I'm not sure when it changed, possibly with the upgrade to iOS 5, but to put the iPad into Recovery Mode the steps are slightly different than in the OP for this thread. Here are the steps as of today...

1. Connect iPad to your computer via USB while it's turned on.
2. Open iTunes
3. Hold the iPad's Sleep/Wake switch (power button on the top of the iPad) down until the "power off" slider appears.
4. Power off the iPad completely (wait for the progress spinner to disappear).
5. Hold the Sleep/Wake switch AND the Home button down for a full 10 seconds.
6. After 10 seconds (the second time you'll see the Apple logo on the screen) release the Sleep/Wake switch while still holding the Home button.
7. Continue to hold the Home button for another 10 seconds until the USB connection image appears on the iPad's screen, then release the Home button.
8. A pop-up message will appear on iTunes saying it has detected an iPad in recovery mode, you must restore...
9. Click on the "Restore" button and the process will begin.

The process is the same as the first post on this thread thereafter.

I have made the steps untill it showed me a USB cable arrow and itunes, but no message appeared. What am I supposed to do do now?

I've done it, I would unplug from your computer and plug it back in, it should detect you iPad and since your iPad in in recovery you will be prompted , basically you won't be able to do any thing else until you go through the prompts in ITunes on your computer.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

- if you had previously backed up your iPad, iTunes will tell you there is a backup and ask if you would like it restored. If you wish to do this, accept the prompt. This will also take some time. Note it will NOT put your apps, music, movies, TV shows, etc back on your iPad, just your settings and preferences.


I had to do this yesterday and thankfully my 116 apps were restored.

The only thing I noticed it doesn't retain is the page layouts for your apps

That too was restored in my case, all apps in their correct folders.

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK