So your iPad has stopped working. Have you tried turning it on and off again? Of course you have.

If this age-old trick fails, however, and the Genius Bar is booked, there are a few tricks you can try before throwing in the towel. Inspired by our own searches and the most searched-for issues according to Google AutoComplete, we’ve done the work for you. These are the top problems you might face with your iPad and the wisdom of the crowd on how to (maybe) fix them.

iPad Won’t Charge
Precious battery life has eked away and now you can’t recharge.

• Give it a little time. It’s charging from the moment you plug in, but it won’t have enough power to boot for several minutes. And maybe from the very beginning, it won’t have enough power to light the icon that it’s charging. But it’s charging the whole time.
• Try using a different cable. In our experience, third-party Lightning cables are prone to failure, much more so than Apple-branded ones; there seems to be no reliable way to save money with Lightning cables.
• If you tried charging it in a wall outlet, charge it from your computer and vice versa.

iPad Won’t Turn On
Your iPad not turning on is a pretty big hindrance to using it.

• First thing is to try a hard reset: Hold the Sleep/Wake button and Home button simultaneously. It doesn’t erase the iPad.
• Make sure the iPad is charged. (Sounds obvious but even a full battery could have malfunctioned and drained without your realizing it.)
• Try a restore with iTunes by connecting the iPad and opening iTunes, then selecting the device in the program and clicking Restore on the Summary pane.

iPad Won’t Turn Off
The good news is your iPad turns on. The bad news is it won’t turn off.

• First thing is to try a hard reset: Hold the Sleep/Wake button and Home button simultaneously. It doesn’t erase the iPad.
• If it’s an errant app that won’t shut down, force quit it by holding the Sleep/Wake button down until you see the red Power Off slider, then press and hold the Home button for a few seconds and release.
• Try a restore with iTunes by connecting the iPad and opening iTunes, then selecting the device in the program and clicking Restore on the Summary pane.
• If the device appears in iTunes, select and click Restore on the Summary pane.
• If the device doesn’t appear in iTunes, try to force the device into recovery mode, and then restore it.
• Try a restore from iCloud(Opens in a new window).

iPad Won’t Connect to Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is your iPad’s lifeline to the world. What to do if it can’t make the connection?

• Check that Wi-Fi is on by going to General, then Settings, then see if the slider next to Wi-Fi is set to On.
• Try a network reset. Go to General > Reset > Reset Network Settings and reset. If the network you’re trying to connect to is password-protected, re-enter the password.
• Some public Wi-Fi networks don’t actually have Internet access. Your device might connect to the network, but not provide Web access.
  There could be a log-in screen (for which you should get a prompt), or it could just not be connected to the Internet, or have MAC address filtering set up for security. In other words, connecting to Wi-Fi doesn’t always mean connecting to the Internet, and a lot of casual users may not know the difference.

iPad Won’t Update
There’s a new version of iOS out there and your iPad wants nothing to do with it.

• Make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi and that your device is plugged in.
• Is anything else updating (apps, music, etc.)? If so, wait for it to clear and try the iOS update again.
• Do you not have enough memory for an update? If the Install button is greyed out, go to Settings > General > Usage to see what’s taking up space. Videos, photos, and apps take up the most space so delete those until you have enough room to update.