To Everyone in this post currently having issues with older iPad 2 models and Activation Server issues.
This issue has mostly affected iPad 2 models with SIM cards with Cellular data service.
For any of you with a cellular iPad 2 model, try removing the SIM card from the SIM card tray, located on one of the long sides of the iPad ( you may need something small or pointy or the original SIM card tray tool that came with your Cellular service iPad 2 to open the tray ), remove the SIM card, try either a simple restart of your iPad 2 AND/OR try a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.
Then, try re-activating your iPad 2 without the SIM card in the tray.
If successful, return the SIM card back into the tray.
Good Luck!
To Everyone in this post currently having issues with older iPad 2 models and Activation Server issues.
This issue has mostly affected iPad 2 models with SIM cards with Cellular data service.
For any of you with a cellular iPad 2 model, try removing the SIM card from the SIM card tray, located on one of the long sides of the iPad ( you may need something small or pointy or the original SIM card tray tool that came with your Cellular service iPad 2 to open the tray ), remove the SIM card, try either a simple restart of your iPad 2 AND/OR try a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.
Then, try re-activating your iPad 2 without the SIM card in the tray.
If successful, return the SIM card back into the tray.
Good Luck!
I can usually help people with iOS devices, so a friend brought me an iPad mini about a year or two old with this problem. Also had boxes around all the icons which weren’t there before and had a LOT of trouble getting the screen to respond. Nevertheless it is still saying needs activation 😡 since Apple did this they should have to replace all these with new iPads!!! 😡 I assure you they can afford it... won’t be a drop in the bucket or on the brick in this case...
I had the same issue randomly happen tonight.
Powered off my iPad2.
I went to apple.com and changed my password.
Powered on my iPad2.
Wifi screen popped up, but my wifi was already chosen.
Went through the steps, signed in and then put in my 4-digit pin and everything came up as usual.
Hope this helps.
This just happened to me too. What THE **** apple?
Now my son can't use it anymore to study chess.
Are you serious?
Thinking about legal actions.
You're wasting my family time here.
completely dissapointed
thats the strategy of they Marketing!. who else want to buy a device and de-activate it. we buy a device because we need it. after my two device iphone5 and ipad2. i will never been buy any mac product.
..Sadly this has just happened to me. I did think that it might be some kind of a virus trying to trick me into connecting to my apple account but now i can see this is a major problem with older devices. I have an Ipad-2 and it's about 6-years old now and up until today it worked perfectly fine. I have no idea if anyone else has had this but I have noticed it that the problem gets increasingly worse .. apart from the annoying request to reactivate which never works my ipad has also started talking to me! .. no idea what settings turned that on or how to stop it as no buttons work. I can't even key in my ipads passcode.. they numbers doesn't respond. I am arranging to speak to apple now.. lets see what they say!
I currently have same problem. After using my old iPad 2 for 6 years,
I get this message for the first time when starting device. Can't get activation to work because "server temporarily unavailable". Keep retrying but nothing. Tried solution in reply to your message but still nothing. Did you ever find a solution to your problem?
Has anyone found a solution to this? Happened to me and I was able to restore through iTunes and then it happened the next day. Was chatting with Apple support for 45 minutes , which was totally a jjoke and they told me I had to take it to the Apple Bar. Super frustrating, this just happened, no update or anything 😡
I would contact Apple Support again. If the first advisor says there unaware of an activation issue. Ask them directly for a senior advisor and say you believe this is an emerging issue.
Asking for a senior advisor nothing to do with the first advisor not being able to handle the call, but sometimes newer or first rank advisor aren't made aware of some issues (this is what I noticed anyways).
Have you changed your AppleID password on another device and haven't updated your credentials on your iPad? Try re-signing in.
If you can't connect wirelessly to re-sign in, connect your iPad to a computer that has iTunes installed and try so going in with your Apple ID.
does this seem like tactic to force device into obsolescence? i have experienced same with multiple reboots & attempts. without any proper response by apple on this thread has anyone had success in taking their device to a 'genius '?
Hi not1lost. The boxes around the icons mean that Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control was somehow enabled. You can turn that off, and also remove it as the Accessibility Shortcut.
Re-activation is something Apple requires from time to time, and it's normally a brief procedure. Some users find they cannot access the server, which causes a problem. I don't know why that happens or how to fix it.
I may be late to the conversation but mine just did this as well. I tried for days to do the activation and “try again later” until I found this article that seemed to help. I’m still mid process but at least my iPad is doing something other than telling me it can’t connect to activation server.
@psstoppard, I also have a 6-year old iPad 2, which has suddenly started doing the same thing. I've assumed it's just old and something inside broke or wore out. The first time I had trouble restoring it, and Apple phone support helped me. But the guy on the phone didn't have any ideas as to what caused it. (I'm now able to restore it each time on my own, but needless to say, it's a pain.) Did Apple support say anything useful to you?
I have an iPad 2 as well, and it just hit me with this crap on a loop twice before finally letting me back into it. I tried hard reset to get out of it thinking it had somehow bizarrely gotten hit with a virus that could hack it. Then, I come on the forum and discover it's been happening since at least last year? I have to wonder if like others said that Apple is trying to force people into buying new products by making the old devices go wonky. Haven't heard anything about the original iPad still working, so I'm guessing our iPad 2s are currently the oldest iPads that are still functional. I was planning to upgrade in the future when I could actually afford their new pricing, but I still plan to keep my 2. Thing is a tank that I plan to have stick around. >_> Not sure why this post is saying I have a watch when I definitely don't at the moment.
Why would my IPad suddenly require activation?
