Troubleshooting: iPad Shuts Itself Off and Won’t Turn On

This has happened to me several times: I’ll pick up my iPad to discover it has shut itself off, or at least has a black screen and won’t respond. Not because of overheating, and not because there’s no battery left. And it just won’t turn back on. At least at first. And sometimes not for quite a while. It’s pretty scary.

A little research shows that others are having this problem, sometimes even with an iPhone. The cause is unknown, but the best theory is that it’s some type of kernel panic. The quickest solution? Hold down both the home and sleep buttons for about 10 seconds to do a forced shutdown. The iPad should start again with no problems.

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102 Responses

  1. hissa_hissoo@hotmail.com says:

    wowww! this is great i just did it and it worked ! thanx a lot you saved my life !

  2. Nora Tansil says:

    Wow! It worked! many many many many thanks! all of my work and my life is in ipad. Once again thank you!

  3. lj says:

    oh my god ur a lifesaver! i cant thank you enough. it did work!

  4. Reginia Smith says:

    Thank you soooo much!!! It’s 11:43pm here in Texas, and the Apple Care center is closed. Thank Goodness for Google. I was about to go into “panic mode”. My Ipad2 is now working just fine.

  5. Krysti says:

    My daughter borrowed my iPad and I was sure she broke it. This solution really worked. I was so worried I had lost everything. I love my iPad-I never use my pc anymore!

  6. Kelly says:

    Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!! It worked!!

  7. renee says:

    Thank you!! Ive had my ipad for a year and today it suddenly turned off and wont restart :( Thank to your advice was able to restart it though had to hold the buttons down for 30 seconds :)

  8. Lindsay says:

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! My parents have an iPad and they are less than proficient with electronics. I do not have an iPad, so I didn’t know what to do. You fixed it. Thanks again!

  9. Alex says:

    I’m so thankful to you. It worked!

  10. Jane says:

    Thanks so much, I did exactly what you recommended and my iPad is back alive now!

  11. Cesar says:

    WOW! You are the greatest!!!!!!

  12. freckledgoldfish says:

    Whew! Thanx

  13. Marshell says:

    THANK YOU!!!! As always you guys are great! My iPhone is up and running!

  14. Dustin says:

    HOLY S*@T I cannot believe that worked! Many many thanks to you! I thought it was dead for sure!

  15. Tazia says:

    IT WORKED!! thanks :D :D

  16. Ujjal says:

    Awesome It worked Thanks a million

  17. yes it worked! thank you so much! God bless you more!

  18. Keith Moorcroft says:

    Hello, does anyone know why my iPad keeps enlarging itself, and does not shut down properly

  19. Louie Basilio says:

    Thanks a lot……you’re a genius…it Works

  20. benymetal says:

    THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANKS !!! :D

  21. royce says:

    You saved me!!!!! ?

  22. Rcl says:

    Jan 2013 have an ipad 2, 64gb wifi ios6
    I just upgraded via a restore, not an upgrade(would not upgrade and the restores were problematic
    My unit shuts down sporadically when it has been inactive
    To start it up i need to hold down the home and start button for 30 sec or more

    Seems very odd

  23. yda says:

    thanks a lot!!!

  24. jbg says:

    Wow, thank you! it worked like a charm!

  25. Iain says:

    My iPad 4 gave a me a fright this morning with this issue and I thought that it had died, but the solution mentioned here solved the problem. Thanks!

  26. Kerri says:

    OMG Thank you!

  27. anita says:

    Thank you! Any idea how to fix this kernal error

  28. neem says:

    you saved me on an exam day, thank you so much!

  29. Heather says:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! I Was FREAKING OUT! I was going to the Apple store tomorrow, but I had an awful dread. It reset an is working fine. Thank you Wayne for suggesting that I google this. Your site was a lifesaver!!

  30. Dawn Grace Llagas says:

    thank you i almost give up… i love this article so much… i love you again…

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