Cannot Activate iPad IOS 9.3

It only sends mine back into the same loop. Cannot get it to do anything. So I have a dead iPad for 3 days now.

Try the steps in this article: If you can't activate your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch after installing iOS 9.3 - Apple Support

-AJ

Hello AJ397. I have spent all morning trying to restore or reset to factory settings. It never gave me the option to restet until I did it the 4th time. I figured I would just forget about the reset. So I have up and I'm right back to where I started. I have it connected to my iMac in iTunes and on iTunes I now get a new message from iTunes telling me "We're sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time. Please try again later, or contact customer care." I contacted them yesterday after holding for over 30 minutes. They are aware of the problem. Just have to wait until Apple fixes this. No estimated time. So I guess we are all stuck. :-(

Apple gets the Microsoft award for bad customer service on this one. Apparently it has been a problem since Monday - 4 days now and counting! At the ver least, they could post a notice on the iPad support home page.

This is now Thursday afternoon. What a terrible response from Apple. Are they trying to replace Microsoft as first place for bad customer relations? This is nonsense. At the very least, they could post a notice on teh iPad support page.

I have same iactivation issue, been stuck trying with it for over 24 hrs, don't have access to laptop to connect to iTunes... it is same iPad2 3g. I'm out of the country and struggling...apple get my activation sorted 😢

I am going to reply to this for the last time:

- I was in the same situation (unable to activate!) as you guys, with an iPad 2 WiFi+3G

- In the end (after several other attempts, involving deleting from 'Find your iPhone'), I chose the DFU route; how to do that is sufficiently described in previous posts; if you are still uncertain, please specify what is not sufficiently described enough;

- I ALWAYS backup before upgrading, or undertaking other major changes to my iPad;

- through DFU and Restore, I am now running iOS 9.3, and have been doing so for almost 48 hours; I have not yet rebooted, but have backed up and added/deleted stuff regularly without any issue;

If one thing (besides this iOS 9.2.1 to 9.3 being a 'tough' one) is clear to me: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A RECENT BACKUP before undertaking any major steps on your iOS device.

(sorry for shouting)

I have the exact same problem, and this is my second day of trying suggestions. I've also tried calling and gave up yesterday with too long a wait. Today, when I call I get a "nobody is available". I guess the line is too long to even put me on hold.

One reply I received yesterday indicated this was a known problem for ipads with this update. The fact they knew it was a problem and Apple continues to push it out has me so f'ing mad. Inexcusable.

I'm looking for any suggestion other than my wife's which is to throw the POS in the garbage.

Tried them all - none work. Apple help line is too busy now to even put me on hold (which I sat on for an hour yesterday), just says "not available"

• Connect iPad to Computer with USB cord
• Turn off your iPad by holding the off button until turn off slider appears. Slide it off and wait a minute or two for it to shut down.
• Press and Hold “Home” and “On” button at the same time. Keep holding until the Apple Logo appears.
• Release "On" Button 3-4 seconds after the Apple logo appears, but keep holding Home button.
• Look for iTunes Connection logo – if the picture of a cord connecting to iTunes appears on your device screen, you’ve been successful!
• In iTunes, Select "Restore" – this option should appear in the iTunes screen next to “Check for Update”
• Be AWARE - By restoring, Apple will restore your phone to the settings/data from the last time you backed it up. It will also automatically update you to the latest iOS 9.3 software
• If you haven’t backed up your data – you may be able to do so inside iTunes by scrolling down to the backup options before restoring.
• You can also try updating through iTunes instead of restoring first to see if it will work. This is done by pressing the “Check for Update” button.

Thanks a lot of this has restored my IPad to the previous IO version

I'm having a somewhat similar problem after doing the iOS 9.3 upgrade on my iPhone 4s - after entering Apple ID & password I get "Activation error -unable to complete activation" message. So my iPhone is totally useless currently - never gets past activation. I've spent 5 hours with Apple technical support and time with local Apple store technician who all say they've never seen this specific activation problem before, although one support tech did say are getting many calls about 9.3 upgrade problems with the 4s. The store technician diagnosed that for some reason (if I understood her correctly) instead of just going to the Apple activation server (for AT&T, my carrier) it also going to a second activation server, which it is not supposed to do and then does not pass or is hanging on it. They are in agreement that it is software problem/bug in the 9.3 upgrade, not a hardware problem with my iPhone. As part of trying to figure out what was going on, I had to do many power down resets, remove &reinstall the SIM card, Apple store tech even tried a new SIM card, completely erase the iPhone and go through the recovery steps othershave listed previously (multiple times) – none of which has worked. So it looks like the 9.3 upgrade changed something in the iPhone that even a "reset to factory original mode" will not undo.

Here's the fix options as offered by Apple as of this afternoon:

(1) Apple store technician submitted a special activation request work order to do the correct activation process, but I have to wait 24 hours for it to process completely - if it works, they say my phone should be OK..

<< I selected thisthis now. So no working iPhone in the meantime.

(2) Wait for Apple to issue a new iOS software release with a fix for the problem

<<< did not select this, as have no way of knowing if or when a release would come out. Could be today or 6 weeks from now and I’d be without a working phone until then.

(3) Buy a new iPhone

>>> This is the most objectionable option and not selected. It is not my fault that the iOS upgrade killed my phone, all I did was say yes to the upgrade. So I'm to spend somewhere between $400 to $800 dollars on a new phone for Apple's software problem??? Uh, no. My view is that if Apple cannot fix the upgrade software issue quickly, I should at least be swapped for an equivalent working iPhone at no charge.

And needless to say, I'm not about to upgrade my iPad2 until Apple fixes the problem....

Thanks for your help.

My iPad2 (64GB/ 3G) has the same problem. I've tried to DFU mode and the iTunes can detect and give a choice whether I choose to restore it tp iOS 9.2.1 or not. When I click restore button iTunes begins to download the iOS and follow further instruction. I works, but still iOS 9.2.1 😟

It works on iOS 9.3. When my iPad2 had downgraded to iOS 9.2.1 I try to connect iPad to iTunes and check the availability of upgrade iOS and it availabe iOS 9.3. I downloaded it completely and began to upgrade iOS 9.3 by following the instructions normally.

my conclussion is the upgrade iOS 9.3 won't work for iPad 2 by using OTA upgrading. It should work through iTunes.