iPad 2 home button fail

Try this:

Hold the iPad in front of you in landscape mode

Push the button and keep it held while you gently rotate it to Portrait mode, then release.

See if you get any response: 1 out of 2 times, 1 out of 3, etc.

If that works, or even if it doesn’t, lay the iPad gently on a hard, smooth surface, so there is even resistance. (If its in a case, I’d recommend taking it out) Push the button, hold it in a second longer than normal, then gently release.

This may be totally anecdotal but it “feels” like it started responding when, after I pushed, I kept it pushed for a second, and then gently released.

My problem with the home button came back yesterday night. Today, I tried to switch off multi gestures and my home button works great again !! So far so good. It seems like there a software conflict between the home button and multi gestures. Hopefully Apple will fix this in ios 5.1.

I had this problem as well. I've had my iPad for about two months and home button stopped responding last night, I switched the multitasking off and the home button has worked 100/100 times. I love the multitask so hopefully this can be fixed.

Yes, I agree with this fix. The gesture support is cool but causing problems. I have a 10 day old iPad2, came out of the box fully updated and current. After a few days of light use, I noticed that the home button became random with its responses to my inputs. Click once, get 3 click response. Click twice, get 1 click response. It is terribly irritating.
However, it appears to be responsive with the gesture support OFF. There are other threads with folks having problems from April, so I don't know if it can be solely due to the software, but, in my case, it seems pretty much the case.

UPDATE.

After not using the ipad for a couple of days, i opened the smart cover on a flight today to find the wonky home button problem had returned. For the first minute or two, it did not respond at all. Power it down and try again. Finally it began to operate somewhat normally. Closed the ipad on landing and opened it again later.

Now the home button NEVER works. I am unable to use the button at all. Cannot even hold it in with the power button to reset the device. Thankfully, after powering down again, the ipad restarted at the home page. I was able to access settings and turn gesture support ON. This at least allows me to multi task and get to the home page when necessary.

However, after believing it was a software issue, i am now Of the belief that it is hardware related. How else can i explain this lack of function?

I never experiencedanything like this with a very early production ipad 1 that i used constantly for over a year and a half. I have barely touched this shiny new ipad 2 and it is on the verge of being useless.

Very disappointed. I never experienced this with any previous apple product.

FINAL UPDATE.

Visited the genius bar with my non-functioning home button. Happily it did not work for the "genius" while i was there.

The ipad was removed from the case and taken away. It returned within 10 minutes with a fully functioning home button.

The culprit? DUST inside the ipad corrupting the home button contact.

Hard to believe but that is what i was told.

I will update again if i have problems again but it seems to be normal at this point.

Cheers.

NEXT FINAL UPDATE.

Used ipad for 24 hours, put it on the charger and took it off to find the home button not working again.

Back to step one again.

Unbelievable.

Cheers.

I got a new IPAD2 for Christmas with latest software version IOS 5.0.1. It had problems with the home key right out of the box (after charging to 100% for a few hours). Basically the home key becomes very unresponsive. The operation is very unpredictable. For instance, after experiening this problem this morning, it's now working fine. I am wondering what percentage of the IPAD 2 s that are out there have this issue? Could people please post that they've never had this issue with IPAD 2? I know that won't provide good statistics, but it would be good to know that the problem isn't inherent in the design or the software.

My first iPad 2 had this problem. Took it to the Apple Store and they gave me a "replacement model". This new iPad 2 has never had this problem... yet!

Funny that you mentioned taking yours on a flight. I flew mine with me to Hawaii over the summer and stayed there for a few weeks, all the while the home button was working flawlessly. When I flew back to Las Vegas(notice the change in climate), that's when my home button stopped responding. Could it be the humidity? The air pressure in a flight? Looks like the only fix is to get it replaced.

Pushing the upper right corner of the home button works for me at regular pressure. However, pushing the center of the home button now requires far too much pressure than it should. This started today (12/28/2011)

Thanks for the tip

I'm aircrew. Took my ipad 1 in my crew bag for 18 months. Hot, cold, summer, winter, humid, dry. Never had this problem. Today, the button worked for a few hours then was dead again. No change in atmospheric conditions.

My ipad 2 has had this issue almost from day 1. Genius phone support is replacing the defective unit first chance i get to take it back. No questions asked. Makes me believe they know there is a problem here.

The only true fix is to trade it in and get one without the wonky button.

Happy holidays and good luck.

This thread has been very helpful on the suggestion of double tapping the home button and closing all multi-tasking programs. I have suggested this to about 5 of my friends with iPad2s. If this does not work, then is there anger problem with the hardware?

I was hoping that this was just a software issue. The iPad2 is pretty powerful for a tablet, but honestly, I think we all just open a bunch of programs as we need them and forget about killing them out. I have had 2 Android OS phones and I was used to cleaning the memory periodically. My iPhone4 has not had this problem, but I do not open 30 HD iPads apps on it either. Has everyone tried this solution? If it does not work, then maybe this as big as the Red Ring of Death with the Xbox 360. Luckily Apple has great CS like Microsoft.

To get your %, we would need approximate sales from Apple to get our denominator. Hopefully most iPad users come here before calling CS. A big task for the NeW Years. Cheers!

After powering off and charging the mew IPAD 2 overnight, this morning the home bottom would not work at all after I powered it up. Then after a couple of hours it started working but not well, now it works perfectly. Same thing happened yesterday but it didn’t take so long to start working. As I said it's unpredictable. I am thinking I should return it.

This dust possibility has me paranoid. I pitched my leather apple iPad magnetic cover for a Griffin military-style case. They were $80 at BB, but $38 at amazon.com. It should keep the dust out, but now it looks like a big rubber turd like my iPhone4.