Tips and tricks for troubleshooting your ipad

Transcription

1

2 Tips and tricks for troubleshooting your ipad Anyone who has spent any amount of time with an ipad will know that like all computers it sometimes doesn t do what it s supposed to do. It could be a frozen screen, a system that overheats, or a refusal to recharge. The result is the same: You have to figure out what s wrong with it and how to get it back on the straight and narrow. What follows are some useful troubleshooting routines for the things that most often go wrong with an ipad, along with several tips and shortcuts for how to get the system to act the way you want it to. These can help when the screen is unresponsive or when you have trouble synchronizing your ipad to a computer. In many cases, the fix resides in the ipad s Settings page, which is where all the system wide configuration choices are made. There are limits, however, to what you can do. For example, forget about changing the battery, adding memory chips, or recalibrating the touchscreen. You need to send your ipad back to Apple for such repairs. With the tips, tricks, and solutions that follow, your ipad will run a lot smoother, and you ll get your work done a lot quicker. Wi Fi connection problems A Wi Fi network is the only free way to connect an ipad with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, there are many potential connection snags. The ipad s Wi Fi range is more limited than that of most notebooks the ipad has a maximum range of about 65 feet, while most notebooks manage over 100 feet so if you re having problems, getting closer to the router will help. If your connection gets dropped repeatedly, try renewing the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) lease. Go to the Network section of the Settings page, click on Wi Fi, and then tap the little blue arrow on the right side of the row for the network you want to use; click on the Renew Lease button to refresh the connection with the router. Power problems Most ipads get between seven and eight hours of on and off use per charge. Not getting close to that? Here are a few things you can do to keep it going and going and going: * Dim the screen. Go to the Brightness & Wallpaper section of the Settings page to turn off auto brightness and then set screen brightness to between half and three quarters.

3 * Deactivate Bluetooth. If you re not using a wireless keyboard or speakers, turn off Bluetooth by going to the General section of the Settings page, clicking on Bluetooth, and tapping the switch to Off. * Turn off the modem. If you re not using the 3G modem, you can turn it off by tapping the Cellular row on the Settings page and then tapping the switch to Off. Back to Square One Every so often, for no particular reason, an ipad will lock up and stop responding to touch. Most of the time, that s caused by a software problem, and there are three things you can do to help fix it: * Close the active application by pressing the Home button so that the system returns to the Home page. * If that doesn t help, try a soft reset by pressing the Sleep/Wake button for about five seconds until the Power Off slider appears. Run your finger across it to shut the ipad down. When it s off, press the Sleep/Wake button to start it up again, without the offending app running. * Still having problems? It s time to restart the system and start fresh. This time, press the Sleep/Wake button along with the Home button. The screen will go dark, and then the Apple logo will appear. The ipad should start up and hopefully run fine. No charge The most common complaint that I ve heard about the ipad is that, after plugging the USB connection cable into a computer, the battery doesn t charge. The problem is that the ports on many USB hubs, smaller notebooks and even some desktops aren t powerful enough to charge the ipad while its screen is on. The battery icon in the upper right corner of the screen shows Not Charging rather than the + symbol inside the battery. This is an easy problem to fix. If you don t want to use the AC power adapter that came with your ipad, you can plug it into a powered USB hub, which should work. The heat is on The ipad s lithium polymer battery is very sensitive to temperature swings it doesn t like environments colder than 32 degrees or hotter than 95 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, if

4 you re out in the sun for too long, the system runs the risk of overheating and automatically shutting down. About the only thing you can do in that case is let the device cool down and then restart the system. On warmer days, use your ipad in the shade and never put it in a hot place, like a car. And if you ve just come in from the cold, you may want to let your ipad warm up a bit. Unresponsive screen The ipad s touchscreen is its main interface, and it gets a lot of use. Chances are that sooner or later it ll get dirty enough to be nearly unusable. Time to clean. Stay away from abrasive or ammonia based window cleaners. Your best bet is to gently wipe the display with a damp paper towel. I also keep a soft microfiber cloth handy to clean the screen every few days. Backtrack One of the most useful things about the ipad software is that whenever it syncs with its host computer, the entire system is backed up. If the system is acting weird, try returning to the last synchronized data. Plug the ipad s USB cable into the host computer, and the itunes software should automatically start. Click on the ipad on the left side of the computer s screen and then select the Summary tab. After clicking on the Restore icon, you re ready to reload your ipad with data. Use Restore from the last backup so that all your music, videos and apps will return during your next synchronization. If that doesn t work, click on Set up as new ipad to start from scratch although you will lose anything you ve done or bought since your ipad came from the store. The whole process will take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, but you ll notice that the app icons are now arranged alphabetically (rather than in the order they were installed).

5 Black screen If your ipad s screen goes black after about five minutes of inactivity and no amount of screen tapping gets it back, it s probably not broken just sleeping to save power so that the battery lasts longer. Some users find this annoying, but it s easy to change. You can adjust the length of time the screen stays on before the system goes to sleep. Go to the Settings page s Auto Lock screen and adjust how long you want the screen to stay on before it goes blank the choices are 2, 5, 10 or 15 minutes. If you like, you can turn this feature off altogether for an always on system (although this will, of course, decrease your battery life). Lock down Are you afraid that the contents of your ipad might fall into the wrong hands if it s stolen or lost? You re not alone. As a simple security measure, you can set a passcode that must be entered in order to unlock the machine. Go to the Settings page, open the Passcode Lock section, and tap Turn Passcode On at the top of the page. Type in the four digit code you want to use, type it in again, and you re set. The downside is that you ll need to enter the passcode every time you wake up your ipad but at least your data will be more secure. To be doubly safe, you can turn on the Erase Data switch (located on the same page) so that the system will erase its entire contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts to enter the passcode. Just make sure you have a good backup on your host computer to rebuild your ipad if its contents do get erased. Multiple mailboxes The ipad can accommodate multiple Web based and server based e mail accounts. Let s say you want to keep your business e mail account and add a Gmail account. Open the Settings page, tap on Mail, Contacts and Calendars and then tap Add Account. There ll be a list of six choices, from Microsoft Exchange to AOL. After typing in the account particulars, tap Save and it should now be in the e mail accounts section below the first one you set up. If you have another account to add, do the same to get the ipad to start working with it.

6 Shortcuts The ipad s on screen keyboard is adequate for most short typing needs, like e mail or Web addresses, but it can t compare to a good old mechanical keyboard for lengthier pieces. Still, it has a few shortcuts that can make on screen typing a little easier, including these: * Hit the space bar twice at the end of a sentence to add a period and a space before starting on the next sentence. * Hold down a letter key to get any special characters that are available for that letter. You could use this feature to, for example, add an accent mark to a letter. * Need the euro ( ) symbol? Press the dollar sign key for a few seconds, and the ipad will give you a choice of five international currency symbols. * You can hold down the ipad s.com button to get.edu,.net or.org instead. The app remover With so many apps available at the itunes App Store, it s easy to overwhelm yourself and your ipad with software. You can get rid of an app that you aren t using by holding a finger on the app s icon. It ll wiggle and a small X will appear in the icon s corner. Tap on the X and click Delete to get rid of it. Be sure to delete the app from itunes on the host system as well, or it will be reinstalled the next time you synchronize your ipad. New signature Out of the box, the ipad s default e mail signature is Sent from my ipad. That obnoxious declaration will appear at the bottom of every message that you send from the device. Once you ve gotten over your new ipad owner s enthusiasm, I suggest that you might want to think about changing that. Go to the Settings page and click on Mail, Contacts and Calendars and then go to Signature at the bottom of the page. You can type in whatever you want to use as your signature, or you can leave it blank if you want to remain anonymous. Quiet! If you get as annoyed as I do with a computer that beeps when new e mail arrives or clicks when you use the keyboard, you deserve silence to preserve your sanity.

7 Go to the Settings page, click on General and then Sounds. There you can turn off the sounds that play when you send or receive e mail, get a calendar alert or lock your ipad. You can even turn off the especially annoying keyboard clicks. If you don t want to turn off the sounds completely, you can at least turn down the volume. Not responding or does not turn on Your iphone, ipad, or ipod touch may occasionally stop responding to buttons, switches, or touchscreen input and may exhibit one or more of these symptoms: Does not return to the Home screen after you press the Home button Does not wake from sleep after you press the Sleep/Wake button Does not turn on (or power on) when you press any button Does not start up past Apple logo Appears frozen or unresponsive Is unable to "Slide to Unlock" or "Slide to Power Off" Resolution: 1. If a single application is not responding or stops responding when it opens, you can force it to close. 2. If the device is unresponsive or if certain controls aren't working as expected, restart your device. 3. If the device remains unresponsive or does not turn on (or power on), reset your device. 4. If there is no video or if the screen remains black, verify that the device has enough charge to turn on: a. If you are using an ipad, ensure that it's connected to the USB Power Adapter supplied with the device. b. Let charge for at least twenty minutes, then see if it starts normally. c. If there is no image on the screen, press the Sleep/Wake button to attempt to wake the device. d. If the screen displays a red battery icon, continue charging the device until the battery is fully charged. 5. If the above steps do not resolve the issue, or the if the screen remains black or shows a persistent Apple logo, try restoring with itunes: a. Connect the device to your computer and open itunes. b. If the device appears in itunes, select and click Restore on the Summary pane. c. If the device doesn't appear in itunes, try to force the device into recovery mode, and then restore it.

8 How to Update your iphone, ipad, or ipod Touch Apple's software updates for ios introduce new features and improvements that let you do even more with your iphone, ipad, and ipod touch. Updating the software on your device is easy. Ensure that your device is backed up to icloud or back up with itunes before updating. Update your device wirelessly 1. Ensure your device is connected to a power source. To avoid potential data costs connect your device to a Wi Fi network. 2. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. ios will automatically check for available updates. Available updates download automatically if your device is connected to Wi Fi and a power source. 3. If an update is available * you can tap Download to download the update. 4. After the download has completed tap Install to update your ios. 5. If you leave the update to download in the background, once the download has finished you will receive a notification saying an update is available for your device. Tapping Details will take you to Settings > General > Software Update. Tap Install Now to install the ios update. If you decide to leave the installation for later Settings will display notification badge until the update has been installed.

9 * Some ios updates may not available as over the air updates. VPN or proxy connections may prevent your device from contacting the ios update servers. Unable to update, not enough available storage When updating wirelessly, your ios device needs enough available space to download and install the update. If "Download and Install" is grayed out or you see the message "This update requires at least x.x GB of available storage", use one of the following options to update: Use itunes to download and install the update instead or Remove content you no longer need from your device, including: o Movies or TV shows from the Videos app. On iphone and ipod touch, use the "swipe to delete" gesture. On ipad, either tap Edit or tap and hold on a video, and then tap "x" to delete. o Apps you no longer use. Tap and hold until they jiggle, and then tap the "x" to delete.

10 o Photos or videos you've taken with the camera. To save your content, you can transfer photos and videos from your device to a computer. How to Back up and Restore your Content Learn how to back up and restore the content on your iphone, ipad, or ipod touch using a computer, icloud or itunes. Backup & Restore: Computer When you connect your ipod touch, iphone, or ipad to your computer, certain files and settings on your device are automatically backed up to your computer. You can restore this information to your device if you need to (if you get a new iphone, for example, and want to transfer your previous settings to it). Automatically backed up information includes text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, and more. In addition, photos in Camera Roll or Saved Photos are also backed up. Other media files (such as songs, videos, and some photos) aren t backed up, but can be restored by syncing with itunes. If you have ios 3.0 or later and Mac OS X or later, itunes can also encrypt your backups to secure your data. Back up or restore your device 1. Connect your ipod touch, iphone, or ipad to the computer you normally sync with and select your device. 2. Click Summary. 3. Do one of the following: Back up or restore from a backup manually: Click Back Up Now or Restore Backup. Restore your device s files and settings: Click Restore. If your backup is encrypted, itunes asks you to enter the password before restoring your files and settings. Encrypted backups have a lock icon in the list of backups in itunes Devices preferences. Encrypt your backups: Select "Encrypt Device backup," type a password, and click Set Password. 4. Click Back Up Now or Restore Backup (below Backups).

11 Problem: No sound If you find that your ipad Air is suddenly silent, there are a few things you can try to bring the sound back again. Start by checking the volume settings and making sure there s nothing plugged into the headphone port. Potential solutions: Double tap the Home button and close down all your open apps. Try a reset first by holding down the Sleep/Wake key and the Home key together for around ten seconds until the ipad restarts and you see the Apple logo. Make sure that it s not the side switch. Go into Settings > General and you ll see the Use side switch to option which can be set to Mute or Lock Rotation. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access the Control Center and ensure that Mute is not on. You should also turn AirPlay and Bluetooth off to make sure that your ipad Air isn t connected to another device and trying to play audio through it. Try plugging something into the headphone port and take it out again. You can also blow, or even better, fire some compressed air, into the port just to make sure there s nothing stuck in there. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings and see if that helps. If you still don t have any sound then it s time to contact Apple. Glitch: Camera won t load or freezes Some ipad Air owners have run into an issue with the camera refusing to work properly. Perhaps it won t load up at all, or maybe it loads up, but frequently crashes. If you re sure that your case isn t obscuring the camera lens then you can try the following: Potential solutions: Double tap the Home button and swipe up the Camera app and any other app that potentially uses the camera in order to close them, then try loading it up again. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button for ten seconds until the ipad Air reboots. Go into Settings > General > Restrictions and make sure that the Camera app and any other app you re trying to use with the camera are allowed. Try going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings and see if it makes a difference. You could also try a backup and restore. Go to Settings > icloud > Storage & Backup and select Back Up Now. When it s done go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. Set it up as new and see if the camera works before you restore your backup. If you re still having problems then you should contact Apple and see if there s a hardware fault.

12 Problem: Orientation is locked A few people have run into an issue where the ipad Air gets stuck in landscape or portrait view and even when they rotate the tablet it doesn t change. Potential solutions: First of all, make sure that the switch on the side of your ipad Air isn t responsible. Go into Settings > General > Use side switch to and make sure it is not set to Lock Rotation. If that s not it, try holding down the Sleep/Wake button and Home button together for 10 seconds until the ipad Air restarts. Finally go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings and try again. I've got a ghost app Ghost apps are rare but annoying. Their icons will usually be dimmed and when you try to launch an app, it'll just sit there, doing nothing. Most often, ghost apps are the product of a busted sync attempt, and they're more common when syncing over Wi-Fi. Getting rid of one can be as easy as holding an icon until they all jiggle and prodding the relevant ' ' button, but this doesn't always work. If that's the case for you, select your device in itunes and access the Apps tab. Select the relevant home screen, delete the app that's causing problems, and click Apply to sync your device. You might also need to do a hard reset (press home + sleep buttons until the ipad restarts). Note also that syncing over Wi-Fi takes time, and so if you see loads of dimmed apps with progress bars, your ipad might be working its way through a major update and is best left alone until it's done. Need even more support? Call the Help Desk at (HELP), chat us online, send an to helpdesk@semo.edu, or visit our office at Memorial Hall, room 107 or Towers Complex, room 108.