Dead iPad, support abroad

[silvert]

My new iPad died during a routine upgrade with iTunes 10. I was installing the new OS and noticed that the battery icon displayed "not charging" and then the upgrade aborted. I've tried the restore procedures but they always fail. The iPad is still under 90-day phone support, but I bought it in Canada and am currently in Europe and there seems to be no way to contact Apple - they won't call me, and their 800 number refuses my calls.

I've tried every reset and restore procedure on the Apple website and on other help sites, and I have tried all kinds of procedures to reach Apple, but with no luck. They don't even list a repair facility here in Portugal, although I will try to reach the Portuguese number on Monday. Any ideas?

 

[silvert]

OK, I found the secret! After trying to restore the iPad several times on two different computers I posted to the Forum and then tried the same restore procedure again so that I could document exactly what happened. And the restore worked! Murphy's Law?

Unfortunately I did the restore on a different computer from the one that I was using with it and has the backups, so I will have to see how that works, but so far it is working and syncing.

 

[Timmah]

Hey there -

When the iPad says "Not Charging" it means your USB port is not powerful enough to charge the iPad. The macs apparently ship with a powerful enough USB port (of course) and work without effort.

The reason it worked on the other computer was because it had a more powerful USB port.

 

[silvert]

About not charging

I am aware of this, but the message appeared when I connected to a port that has been charging the iPad successfully for over a month. Plus the Apple charger that used to charge the iPad quite rapidly now takes several hours to charge it, so it seems that the power demand has escalated.

I had assumed that after the restore procedure I would have something like a new iPad, but this is not the case. The name is "User's iPad" and I cannot see any way to change it, and although iTunes replaced some of the apps I had installed, I have not yet been able to install any more apps. The behaviour is quite strange.