iPad 2 Restored itself and won't Activate!

[Michael Baturin]

Hey everyone. I was just editing a numbers file on my iPad (my wedding invite master file) and suddenly the screen went blank. When it came back 5 minutes later I see below.

I am really mad about this. I do have it registered iOS5 beta 4 on another forum members Dev account and did not pay for it. It also won't activate now (see below). Anyone? Help?

Edit: I hit the home button and I saw my home screen pop up with all my icons. Then it immediately shutoff and restarted. I can't get back to the home screen now. I am convinced it's not restored. Not sure what to do though

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

"Sounds like you have a real problem there, son"

 

[Michael Baturin]

"Sounds like you have a real problem there, son"

:-( lots of important documents at stake here.

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

:-( lots of important documents at stake here.

I wasn't saying that your dilemma wasn't serious. Just trying to lighten the mood. Sorry.

 

[Michael Baturin]

My thoughts: Rumors of Apple sweeping through illegally registered UDID's by Developer accounts selling their spaces had me nervous. However, given that I did not pay for it, how could Apple possibly know I was not testing the firmware for a friend of mine. I do not see how this can be their work.

I am thinking this has something to do with buggy software. I believe the iPad data is still intact, I just cannot get past the activation at this point. Perhaps the person who registered my UDID unregistered it.

EDIT: Getting closer: http://www.thetechcheck.com/Apple1/Apples-ios-5-beta-expiring-on-august-31/

EDIT2: Woop there it is. Turns out you cant just sit on an old Beta version, they expire. As I was on Beta 4, and they are up to Beta 7 at this point, I have some updating to do tonight. I just have to figure out how to save my documents...

EDIT3: Currently upgrading to iOS 5 Beta 6 HOPING my documents were stored in iCloud. I think I had the setting turned on to do it so we will see.

 

[Michael Baturin]

Well all is good. I'm up to iOS5 beta 7. Everything reloaded and best part is I remembered I emailed myself a copy of the most important documents last week. All is good. Whew, dodged a bullet

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

Well all is good. I'm up to iOS5 beta 7. Everything reloaded and best part is I remembered I emailed myself a copy of the most important documents last week. All is good. Whew, dodged a bullet

Glad you got it sorted out. A bit of a scare, eh?

 

[acosmichippo]

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/16/psa-this-is-why-non-developers-shouldnt-run-ios-betas/

 

[Michael Baturin]

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/16/psa-this-is-why-non-developers-shouldnt-run-ios-betas/

I actually agree with everything in that article and while I am not an Apple developer, I am a developer and analyst for a fortune 500 company. As you see from my posts above I did figure out and fix the issue, just a little panic set in and so I posted here for help.

I have the beta because testing software like this is my passion, and something I highly enjoy. The only feature I use often of the beta is the split keyboard. I also enjoy knowing what Apple is up to and get excited for new features. We live and we learn and we all have our hobbies. Being a mobile software nerd just happens to be mine.

 

[alamarco]

LOL

That article is a sham meant for people who have no idea about development. The whole article lacks any proper information and the best part, which I just love is this:

"My colleagues here at TUAW want me to emphasize this point: Apple's definition of "beta" when it comes to iOS is not the same as Google's, or Mozilla's, or many other third-party development entities. What Apple calls "beta" is what most other developers would call "alpha" -- software never intended for use by the general public, released only to small numbers of (hopefully) knowledgeable people for testing purposes."

No, what Apple calls "beta" is beta. Beta is meant for users to test. Of course it will come with bugs, that's the point of testing. Now the beta may be aimed at developers and not users, depending on the company, but trying to sound smart only gets you so far TUAW. Google is the one who is destroying the classic structure. 99% of their applications are beta because they refuse to remove the tag off it. How many years has Gmail been in beta? I'm actually shocked I don't see the beta label anymore.

When this article was initially published I stopped reading and visiting TUAW. For this to even get past editors is unbelievable. That site lost all its respect and will probably never get it back.

 

[acosmichippo]

The point is, if you're going to use a beta, you better be sure you know what you're doing.

 

[patrickj]

No, what Apple calls "beta" is beta. Beta is meant for users to test.

Not in the case of iOS betas it isn't. iOS betas have never been open to users, they've always been exclusive to developers and registered testers.

I disagree with some of what the TUAW writer said about the 'alpha' level of the betas (though it has been accurate for some of the early betas) but the fact is Apple hasn't released these betas for public user testing.

 

[alamarco]

Correct, Apple has never opened them up for non-registered users. Developers are a specific subset of users. So while it isn't an open beta, it still is a beta. Until recently, most companies never gave access to betas even to developers. So I agree that it isn't open, TUAW still got it all wrong.

Apple could also limit it to only real developers if they really wanted to. They open it up to regular users who can easily buy a developer account themselves or buy a slot on eBay. So, Apple could always limit the beta to developers who actually have at least one app in the App Store. This would stop people making money on eBay (for the most part, you won't stop it completely), although I'm sure Apple doesn't mind the extra $100 they are getting from non-developers.