How To: Restart A Frozen iPad

We've all been there, your iPad seems to be frozen and unresponsive for no reason and no matter what you do it won't power off or reset. Don't worry your iPad is not dead. It might be completely unresponsive to touch but trust me this is an easy fix. All your devices needs is a good old fashioned restart which is only a few simple steps away.

Restarting your iPad

1. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds until the red "slide to power off" slider appears, or the screen goes dark. If the slider appears you can then power off your iPad. If the screen goes dark it just means it powered down.
2. Once your iPad is powered down press and hold the Sleep/Wake button again until the Apple logo appears. When the Apple logo appears in the middle of the screen, you can release the Sleep/Wake button. The iPad will then restart again and things should be back to normal.

Follow these steps to reset your iPad

Note: Reset your device only if it is no longer responding and the steps above do not work.

1. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button together for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears. Ignore the "Slide to Power Off" button when it appears.
2. Continue to hold the buttons until the Apple logo appears on the screen and then release the buttons. The Apple logo disappears and the iPad turns off.
3. Press the "Sleep/Wake" button for about 3 seconds to turn the iPad on. It will take about 30 seconds for the device to restart.
4. Reset the iPad settings by tapping the "Settings" icon on the home screen. Select "General" in the left column, followed by "Reset" at the bottom of the main screen. Select "Reset All Settings" to reset the settings but leave your data and files untouched.

Factory Restore the iPad

If neither of these options work the worst case scenario is to completely restore your iPad. This should be considered a last ditch effort, but one that might save you a trip to the Apple Genius Bar:

1. First make sure you have a USB 2.0 connection cable from Apple and the latest version of iTunes installed
2. Connect the iPad to your Mac or PC and launch iTunes
3. In the Devices section click on the iPad icon then the Summary tab, and then click on the Restore button
4. When prompted, click on Back Up to back up all your iPad's files and settings
5. Then click on the Restore button

This will restore your iPad to its factory settings and install the latest version of the iPad operating software. Once this is completed, the iPad will restart. You can now restore all of your iPad's media and settings from your most recent back up file.