iPad 4

[HaQue]

G'day mates

Ive been wrestling with my daughters iPad, trying to get either data saved to try and restore it, or get the OS working again.

She says it wasn't dropped, and I know if she did she would have no problem telling me thus helping me to know possible issue, so I tend to think it wasn't.

symptom was total black screen, meaning not working.

Tried all the reset methods, holding home and power, iTunes recovery etc, and got it to accept a system update, which completed. Screen will come on to the lighter grey screen that shows there is something happening, but no apple display or anything.

I have software that manages IOS devices without iTunes, CopyTrans.. great software BTW, but caveat is you still need to enter the passcode on the iPad.. which of course I know, but there is no access to the screen.

Similarly, iTunes needs the passcode entered as well, which I cant do.

I could as a last resort try to totally restore to factory, But IIRC, if you have it linked to iTunes, you need to enter in code on iPad? but as their high school uses iPads exclusively, there is a lot needs really to be saved.

Anyone able to offer any suggestions? Im out!

Thanks a lot.

[jermy]

i think the screen got damaged (my 2¢)

[fzabkar]

Shine a bright torchlight on the screen. This should allow you to see the displayed image if the backlight is the only problem.

[HaQue]

Thanks guys.
I have fixed many backlights in laptops, and this doesn't appear to be the issue.

Can see no cracking on LCD or digitizer.

I have access to many iPads and the closest I can describe it is: If you hold power button until it asks you to turn it off, upon saying yes, the screen briefly blacks out but is still "on", before switching totally off the black(total off). this screen is same colour, and lit, as that, but no image, also touching swiping etc in the usual places is no effect, would expect some key tones or something.

I will open 'er up tonight or sometime on the weekend and checkout the screen and connectors.

Could well still be the screen, so will see what happens when I look inside.

frustrating the iTunes software wants a passcode but only way is to enter it on the iPad itself, and not be able to do anything at the PC. I guess most stuff people do on iPads is timewasting, and judging by the Apple ads, share photos, social media... upload your daily life crap... they just assume that although people think their iPads are holding valuable data, it really isn't. Pretty much a LeapPad for older kids and adults.

technical support is getting so ridiculous, hold down 2 buttons.. that's it, Sorry, that's all a user can do, otherwise run to "genius" (someone that will swap your ipad for a working one for $99 and not care about your data).

Not 100% sure if my frustration shows or not

[dick]

Hi. I have seen this behaviour before on an iPad 2. We just put it to one side and forgot about it. Then one day my young son picked it up from 'the pile' and got it working. We think what had happened was it got partially locked so the digitizer stopped working so no way to input etc but after leaving it to fully drain the battery when it was switched on my son managed to initiate a full reset and voila the digitizer was working again. Now when I think about it I have seen this problem on 2 or 3 iPads which have passed my way. As I mentioned before there was no way to input anything via the screen before the reset. It has worked fine ever since.

[jermy]

I will open 'er up tonight or sometime on the weekend and checkout the screen and connectors.

you can try to connect it to an external screen VGA/HDMI/TV

[dick]

I will open 'er up tonight or sometime on the weekend and checkout the screen and connectors.

you can try to connect it to an external screen VGA/HDMI/TV

As its an iPad I don't think there is any easy way to connect to an external screen.

If you can carefully remove the digitizer (hopefully without breaking it, I would use plenty of heat) then you can disconnect the battery from the pcb. Leave it for a few minutes. Then try powering on using the charger as the only power source. If you have some important data on it might it be backed up in the cloud?

Best to try all the easy fix solutions first because I would assume any possibilities to dump data from the pcb memory will be limited.

[HaQue]

The external vga is interesting. Might let me see something, but wont help me enter the lock code.
..Dick, yes, not a problem http://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MD825AM/A/lightning-to-vga-adapter?afid=p238%7Csrb4rVE9m-dc_mtid_18707vxu38484_pcrid_57250790806_&cid=aos-au-kwg-pla-btb-slid-.. also already thought of backups/icloud etc, but nothing like that. Agree that easier fixes much better than trying to hack the data out.

The more I look into this, the more I am leaning towards Jermys prediction of damage.

Got some more information from an expert in mobile devices, he tends to think it is damage as well.

hopefully get time soon to rip it open. (carefully!)

[jermy]

The external vga is interesting. Might let me see something, but wont help me enter the lock code.

Then an external keyboard come into play

[HaQue]

I read about that, but I got the impression the device would have needed to pair previously, as the pairing would need to be done on the ipad alone. But there is quite a few things yet to checkout, so not a lost cause yet.
frustrating not to yet have time to work on it.

[jermy]

I read about that, but I got the impression the device would have needed to pair previously, as the pairing would need to be done on the ipad alone.

Even with an OTG cable ?
I don't have apple's products to check it, but on tablets/phones windows/android based, there is no need to pair anything its plug & play.

[HaQue]

Update -
I removed front glass, digitizer and LCD. The LCD cable was ever so slightly skewed. I removed the ribbon cable and re-inserted it and now apple & slide to upgrade is displayed. So this was the issue.

Only problem is now is that I did not heed the iFixit disassembly guide well enough and severed the Wi-Fi antenna and Digitizer ribbon a little. I believe the heating wasn't done well enough to soften the glue, along with inexperience in this model.

It is responsive to home button, so I think a digitizer, Wi-Fi antenna and double-sided sticky kit will bring it back.

Occam's Razor !

[dick]

Those wifi antenne are always in danger. My success rate of opening a virgin iPad and releasing the digitizer without ripping it off is about 75% after the first time so I always keep a spare in my stock. A job well done as you now have access to the data which must be the number one priority.

Funny thing was I didn't even know those iPad vga adapters existed. Always new things to learn!