iPad Pro 9.7" iPad Pro what never had any problems is in boot loop now and nothing helps. :(

[Adora]

Hello,

I own one of the first small 9.7" iPad Pros from 2016. It had been rarely in use and the battery still was very good and always charged enough. The latest supported version of iOS 16 is installed too.

Now all of sudden it doesn't boot anymore and I also can't restore it. It's not able to show the "connect to computer image" or getting in DFU-Mode with a completely black disable. When I connect it to my Mac is it just not recognized.

There ist permanently the white Apple again and again after every reboot.

The 10,5" iPad Pro what I gave to my mum, what is in use every day since many years is still working. A gave her the better one on purpose because I don't need iPads very often. And the 9.7" was even newer, if you count from the buying date.

The pencil was bought even later than both iPads and I never used it, what caused that it's battery seems to be dead now, when I finally wanted to try it.

 

[Beards]

Have you tried leaving it connected for several hours?
Also have you tried a different cable?

 

[Adora]

Have you tried leaving it connected for several hours?
Also have you tried a different cable?

I think I tried at least two different cables. But I haven't left it connected for a longer time. Thanks for the tip I'll try that and also try to find an original Apple cable if that matters for anything.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I think I tried at least two different cables. But I haven't left it connected for a longer time. Thanks for the tip I'll try that and also try to find an original Apple cable if that matters for anything.

Tried different chargers too, check if you can find the a proper ipad charger and not the 5W if that is what you are using.
But if the iPad loops even without charge and you can't force it into DFU mode i'd say its not much you can do than to recycle it.

 

[Adora]

Tried different chargers too, check if you can find the a proper ipad charger and not the 5W if that is what you are using.
But if the iPad loops even without charge and you can't force it into DFU mode i'd say its not much you can do than to recycle it.

It's not the battery, the boot loops happen even if it is not connected to anything but now that it is completely empty it seems, it can't be charged anymore.

I haven't used it for a few years and the battery was like new when I started using it again.

Now it's empty and I see the "connect to power" image the first time again after the boot loops happened. I think it got empty because the Mac was sleeping and not charging anymore while it was still booting over and over again.
But it seems to stay too long in that empty battery state now and I will connect it to a MacBookPro Charger, just to test, if it can be charged again.

Gladly I have bought two cheap refurbished similar iPads (Air 3 from 2019 and iPad 9th Gen. from 2021) as a substitute a few months ago. They are already running iOS 18 Beta. Both are the last ones of their kind with a Home Button and Touch ID. I also got a very cheap 12.9" from 2017 that is at least still running iOS 17. But that one is a real bulky.
Only the last Mini with Home Button and TouchID is missing in my collection with every last Home Button device. I have an 8 Plus, SE 2020 and 2022 too.

Some important banking apps might stop to work anyway when iOS will be three main versions behind on the now damaged iPad. It had been released in March 2016. That's 7.5 years when iOS 18 will get released.

At least I don't have to be sad anymore that a for me good working iPad doesn't updates anymore.

I myself even don't care about those security updates, but many banks do. And for some there is no alternative way to login than their own security app.

I just tried to turn it on again. It's still connected directly to my Mac's USB-C port and seems not to charge. I only pulled it out shortly.
I am trying the big charger now as last resort. It never got empty before in this boot loop state, because I often tried to restore it via DFU mode and connected it to a Mac. Charging seemed to work until the battery got empty completely now. I saw it rebooting hundreds of times before me and my Mac had gone to sleep.

 

[Reverend Benny]

My 5 cent that work in IT, do care about security updates. And if you feel you don't, read up on the topic, that will make you change your mind. These days you don't just carry data about you, so its not only you who might get affected.

Nice to pick up the Air 3, its a nice iPad. I had the 10.5 pro that a family member now are using and its a great device.
The Logitech combo touch is a nice keyboard case to that device.

 

[Adora]

My 5 cent that work in IT, do care about security updates. And if you feel you don't, read up on the topic, that will make you change your mind. These days you don't just carry data about you, so its not only you who might get affected.

Nice to pick up the Air 3, its a nice iPad. I had the 10.5 pro that a family member now are using and its a great device.
The Logitech combo touch is a nice keyboard case to that device.

So, I think I can confirm its death now, after hanging for half an hour on a 87Watt MacBookPro Charger and still showing the charging image when turned on.

Yes I know, security is not only for myself, that's why not a single app has access to my contacts and most other things. I left WhatsApp what everyone is using here and uploading their whole contact list to Facebook already in 2012 when it was bought by Facebook. Bluetooth is always disabled and I don't use mobile devices to communicate.

The Messenger apps that have to be installed for registration are all secured with an extra code. I already hated typing SMS on my first iPhone, what had been a 5 and was so lucky when I could do this directly from my Mac. Most of them weren't even SMS because almost everyone I know used iPhones that time and had no clue about iMessage.

Every few years when WhatsApp is changing their TOS there is an outcry and people install Apps like Signal, Threema or even more secure ones like Session and Matrix Clients, but they never find their contacts there and are still staying to WhatsApp.

Since about 2017 many installed Telegram because of the channel funtion, just to read news. But still use WhatsApp for there private conversation. What might even be better because they have no clue how to communicate E2E encrypted with Telegram.

I just told people in 2013 they just can't reach me if I they install one of at least 3-4 Messengers including iMessage some did it and some just wrote SMS and with luck it had been an iMessage. My first one was Threema, but paying for an app is a no-go for most people in this country, even if it's just something like 3 Euro for a lifetime version like in this case. Then I had Telegram in addition because it was so comfortable to write directly from my Mac and the secret chats were also supported and I even offered Messengers like LINE as alternative where I had no clue about it's security, but not belonging to Facebook and having a native MacApp had been enough.
There wasn't many other alternatives that time. Some only had a mobile version or it was too complicated to explain.

I am very deep in security things and know what I am doing to not get any Malware and spread it. The last and only one was a virus on a DOS PC in the late 80s or early 90s, I got from a 360KB 5,25" floppy disk of a "pirated" game.
I didn't know any people who owned original software in that time. Mostly even DOS and Windows 3.x were just copies.

Also never in my whole long internet life that started in 1997 any account of mine got hacked or a stranger logged in somehow.

Never ever anyone got access to any of my data, except those mass hacks, where two unimportant email addresses and two similar passwords got leaked from, what had not been my fault. Except the registration. I think one of those leaks came from the music streaming service Deezer were an old account still had been active. And the other one from ironically from the Agile Bits forum for 1Password, what I stopped using when became subscription only and later even online account only.

1Password 6 is still running fine on macOS 15.1 Beta and can still sync by Wi-Fi and iCloud.

 

[ThrowerGB]

Have you tried leaving it connected for several hours?
Also have you tried a different cable?

I have a feeling you're not leaving it charging long enough. Beards has already suggested leaving it on charge for a longer period than it seems you're using. It's my experience when an Apple device battery is flat, one needs to have it on charge for multiple hours. 24 hours is often recommended.
Also, I wouldn't plug it in to a high capacity charger or to another device such as a Mac. Try it with a charger that's the same as the original one, or at least with a similar charging capacity. Just have it plugged into the wall outlet.
BTW, I have the same 9.7" Pro you're talking about, except it's only about 2 years old. I'd sent my original one to Apple for repair and it came back with a loose home button. After lots of backs and forths they gave me a new one as a replacement. I use an M4 11" iPad Pro now. It's so much more responsive than the 9.7" iPad Pro. Yes it was expensive, but I plan to keep it for quite a few years.
Be patient with your old 9.7" machine. Leave it on charge for 24 hours. Treat it gently, like me it's in its dotage. Don't use a high capacity charger, and make sure your charger and cable actually work. And gently clean out any fluff, etc in the iPad's charging port. - Hope this works for you.

 

[rui no onna]

Unfortunately, chances are either the motherboard or SSD/NAND flash has failed. Boot loops seem to be a common symptom for those types of failure.

 

[Adora]

@ThrowerGB It was charging half a day connected to my Mac despite the battery not being empty. And it was still connected while I was sleeping, then the Mac was sleeping too a few minutes later and when waking up, the battery was empty.

I now put it in something what you might mean with wall charger (sorry English is not my native language). It only has 5W output and I will let it connected for at least a whole day.

@rui no onna I fear too that it's a hardware damage. That it's not charging anymore since the battery was completely empty might hint it's not just the flash storage. While it was connected to the Mac there were bootloops for hours and it seemed not to discharge. Now it can't boot anymore, because it can't charge anymore.

This is my last try now to revive it.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I got in the same situation once with an iPad air 2 (pretty old item).
It turned out that I tried to power the iPad on when its battery was in very low level, as soon as the ipad boots up, it draws too much current from the nearly depleted battery and shuts down again, resulting in a boot loop sequence.
After a force powering-off and several hours of charge, everything was back to normal now.
Now I always turn-off my iPads if I don't plan to use them for a long time; and powering them up just to verify that the batteries are still at healthy level above 80%.

 

[Adora]

I got in the same situation once with an iPad air 2 (pretty old item).
It turned out that I tried to power the iPad on when its battery was in very low level, as soon as the ipad boots up, it draws too much current from the nearly depleted battery and shuts down again, resulting in a boot loop sequence.
After a force powering-off and several hours of charge, everything was back to normal now.
Now I always turn-off my iPads if I don't plan to use them for a long time; and powering them up just to verify that the batteries are still at healthy level above 80%.

I also turn off my iPads when I don't use them regularly. Always with a high battery level. My 2017 MacBookPro's battery is completely dead because it hadn't been charged for almost a year. I recognized that when I had to update it for activating iCloud Advanced Data connection. Before that, the battery was okay but almost unusable because of other damages.

But it still works while permanently connected to power. Same for a 5s with a dead battery.

The Battery wasn't the problem anyway. Now it had been "charging" for over 24 hours while it was turned off. And I still can't turn it on again without getting that empty battery image and don't even get boot loops anymore.

The boot loops drained the battery only this one time and now seems to have killed the charging function while it was not connected to power anymore, because the Mac was sleeping and it had been booting again and again for hours.

When this boot loop thing started it had also been turned off for a few days with an almost full battery.

Maybe I'll open it just for fun. I have a 10 year old iFixit toolkit what seems to work for everything. But I don't think I can do anything in there. If I am lucky I'll find something obviously loose or dust covered. A paid repair isn't worth it anymore.

This is all I get now for a few seconds, after pressing the power button. No difference if connected to power short, long or not at all. At least the boot loops are gone.

 

[StoneJack]

Try reset. Connect to mac make df reset.

 

[Adora]

Try reset. Connect to mac make df reset.

That already didn't work while it still had power and was rebooting all the time.

 

[StoneJack]

That already didn't work while it still had power and was rebooting all the time.

Try now again dfu reset

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I also turn off my iPads when I don't use them regularly. Always with a high battery level. My 2017 MacBookPro's battery is completely dead because it hadn't been charged for almost a year. I recognized that when I had to update it for activating iCloud Advanced Data connection. Before that, the battery was okay but almost unusable because of other damages.

But it still works while permanently connected to power. Same for a 5s with a dead battery.

The Battery wasn't the problem anyway. Now it had been "charging" for over 24 hours while it was turned off. And I still can't turn it on again without getting that empty battery image and don't even get boot loops anymore.

The boot loops drained the battery only this one time and now seems to have killed the charging function while it was not connected to power anymore, because the Mac was sleeping and it had been booting again and again for hours.

When this boot loop thing started it had also been turned off for a few days with an almost full battery.

Maybe I'll open it just for fun. I have a 10 year old iFixit toolkit what seems to work for everything. But I don't think I can do anything in there. If I am lucky I'll find something obviously loose or dust covered. A paid repair isn't worth it anymore.

This is all I get now for a few seconds, after pressing the power button. No difference if connected to power short, long or not at all. At least the boot loops are gone.

View attachment 2406521

The ipad was showing that it didn't get charged, even when you had plugged in the charger.