unknown error -1

Hi

I have an old iPad 3G (cellular) bought new ages ago. It's clunky and slow but OK for emails and light surfing.

Recently it has been having issues where the screen would just go blank like a shutter being closed and it would restart. It did this every few minutes. Battery life also seems to have plummeted. Maybe these issues are coincident with trying a 3G SIM card for the first time.

I put the iPad into recovery mode and recovered using iTunes. That went well until a few days later when it asked to be activated. The activation failed and the device restarted, again asking to be activated. It was stuck in a loop.

So I tried another recovery session. This fails with the message that "The iPad could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (-1)." I tried two PCs both with the latest iTunes, anti-virus disabled, and tried two cables. I've also tried DFU mode.

According to Apple support (I gave them a quick call) this is a hardware problem and it needs to go to visit an Apple store.

So, is there anything an Apple genius will do that I can't at home, apart from recycling the device for me FOC?

Thanks.