COULD NOT ACTIVATE iPAD (ios 11)

Hi, not sure if this issue is common to others but I managed to solve my problem.

First test was to connect my iPad to my Android Cell Hotspot as opposed to my home wifi. On a hotspot connection I was able to connect and signin to icloud etc and the iPad works as expected.

At home, I was connecting through an access point. All other devices on the access point worked as expected except for my iPad. I switched the access point off and connected the iPad to the main router wifi. This now works.

Next step is for me to troubleshoot why the iPad has an issue with the access point setup.

For an iPad2, I was able to solve this issue for my son.

His iPad was never used on a cell network and he never knew that it even had a SIM card in it.

I popped out the SIM and connected to iTunes.

It activated straight away.

It appears that IF it has any SIM installed, in Apple's infinite wisdom, you're forced to activate over the cell network and disregard any other connection method. Seems like some of those millennial programmers they have on staff need to learn how to write better conditional statements and error handling in their code. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

this was really disappointing. I've done everything as advised in the support posts.and nothing helped. i then installed itunes on my windows laptop (i don't have have a mac). i couldn't get help and it didn't even acknowledge the ipad. after about an hour and installing icloud, an itunes error eventually said "insert sim and unlock" ! i had an old sim in the ipad so removed it then itunes asked me to sign back into icloud and then reactivated everything??? and its working total time spent about 4 hours. i suggest inserting /removing a sim even if you don't usually use it.

Hi

Go to settings down to reset Reset network settings After reset enter your router wireless key.

Go to iCloud make sure iCloud back up is on Then backup now over your wifi.

Then go to settings down to reset Restore iPhone back to factory settings.

Set back up over your wifi when it asks if you want to use iCloud backup Say yes to get your apps and data back this will get rid of any bugs.

Cheers

Brian 🇬-1F1E7;

This has happened before and Apple released old firmware to fix the identical problem we are having with IOS 11.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/apple-pulls-ios-9-3-update-for-older-dev ices-following-activation-problems/

Hi Brian, I’m not sure you are understanding the nature of the problem here.

Our devices are already bricked because most of us have already reset them but we are unable to activate. We cannot even access the reset network settings, backup or anything else. This is an activation issue.

i

phone owners are experiencing the same activation issues. I think this issue is becoming more widespread yet apple has not even acknowledged the problem.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8103237?answerId=32955025022#32955025022&ac_cid=tw123456#32955025

That is the same issue we are all having with IOS 11 and iPhone 5S, iPad Air 2 and a few other devices after upgrading from 10.3.3.

Not helpful at all Jeremy. We are trying with wifi; with iTunes, several different computers, different wifi networks and always the same.

It seems like is a trouble of the Apple Server; could you confirm that? Is Apple working on the issue?

I went through the whole thing with apple support, dealt with Ashley, passed on info to the engineer etc. I purchased a new iPad so I wiped my iPad Air 2 and when I tried to activate, I get the activation error. I have tried everything. Since it worked perfectly on right up the wipe, it is impossible that its a hardware issue. Apple thinks my wifi only model had a SIM. This device is not that old and is fully supported by apple so they need to fix this. I assume a re-sign of 10.3.3 will allow activation. People with iPhone 5S are having the identical problems. I also took it into Genius and they tried to restore and activate on their machine and it did not activate. Apple support said this problem does not seem like a common issue but I beg to differ and that is part of the problem, it's not high priority for apple to fix the iOS11+ activation issue.

I finally got an honest, if not very helpful, response from one of the techs at Apple Support! He said there is nothing they can can do right now, so we should just wait for the next update and hope this issue is resolved! No, it doesn't help at all, but it does feel better when the failure of their product is acknowledged!!!

Thank you, good information. Apple in their infinite wisdom is using the same firmware for cell and wifi only models so those of us with wifi only ipads are getting the same sim errors but we dont have a sim to remove to solve the issue. Really sloppy of Apple to brick so many iphones and ipads and not tackle tbe issue.

I have just heard back from the Apple Store. Surprise!!! They couldn't get it to work either! As it is out of warranty, they cannot replace the iPad, and told me that the problem is with the iPad itself! It was working before I tried to update to iOS 11! According to the technician, other iPad Air 2s' have had no problems, therefore it has to be my machine, not the iOS. My last hope is to contact Apple again and see if I can get anything of use from them.

Nov 15, 2017

I am also facing same this problem on ipad air 2 until now since releasing ios 11.

any help ?? 😢