Ok, backstory. Was using my ipad 1 a few days ago and then put it on charge for a couple of hours. When i switched it on, it went straight into recovery mode i.e. the itunes/usb logo. Tried doing normal restore from itunes first off, got to 'preparing your iPad for restore' then failed with unknown error (40). Three days later, still no luck. Here's things I have tried so far:

- Put into DFU mode (blank screen) and manually picked the 5.1.1 IPSW file that I downloaded - still same error
- Fresh install of iTunes on new laptop - same error

The white apple logo appears on the screen for a second, then the progress bar appears briefly as if its about to restore, then the error message

Don't know what else I can try now. Does anyone have an ideas? There are no Apple service centers in Cyprus and I miss my pad

I can't find any definitive explanation for the error 40 code (not even the Apple site gives me anything). So, my suggestion to you is to take a look at this tutorial: TUTORIAL - Failsafe method to restore the current version of IOS

If followed exactly, there is a high rate of success. Oh, and the tutorial mentions downloading the IPSW for iOS 5.1.1 from here. If I may - I suggest you do get a new version of the IPSW as the one you have may be corrupted. Then, with any luck, you will have an iPad running iOS 5.1.1.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Marilyn

HI,

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately that article is actually the one I followed.Also, I downloaded another ipsw file yesterday just to be sure. Looks like he's a deadone. Shame as I can neither afford to replace or send it for repair.

All I could find while searching for info about error code 40 was that it's hardware related. A trip to the Apple store is in order here.