Home button working intermittently after OS 8 - coincidence?

[lbeck]

I need to press my home button several times for it to work. I noticed this only after updating to OS 8.1. Is this a coincidence or have others reported similarly?

If it's truly a hardware problem, is it fixable?

Thanks

 

[J. A.]

I had a problem with my Home button before the update, but it worked better again afterwards.

If you're still on iOS 8.1: the latest software, which is 8.1.1, was released to improve the performance of the iPad 2.

Here's a fix that helped me with my Home button before the update:
Open one of the built in apps (Mail, Settings, ...). Press and hold the Power button until you see the slider to turn off your device. Then let go of the Power button, don't turn it off. Press and hold the Home button until the slider disappears and the app you had opened is closed, so you see the homescreen.
My Home button wasn't working perfectly afterwards, tbh, but I didn't have an unresponsive button as often as before.

 

[lbeck]

Thanks. I tried a reset and also the procedure that you describe. Still intermittent response.

The thing that seems strange is that it doesn't respond like a hardware problem. sometimes if I mash it softly it works. Other times I press hard and/or several times and it doesn't work. Also, it sometimes has a delayed response (a second or two) when it does work, which supports my hypothesis that it is a software or memory problem. It doesn't seem to follow a pattern or respond to any kind of coaxing....

 

[J. A.]

There's something else you could try. But you have to be very cautious.

Some iPads and iPhones start getting problems with the Home button because of the connector. Plug in the 30 pin connector and slightly lift it upwards while gently pressing against it on the Home button. There are videos in youtube which show exactly how it's done.

What else you could do:
Use iTunes to restore it. Maybe that'll help.

 

[lbeck]

Thanks.

I'll try those tricks. If they don't work - its off to the Apple store.

 

[The OB]

Try this one... Has sometimes been known to work:
Hold your iPad in landscape mode and hold down the Home button. While holding that button down, rotate your iPad to Portrait mode. Then let the home button go. Any good?
Andrew