nothing. The old, "unable to duplicate problem." It's intermittent, so I can see why! But it's hella annoying when it doesn't work, especially when I'm stuck in an app. Pretty dissatisfied with the expensive product that I just bought not working and them not repairing it! Maybe I'll try just taking it to an Apple store instead.

Sep 28, 2011 10:13 AM in response to Nakaima

It's best to take it into an Apple store. I had this problem with my iPhone 4... the Apple employee saw that the home button was intermittent, and she immediately swapped my defective phone for a new one. Make sure you get the AppleCare for two years... my iPhone 4 home button didn't start malfunctioning until after a year or so.

Jan 21, 2012 1:35 AM in response to Nakaima

I just bought an iPad 2 for my wife and I had problems with the home button not responding at first I thought it was just a touch issue but my wife went away on a business trip and continued to have a non responsive home button. I rebooted the pad to no avail. So I've sent it in to service center here in Korea where we live I hope the service center sorts it out but reading this discussion makes me say bad Apple.


It is a very frustrating problem good luck all.

Jan 25, 2012 5:19 PM in response to philter123

Surprisingly enough your trick made my home button work like brand new. I had this issue 3 months after purchase: took it back to the apple store... and the problem wasn't there anymore! It went on and off every month... I've tried everything: hard reset, soft reset, multi-gesture, restoring, taking apps off, closing apps, blowing in the connector: you name it.


Finally the pressure at the right of the button made it for me. I'm kind of hoping the problem re-appear to be sure that pressing to the right of the home button is really the fix!

Feb 8, 2012 6:39 AM in response to Nakaima

A solution for the brave or at least those who are out of warranty

Hey guys I have had this problem with a half responsive button, I have written the below article which has fixed my home button.

I had bought a replacement button but was daunted by the job at hand in taking the phone apart. Have a read and post your comments to let others know if it helped you too. Richard applecor:apple:



http://applecor.cloudaccess.net/how-to/a-z/85-iphone-4s-non-responsive-home-butt on.html

May 4, 2012 7:01 PM in response to nadamala

A lot of people have posted "solutions" like this, but I think it's important to remember that correlation does not equal causation. Many have returned to say that it didn't actually fix this problem. This is the nature of intermittent problems. After dealing with this for some time, we took it back to the Genius Bar. It happened in front of them. They agreed it was broken. They replaced it. The new one is perfect. Your iPad is broken people, take it in and get it fixed. There is no magical fairy tale solution for an intermittent button.

iPad2 Home Button unresponsive

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