I have just bought an iPad, but am not very technologically minded and wondered if someone could help me with a problem I can't seem to solve myself.
The iPad was initialised when I bought it in the States and when I got home to Botswana it was all working fine... I stuck on a screen cover, and the next day turned it on and it came up with a black screen with a picture of a USB connection with an arrow pointing to the iTunes icon.
I figured it wanted to connect to iTunes on my iMac, so did this but nothing happened, it doesn't let me redirect to any other 'page' on the iPad. I don't really want to download iTunes onto my iPad, and I've turned it on and off several times but I can't get away from this USB/iTunes icon screen. I can't get the normal iPad 'home' screen back??
What does it want me to do with iTunes? and how do I get back to my normal iPad screen?
Any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks
It certainly sounds as though it wants to be connected to iTunes. But a good fix for iPad problems are the two steps below....step 1 isn't really relevant (but I've included it for future reference) but Step 2 - completely switching off your iPad - rather than just putting it to 'sleep', the normal approach, is the usual way to fix these problems.....
The easiest first way to try to solve ‘unexplained’ or ‘unusual’ problems with the iPad are:-
Force the offending app to close. If you have iOS 4.2 double-press the ‘Home’ button to bring up the multi-task bar at the bottom of the screen. Press *and hold* any icon until they start to ‘jiggle’. Then tap the top left-hand corner of the app that you want to close. It will ‘disappear’ from the list. Don’t panic - you’ve not deleted it, just closed it. Now tap the Home screen and the multi-task bar will disappear. Re-open the iPad’s app and see if the problem has resolved itself. If not, it’s on to possible solution number two!!
Restart the iPad. Press *and hold* the Power button. After a couple of seconds a slider control will appear asking you to confirm that you really want to switch the iPad off (this is all you’ll be doing). Slide the control to accept. A rotating white ‘bezel’ will appear in the iPad screen as the iPad powers down (it takes a few seconds, just like it would if you were shutting down your PC). When the screen of the iPad has gone completely blank, press *and hold* the Power button for a couple of seconds until the white Apple logo appears and the iPad starts to power up. This takes several seconds, so be patient. During the power up the automatic screen orientation function is disabled, so don’t panic. A few seconds before the power up is complete, the iPad plays a little ‘jingle’ and then you’re back to the Home screen. Restart the iPad’s app and see if the problem persists. Apple (and Forum members) recommend that you power down your iPad at least once a week, just as you might regularly completely switch off your PC. The normal procedure of just briefly pressing the Power button of the iPad merely puts it to ‘sleep’. Most Forum members have found that one of the two methods I’ve mentioned here cure a whole bunch of unexplained problems and are an easy first step to resolving most anything that happens on the iPad.
OK - get back to us if the problem persists - there are some more things that you can try, but I didn't want to overload you right away.
Hope it all works OK - but - first rule - don't panic - you'll be OK and we'll help you through this problem.....
We're all iPad enthusiasts here so you're going to end up with too *much* help and not too little....
I wish I was in Botswana - I bet it's warmer there than where I am now - the East Coast of Scotland where it is, as usual today, cold, damp, grey, misty, cloudy, wet, windy...though we have had a few nice days recently, so I mustn't complain.....
I should add that there a lot more knowledgeable Forum members than me out there so, if you get any conflicting advice, ignore me.....
Just a point, when you returned to Botswana did you try to sync your iPad on a computer there before this problem occurred? i.e. you tried to sync it on a different computer to the one that you originally used in the US? Potentially this might be a contributing factor - iPads are monogamist and don't like to be paired to more than one PC or Mac. They get confused as to where their loyalties lay....
Tim
Scotland
No matter what I do it will not turn on. I've tried resetting it. I plug it into my MacBook and open Itunes and nothing happens. Do I have to take it to the apple store really? 
