Ipad turns on and off in a loop during charging, and won't turn on at all off charge?

Hello WildChild7778,

Since you helped others so well, I thought I would tell you what's going on with my IPAD ISO8. When I plug it in I may or may not see the battery charging indicator. If I do see the battery it has a tiny line of red on it... then it may or may not flash and goes to a back screen and at this point the battery doesn't show up anymore. I've tried pushing and holding the start and sleep buttons at the same time and just in case I, also, pushed and held them by themselves. I've plugged the device into several different wall sockets and several different computers. I took it to the Apple store and they said they couldn't help me because it won't turn on and gave me options to purchase a new one. This Ipad is only 2 years old and to treat it like it's a disposable item just doesn't seem logical to me. I would greatly appreciate your input on this subject. Thanks in advance for your time. Tina 🙂

Hi Tina. I agree this is very frustrating and I took me hours to rectify, BUT MY IPAD WORKS using Wildchild's method. You literally have to sit there with Ipad PLUGGED INTO WALL OUTLET and hold home and power buttons down, many many times and release each time you see the apple. Once you see the power off bar, you have to immediately power off and then charge all night.

Initially I restored ipad using iTunes because I was seeing the iTunes logo with a picture of power cord on the screen while trying the above method. This was even more challenging because my ipad died while updating the first two or three times, but eventually it worked and was restored to factory settings. YOU WILL LOSE EVERTHING this way; so if you don't have ipad backed up in icloud I would keep trying Wildchild's method alone. As long as you can get to the point where you can power off and then LEAVE IT CHARGING!!

I am not sure if restoring helped with this particular problem, and it was tough since ipad was not cooperating because of low battery!! But it finally restored (follow instructions while signed into iTunes at this point and only at this point you will have to plug ipad into computer). This is only an option when you see the iTunes logo on screen (it will be black screen with iTunes icon and a pic of your power cord). Anything is worth a try since the ipad won't work even if you don't have it backed up in the cloud.

I would still try following wildchild's steps over and over before trying anything else. Keep following the step to hold down both buttons and release and see what happens, until you see "slide to poweroff" button and power off immediately!! and then leave it charging all night! I know I did it more than 40 times and yes it seems crazy but it worked!

Try restoring it first to factory settings (you will lose all data apps,contacts unless you have it backed up in cloud) If you keep pressing the home and power buttons at the same time, you will eventually see an iTunes icon and a picture of a power cord. You need to have ipad plugged into a WALL OUTLET while trying this.. To restore, you'll have to plug into your computer and sign into Itunes and follow the instructions from iTunes.

worked thanks Rodneypwns . I just want to add however that I had to try a few times to get the timing right.

I started with the ipad plugged in.

when the it starts to come to life (apple sign) then I unplugged it and held it close to the charging port so as not to miss the timing when it circle thing starts to spin.

I had about 1 sec to insert the charger otherwise it would go back to same error.

when I did get the timing right the ipad made a singular click sound and went blank.

At this point don't touch it because if you depress the home button it will begin the error cycle again.

so leave it don't touch it, come back in few hours and voila, back to business.

thanks again

Yes listen to wildchild. Nothing else was working for me until I let it charge in recovery mode for 2 hours . Then I restoured it and it is working!!! I am typing from my iPad as we speak. Also if it doesnt work the first time keep trying and if not let it charge for longer , I only got 2% battery but it was enough for it to turn on and fully restore!!!! Also it doesn't have to be a mac book computer because I used a windows 8

Here's what I did to fix it. It was already plugged into the computer. As the ipad2 was cycling through the on and off apple logo I continuously held down the power switch - the home button on the front and the UP volume control - all three at the same time. I just held all three down and eventually (maybe 3-4 minutes) the ipad popped back on normally.

Thank you! I had previously used wild child's instructions and in the past it worked. Today it also worked but I wasn't fast enough when the home screen came up to turn it off. Then I saw your post and decided to try your instructions and after putting it in DFU I waited 6 hours and couldn't stand not checking any longer and it worked! iPad was up to 17% and I was able to power it off!!! Both instory toons work but yours is less frustrating and keeps my finger from going numb clicking the rest/wake button and home button 50 plus times. Much appreciated!!!!!

This works thank you! problem is really have to do it a bit longer... half way though doing it i really have to go use bathroom.. and i had been doing it for 8 mins, so i was like well... lets see if it works.... well it turned on and showed 1%, and then turned right off so 8 mins def is not long enough so i went and use bathroom.. now i am ganna try to do it longer so it could stay on 😉

Follow the WildChild7778's instruction.

1. Connect the iPad to the charger.

2. Wait until Apple logo appears, press home and power button and hold them until the Apple logo turn off then release the buttons. Repeat steps 2 about 30-40 times.

4. After 40 times, Apple logo is still appear, continue without pressing home and power button, it's back to the home screen. My iPad is still 18% of battery and charging well without looping.

Thanks WildChild

I tried your method but no joy.

In step 2, you mentioned pressing the power and home button until the apple logo turn off then release the buttons.

However in WildChild7778 Step 5

"Repeat step 3 for at least 30 to 40 times which is about 10 minutes in duration everytime you see the logo on the screen"

I thought you have to hold power and home button for 10 min regardless whether the apple logo turn off or not.

Anyone can provide some clarification?

Thank you

I am happy that it worked for you.

Did you press the power and home button for ~10 min before releasing when apple logo appear or

you release the power and home button immediately when apple logo goes off?

Thank You for your time.

Thank you so much for posting this! It was still helpful to me, almost 2 years later.

My son has an iPad Air 2 & it started doing this exact thing, so of course, I hit up the Internet to find a solution & found your post. Solved my problem then & a few times since. Not sure why this happens, but at least I have a solution now. It's not a quick fix, but at least I know I can get his iPad charging after he has let it die. Which he does often, even with more than one charger to use, even with a portable battery back up, at least once a month, his iPad will die & I use your method to reboot it and within a few hours it's charged back up.

I will say that I've never done the 3rd step 30-40 times, normally I do it 4-5 times & after the final reboot I let it go to the home screen, where it will tell me that I have 1% battery life left, then I hold down the power button & swipe the bar to power down the iPad correctly. Then it's good to go & will charge. This has happened 2-3 times, but with your instructions I can always get it rebooted and charging again. Ideally, my son knows not to let his iPad die, but he's only 10, so bad habits are not easily broken at that age.

Anyone else having this issue, the solution wildchild posted will work, it just takes time & you MUST power off the iPad while it charges after the fact, no playing with it while plugged in & charging which a lot of us do. It also takes your complete attention, you can't do this & let your mind wander, for it to work, you must devote 5-10 minutes to the task. You don't have a lot of time after the iPad starts up & then proceeds to reboot, so you HAVE to pay attention. As soon as you see the apple screen come up you have to be ready to hold the power button & home button to reboot the iPad & you need to do this several times, after which you let it start up & if you're lucky, you'll see you have 1-2% battery life. At this point, you hold the power button, swipe to power down the ipad normally & let it charge.

This does work & quite well actually, it just requires some time, effort & attention. Thanks Wildchild!

WHen you plug in the iPad it will go to the white screen with the apple on it before it reboots in a loop, as soon as you see the white screen with the apple pop up, IMMEDIATELY hold down the power button & home button to do a hard reboot. Once the hard boot starts, the screen goes black, at that point, LET GO of the home & power button. Within seconds, the white screen with the apple will pop up again, again, hold down the power & home screen buttons to do a hard reboot, when the screen goes to black, let go, white screen pops up again with the apple, hold the power button & home button to reboot again, let go once the black screen comes up. When the white screen with the apple logo comes up, repeat the process again. Hold down the power & home buttons, let it go once the black screen pops up & hard reboot again when the white screen comes up. Do it about 5-10 times. The main thing, is catching the iPad while on the white screen with the apple logo before it reboots on its own & repeating that process several times.

YOu do not need to hold down the power button for 10 minutes. Just hard reboot the iPad yourself, anywhere from 5-30 times. Yes, it's time consuming, it will take your full attention, but it's easier & cheaper than buying a new iPad. If your confused as to the hard reboot, especially when it's caught in a loop, just follow the instructions above. Or this:

1) plug in the iPad.

2) when the white screen w/ the apple logo appears, hold down the home & power buttons immediately, let them go when the screen goes to black.

3) after the screen goes black, it will within 2-3 seconds start to reboot itself again & the white screen w/ apple logo comes up. hold down the home & power buttons again, until the screen goes black. Let go. Once the white screen & logo appear, you'll do the same procedure all over again anywhere from 10-30 times. Exactly the same thing, over & over again, a hard reboot once the start up screen appears, then holding down the home & power buttons, forcing a reboot, then letting go when the screen goes dark & immediately doing a hard reboot when the white start up screen w/ the apple logo pops up again.

(**It only takes seconds from start up to reboot to start up again, so pay attention.**)

4) you'll repeat the process above many times. After about the 8-9th time, let the ipad start up & see how much battery life you have. Odds are it will be around 1%. As soon as it boots up & you see that you have 1-2% or so battery life, immediately hold down the power button, JUST the POWER BUTTON. Don't unlock your device, either with Touch ID or your passcode. Just hold down the power button. When the bar comes up across the top of the screen that says, "swipe to power off", swipe that & power down your device.

5) After that, leaving your device OFF & plugged in for a few hours is ideal, but after 20-30 minutes it's usually safe for you to turn your iPad on while it's plugged in & leave it charging. Usually, you have 12-15% at that point. Just leave it plugged in until 100%. I've noticed this glitch tends to occur more frequently if after you've gone through all the steps & finally gotten your device to charge, rather than letting your device charge to 100% you take it off before its done & use it. Doing so increases the frequency with which your device gets caught in the constant reboot cycle, causing it to occur several times a month as opposed every few months if it ever dies while you're using it.

Hope this helps!

I've been dealing with this same problem for atleast 10 hrs now and I've been following everyone's exact steps but they didn't seem to work. After all this stressing and growing of a beard I've found the solution to my problem.

BEFORE YOU START make sure you've BACKED UP YOUR DEVICE RECENTLY otherwise you're screwed.

STEP 1: When your idevice goes back to apple logo hold power button and home button simultaneously.

STEP 2: When the screen goes black let go of the power button, BUT continue holding the home button. a screen that says connect to itunes should now pop up.

STEP 3: Open iTunes on your computer and plug your device into it. A sign should pop up telling you that there's a problem with your Idevice that can only be solved by updating it.

STEP 4: It should give you the option to update your device. click the update button.

STEP 5: Another box should come up saying something on the lines of if the device is not able to be updated you may need to restore it. Then a button that says update and restore should come up. click that button.

STEP 6: Wait for itunes to extract all the software needed and soon your idevice screen should show that its updating.

Oh my word, thank you so much! I just found out my apple care expired so I would have had to pay for this fix out of pocket at the genius bar. I only had to cycle 1-3 about 3x before it flicked to the plug into itunes screen. Apparently it wanted to be updated. It is requiring a factory wipe and reinstall then it will supposedly update. I didn't think apple products could get viruses but this sure looks like one to me!