iPad activation issue

I am having the same problem I can see many others have had, but none of the solutions works for me. Last month, after updating some apps, I was told my iPad needs activation. Every time I try, including on different wifi networks, I get the message that the server is temporarily down and to try later. This has been going on for 6 weeks. I do not have a sim card in my iPad; I only use it on wifi. I tried powering it down completely but that has not worked. It still requires activation when turned on again. I connected it to my MacBook Pro and tried the iTunes route, but got the message "the iPad could not be activated because the activation information could not be obtained from the device. I don't have a sim card. My iPad is an iPad 2. I know it is an old device and the OS is older, but it was working fine until this issue started. I don't want to pay the local iStore to fix what appears to be an Apple problem. Is this built-in obsolescence? If so, there are better ways of going about it. Please advise how I can get my iPad functional again. Many thanks.