iPad hung during iOS update...reinstalling iTunes is not always the solution
Had a problem earlier in the week while migrating my library from my old PC to my new one. After the migration I chose to update the iPad iOS from within iTunes, got an error message that there was a problem with the update, and then had the problem that the iPad was 'invisible' to iTunes and could not be recognised, no matter what I did.
I tried different USB ports, different cables, uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes, rolled back in Windows and then reinstalled iTUnes, all to no avail, the iPad stayed in recovery mode, and invisible.
I have resolved the issue, which I will document here...but before that. It is interesting that there are so many examples of this sort of problem on various forums - customers who get an error during an update of iTunes or iOS which results in their iPad becoming 'invisible' to iTunes no matter what they try.
And there are many people for whom the standard advice (try another USB port, check your cable, uninstall/reinstall iTunes) doesn't work. As I said, I did a complete rollback and reinstall to no avail. So iTunes itself was not the real problem, which is why so many of these user issues are resolved by users in forums by taking the iPad back to Apple store and getting a new one. It seems even the boys and girls in blue can't easily resolve the problem with machines hung up and made invisible by faulty updates.
In my case it was instructive that while iTunes could not see the iPad, it could see my other Apple devices, including other iPads. That told me the faulty iOS install had left a software hook in my iPad/iTunes interface which was the problem.
I was lucky in that this problem happened to my while I was migrating my library from one PC to another. So I plugged the 'invisible' iPad into my old PC and 'presto' it was recognised and successfully recovered, updated and restored.
Then I could plug it into the new PC and 'double presto' it was visible again. Without reinstalling iTunes yet again.
Reinstall iTunes? Replace iPad? This seems such a waste of time and material when the real problem is the update process, not iTunes or the hardware.
Had a problem earlier in the week while migrating my library from my old PC to my new one. After the migration I chose to update the iPad iOS from within iTunes, got an error message that there was a problem with the update, and then had the problem that the iPad was 'invisible' to iTunes and could not be recognised, no matter what I did.
I tried different USB ports, different cables, uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes, rolled back in Windows and then reinstalled iTUnes, all to no avail, the iPad stayed in recovery mode, and invisible.
I have resolved the issue, which I will document here...but before that. It is interesting that there are so many examples of this sort of problem on various forums - customers who get an error during an update of iTunes or iOS which results in their iPad becoming 'invisible' to iTunes no matter what they try.
And there are many people for whom the standard advice (try another USB port, check your cable, uninstall/reinstall iTunes) doesn't work. As I said, I did a complete rollback and reinstall to no avail. So iTunes itself was not the real problem, which is why so many of these user issues are resolved by users in forums by taking the iPad back to Apple store and getting a new one. It seems even the boys and girls in blue can't easily resolve the problem with machines hung up and made invisible by faulty updates.
In my case it was instructive that while iTunes could not see the iPad, it could see my other Apple devices, including other iPads. That told me the faulty iOS install had left a software hook in my iPad/iTunes interface which was the problem.
I was lucky in that this problem happened to my while I was migrating my library from one PC to another. So I plugged the 'invisible' iPad into my old PC and 'presto' it was recognised and successfully recovered, updated and restored.
Then I could plug it into the new PC and 'double presto' it was visible again. Without reinstalling iTunes yet again.
Reinstall iTunes? Replace iPad? This seems such a waste of time and material when the real problem is the update process, not iTunes or the hardware.
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