Hi all,
Not to sound repetitive, but please check out the links posted in the answer to the main question and my comment above. First off, Apple generally never chimes in here, so it's just users helping users.
I finally got mine to work again. Was honestly scared I bricked it. My iPad2 was jailbroken, so I have a basic competency in tinkering with it. I don't get crazy into editing code, but if it's downloading and following a procedure, I can do that.
I was upgrading from iOS 7x, and attempting to upgrade to iOS 9. That's a fail. Keep it on iOS 8 for now. You can't use iOS 8.4.0 as Apple has stopped signing those certificates, so 8.4.1 is the most you can easily downgrade to. Do it.
Download the iOS 8.4.1 firmware.
Do the "Force Restore" on the device (home button & power til restart, then release power button while still holding down home).
Plug in the device with iTunes open. When it prompts to update/restore, hold down the SHIFT button when you select Restore, and it should prompt you to select the firmware file you downloaded above. Be patient, do not unplug, let it happen. Mine eventually worked - viola
This is also assuming you've done a few basic things:
- Your iTunes is updated.
- I rebooted my computer to start fresh.
- Turned off anything that seems like it might interfere based on all other comments, such as "Find My iPhone", turn off the keycode password, turn off location services. (If you didn't do it before, neither did I. When I 'blanked' my iPad and set up as new, I went in and made sure to do all those things^).
- You backed up your device prior to the update. Hopefully you also duplicated the "Backup" file outside of the default location (I do that for insurance, in case iTunes overwrites the backup file you're trying to restore from).
Best of luck all,
Shannon
(Here's my previous comment:)
With 1 modification for me: Mine was still stuck in the loop, even when trying to Update or Restore from a downloaded iOS 8.4.1 firmware file. The trick was when you do the "force restore" from the iPad and go through the prompts connected to iTunes, when the option to "Set up as new iPad" or "Restore from ___ copy", you must first set up as new, and let it finish the process. THEN - restore from the saved point. That combo kicked me out of the endless 'updating - you're almost complete" loop.
Agree with the main point also, from everything I've read elsewhere it's specifically an issue from an older iOS (6 or 7) and jumping to iOS 9.