iPad Air crashing (second device in 3 months)

[gurucat]

I will try to list everything that has happened in order.

Bought iPad Air from the Apple Store on December 30. I only wanted it to read my existing digital comic books and maybe some books.

The device had 7.0.6 already installed. Downloaded Comic Zeal from the App Store for about $4. Sideloaded comic books via iTunes. The device began to crash about 2 weeks later, intermittently, then more regularly over the following couple of months. It also began to crash in native applications, and sometimes even when simply turning on the device.

It would crash to a black screen, the home screen, the lock screen, and once it turned completely off. I had to use Home+Power to turn it back on again (totally reboot).

I called Apple twice during this period. They walked me through a complete re-install. By then, as I recall, 7.1 had already been released. I installed 7.1 via iTunes and set the device up as a new iPad Air, from the device itself.

This time, I downloaded Comic Glass from the App Store on the iPad Air. It began to crash within a day or two, and also crashed in native applications.

Just two weeks or so ago, Apple Care sent me a box to ship it back to them, and said they would send a replacement. The replacement came from China and the whole process took 10 days.

IPad Air #2 arrived with 7.1 already installed. I set up the device without iTunes. Re-installed Comic Glass and side loaded comics via iTunes. The device started crashing almost immediately. Not as often as at the end of the prior device's tenure, but often enough.

Apple Care advised me to Reset from Settings on the device and download from my App Store account, rather than using iTunes. I downloaded Comic Glass and this time did not side-load any comics. I also downloaded iBooks.

In Comic Glass, I downloaded some free comics from their samples archive. They were all in Chinese and unreadable by me, so I merely flipped through them. All seemed fine.

In iBooks, I found lots of free comics to test, and books as well. Ibooks began to crash fairly immediately. In addition, Safari was crashing quite often - even more than in the reader apps. It crashed in Comic Glass, and in some of the other native apps - Notes, Reminders, etc. By this time, the device was crashing even when I wasn't in an app. Sometimes when simply turning it on.

I then did a complete Erase via Settings on the device. Repeated the set up without iTunes. Bypassed iTunes altogether. Downloaded only iBooks from the App Store. Downloaded only one comic that I had previously downloaded in iBooks, using the app on the device. Experienced the same crashing, in this app and the native apps.

I am about to ship this second device back to Apple. I have insisted that they REPAIR it, to really diagnose it, rather than merely shipping me another one from China. I'm quite confident there are quality control issues with the brand new devices, and I would like a more meticulous examination.

My question, at last, is this: does anyone have any definitive ideas about what is causing these crashes? It is clearly not the apps - I've used far too many on both devices. They can't all be bad. Crashing is happening in both OS incarnations. It has happened on two different devices.

I do not want to be stuck in an endless loop of returning non-working iPad Airs. The Apple Care rep had the gall to tell me she "just doesn't see this sort of problem."

A quick Google search will show that this is happening A LOT. There are dozens of posts both at Apple Forums and MacRumours. Here's an article:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ipad-air-problems/

By the way, my iPhone 4S, running 7.1, is not crashing at all, in ANY apps. It's definitely the Air.

Finally, I'm an Apple Girl - for decades now. I want to love my iPad Air - I truly do. But this is wearing down my capacity for loyalty. I want Steve back. Didn't they manage to get his DNA for future cloning?

Thanks for any non-trollish responses.

 

[Rodster]

Did you or the Apple rep check the error logs? Crashes would show up there in the diagnostics logs and indicate where the problem might be coming from.

You seem to indicate your problems revolve around the comic book app. Have you tried just doing a reset or clean install and running the Air without the comic book app? I'm wondering whether it's the app causing most of your problems.

 

[mripadmini]

i think its the comic book app because all of the issues with the ipad crashing did not start in till you installed it.

 

[gurucat]

Did you or the Apple rep check the error logs? Crashes would show up there in the diagnostics logs and indicate where the problem might be coming from.

You seem to indicate your problems revolve around the comic book app. Have you tried just doing a reset or clean install and running the Air without the comic book app? I'm wondering whether it's the app causing most of your problems.

I know it's buried in my long story, but the last time I did an Erase via settings, I never downloaded either of the comic book apps. Just iBooks. It's crashing in iBooks and Safari, and sometimes when I'm not in an app.

Also, in the past, the crashing involved two different comic book apps.

HOWEVER, AN UPDATE for anyone else experiencing my problem:

I was browsing to continue to research any more instances of the Air crashing in 7.1 before shipping off my iPad, and Google search oddly returned some posts that involved folks whose iPads were not turning off in their smart covers. Something about misaligned magnets. A lightbulb went off.

I remembered that the Air (and perhaps other iPads) puts itself to sleep when a cover is closed over the screen. So I took my device out of its case completely and used it for about an hour. Not a single crash.

I downloaded Comic Zeal and side loaded several comic books. Read through two. No crashes. I opened Safari and browsed for a few minutes. No crashes.

Folks, this time I think it's my cover. There are two elastic bands in the corner that hold the device in place, and a partial frame holding the other edge in place. I think that every time any of these creep over the screen, the device is shutting itself off. I seem to recall that every time this second Air "crashes," it goes to black (sleep).

(This was not the case with my first iPad, however. It would crash to Home, Lock, and black randomly; and in addition I don't believe it went to sleep when the cover was closed. I seem to remember that if I didn't turn it off before bed, it took two minutes to go to sleep and for the light of the screen to fade out. So in the case of the first iPad, I think it was the operating system, 7.0.6, which is supposed to have been fixed by 7.1.)

So I've disabled the Lock/Unlock function in Settings -> General -> Lock/Unlock (scroll to near the bottom). Everyone using a cover might investigate this as a possible reason for a crashing iPad.

I'll monitor my Air's behavior for 24 hours, then if all goes well, I'll write my Apple Care rep with a suggestion that they fix this bug: the device should not shut itself off unless the cover is completely closed and the entire screen is covered.

Crossing my fingers in excitement that the hair-tearing-out could be over!

 

[Itharus]

It was an official Apple smart cover?

 

[bigchief]

I'm having crashes with my iPad Air and I'm using a invellop cover and it has magnets. I'll try turning my lock off. I've tried everything else.