IPad froze and then switched to Recovery Mode by itself

[Amazing Iceman]

Something happened to my iPad today, and I was wondering if anybody else has experienced it too.
I was browsing the MacRumors site's front page, when suddenly the iPad would stop responding, the page did not fully refresh. After about 20 seconds later, the iPad restarted in Recovery mode by itself.

- I didn't feel the iPad overheated.
- My iPad has latest iOS 4.2.x firmware and has never been Jailbreaked.
- There's a chance the ipad may have been running short of RAM if any previous apps didn't release it to the system after closing (I was testing and then saving/deleting some newly downloaded apps about an hour earlier than this event).

With a little struggle, I was able to get it out of recovery using Tiny Umbrella. It was a savior as I have not backed up my iPad in over 2 weeks. And after being spared from a major data loss, I did a full backup.

My concern is whether this was an unusual glitch that may never happen again, or if this is a sign of a serious fault or an early sign of a serious failure.

If this is supposed to happen? If it is, it would raise a concern for those of us who rely 100% on the iPad when traveling or working outside their office.

 

[Saberon]

To be honest it sounds very much like a "one time glitch" sort of thing. Keep an eye on it and if it does it again it may be worth it to try a restore/warranty it.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

To be honest it sounds very much like a "one time glitch" sort of thing. Keep an eye on it and if it does it again it may be worth it to try a restore/warranty it.

Thanks. I really hope you are right. It would be a disaster if it happens to me while on a trip or at a client's office.

 

[pmm0724]

Happened to me while I was out of town and I could't use my iPad until I got home and restored. Has not happened since, but it makes me nervous while on the road and I never reboot when out of town

 

[bmat]

Happened to me while I was out of town and I could't use my iPad until I got home and restored. Has not happened since, but it makes me nervous while on the road and I never reboot when out of town

This happened to me once. Wasn't out of town, just at work, but it completely froze and had to be rebooted/restored/re-whatever on iTunes at home. Tried everything, but the screen wouldn't go on.

 

[UncleWillie]

spontaneous failure

I had my 64Gb 3G on the table next to me last nite. It binged once like mail had come in, and I picked it up to check. It was absolutely dead. No response to sleep/wake button, home button, would not register being charged with the 10 watt charger, and iTunes couldn't see it when it was plugged into the iMAC. I looked through the book and finally tried holding down the home and the Sleep/wake button for 15 seconds and got an apple image. That faded and it asked to be hooked to iTunes. So I did that and iTunes replaced the firmware, the OS, and then my apps, and then the music and pictures--took two hours. The unit had been perfect before this major glitch. It was about 95% charged when the failure occurred, and it's never been abused at all. Anyone have any similar experience? Anyone know what happened? You can be sure that I've ordered a dose of AppleCare for this unit now.

 

[walterwhite]

I had my 64Gb 3G on the table next to me last nite. It binged once like mail had come in, and I picked it up to check. It was absolutely dead. No response to sleep/wake button, home button, would not register being charged with the 10 watt charger, and iTunes couldn't see it when it was plugged into the iMAC. I looked through the book and finally tried holding down the home and the Sleep/wake button for 15 seconds and got an apple image. That faded and it asked to be hooked to iTunes. So I did that and iTunes replaced the firmware, the OS, and then my apps, and then the music and pictures--took two hours. The unit had been perfect before this major glitch. It was about 95% charged when the failure occurred, and it's never been abused at all. Anyone have any similar experience? Anyone know what happened? You can be sure that I've ordered a dose of AppleCare for this unit now.

I have seen a few customers have this issue... software problem... fixed by a restore. Good thing you had your backup on iTunes.