iPad issue - just happened tonight

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OnceBitten

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#324471 14-Apr-2026 21:04

ok so I've got an iPad that we bought about 6? years ago 2nd hand.

We bought it for my wife and I had the old one that was about 10+ years old, and when that packed up we bought a new one for wife and I inherited this old one.

while using it tonight the screen suddenly went blank.... then the white screen came on with the black apple logo, then it went blank again, came on with the black apple logo... and it's been doing that ever since

I've tried pressing the on / off button, home button and volume buttons in various random sequences, but it just keeps doing the above

I've not had an issue with the iPad before

I have a feeling the iPad is on it's way to iPad heaven

Does anyone know why the iPad is doing this?

edited to add - the iPad screen stayed blank and I pressed the home key and it asked for my pin, then everything came up as normal and the iPad appears to be working - weird??

gzt

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#3480907 14-Apr-2026 22:27

That sounds like an update in progress or a failed and recovered update. If you check for an update is it up to date now?

OnceBitten

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#3480908 14-Apr-2026 22:56

gzt: That sounds like an update in progress or a failed and recovered update. If you check for an update is it up to date now?

it updated about a week ago and is all up to date... it's just bizarre what happened, but it appears to be working fine now

fearandloathing

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#3480911 14-Apr-2026 23:21

Sounds like an update
two updates have released close together

26.4

23E246

March 24, 2026

26.4.1

23E254

April 8, 2026

gzt

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#3480913 14-Apr-2026 23:43

New iPads I think schedule automatically for charging and WiFi. You can change the schedule in settings.

The classic thing is when you're typing and it randomly pops up an install dialog and you just happen to hit 'install now' without noticing and it's all over for the next 10 minutes. I'm an occasional user don't know if that's still a thing.

Goosey

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#3480924 15-Apr-2026 07:20

gzt: New iPads I think schedule automatically for charging and WiFi. You can change the schedule in settings.

The classic thing is when you're typing and it randomly pops up an install dialog and you just happen to hit 'install now' without noticing and it's all over for the next 10 minutes. I'm an occasional user don't know if that's still a thing.

nope, the update prompt is part of the pin code prompt…if you are paying attention there’s an option to “remind me later”, but if you enter the PIN code as normal then you are accepting that the update will install when connected to power and wifi.

i suggest the op, goes into updates option and checks for updates again…

then googles the iPad model number for how to “reboot”, and you will get the key sequence for reboot….possibly holding power and volume up or down buttons at the same time until the logo appears (or it could involve the round home button).

xpd

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#3480928 15-Apr-2026 07:24

Plug it into your PC/Mac and run iTunes and see if thats happy with it.

XPD / Gavin

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gehenna

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#3480935 15-Apr-2026 08:06

All else fails, do a DFU restore to get it back to a fresh baseline. If it's still faulting at that point then you can be fairly sure you have a dying device.

OnceBitten

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#3480940 15-Apr-2026 08:20

xpd:

Plug it into your PC/Mac and run iTunes and see if thats happy with it.

thanks - I might try that later tonight

johno1234

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#3480947 15-Apr-2026 08:57

OnceBitten:

gzt: That sounds like an update in progress or a failed and recovered update. If you check for an update is it up to date now?

it updated about a week ago and is all up to date... it's just bizarre what happened, but it appears to be working fine now

I only got the 26.4.1 update installed last night although it had been available for a while.