iPad Pro 2018 12.9” iPad Pro stuck in boot loop - crashes and reboots every few minutes

[ideal.dreams]

I have a 12.9" iPad Pro running the latest version of iPad OS. I've had it since 2018. I have never had a single issue with it until last night, when out of nowhere, it started flashing purple and then restarting. I called Apple and got nowhere. Before I make the annoying drive to my nearest Apple Store (1.5 hours away...), has this happened to anyone else so I know what I should expect? Are there any troubleshooting steps I'm not thinking of?

Things I've tried

• Connecting my iPad to my MacBook Pro to try to do a factory restore - no luck as the computer does not even recognize the iPad as being connected
• Soft resetting the iPad by doing the volume up, down, then pressing and holding power until the Apple logo appears. Boot loop continues even after this.
• Entering recovery mode by plugging the iPad in to my computer, pressing volume up, down, then pressing and holding power until the "connect to computer" message appears on the iPad. The message never appears and the screen remains dark the entire time.
• Entering DFU mode - see previous point, same response.
• Turning the iPad off and letting it sit. It remains powered off for about 30 seconds before the Apple logo reappears and the boot loop starts again, without me touching or pressing anything.
• Erasing all content and settings from the iPad - issues persist even after the reset.

I am at a loss here. My iPad looks as good as the day I took it out of the box almost 3 years ago. Never dropped, damaged, spilled on, etc., and out of nowhere it's stuck in this bootloop that I can't correct even by restoring to a new installation of iPad OS since my MacBook won't even recognize it.

It’s sitting at 10% battery currently and won’t accept a charge from the USB-C port nor from the magic keyboard charging passthrough, but at least when I plug it in to power from the keyboard the battery icon shows charging even though it doesn't actually charge.

When I plugged it in to my MacBook with all other devices unplugged (even power), my MacBook started CHARGING from it?

 

[ideal.dreams]

This issue seems to have resolved itself. Posting a reply here in case anyone else is suffering the same issue only to find a total lack of information available, even from Apple.

I let my iPad sit unplugged over night. The battery eventually depleted to the point the display would no longer even display the "please plug me in" battery symbol and nothing else. After my iPad reached that point, I tried plugging it in again...

To my surprise, the screen lit up with the battery indicator showing it was finally charging from the USB-C port. I confirmed it was receiving charge by unplugging it - the screen changed to include the USB-C cable to show the device needed to be plugged in.

I let it fully charge and then plugged it in to my MacBook. It finally recognized it. I threw it into recovery mode and immediately restored the OS to a new version of iPad OS. I restored from my iCloud backup. Everything has been working just fine since then - this was a few days ago.

Just as quickly as the issue came, it's gone, and it's like it never happened. I still can't explain any of what happened or why I was finally able to charge and restore it.