Chosen Solution

I have a first generation iPad mini I got broken from a friend, and it has a multitude of problems. At first, I thought it was just a dead flat battery, that’s what the symptoms pointed to, so I replaced the battery. Once I did this, I discovered some more problems: The ipad does not seem to charge. For the first few days it did, but got very hot while plugged in and eventually stopped altogether. The ipad does not turn on at all, no “dead battery” screen, can’t do recovery mode, nothing. The ipad, during those first days when the new battery would charge, it would detect as in recovery mode whenever plugged into itunes, and prompt a reset. And now whenever I plug it into the computer, it just keeps connecting and disconnecting, showing up in itunes as in recovery mode for a split second before disconnecting and connecting again, all the while making that annoying USB connected jingle in windows. I’m assuming the board is fried in some fashion, but I’m no expert and I figure somebody here probably is, I hope I’ve given enough information, if anybody has any ideas they’d be much appreciated.

You could have any number of issues:

  • You do have corrupted data and will need to DFU restore your iPad. Force DFU and try to restore. If it stabilizes the connection and successfully restores, test it to see if there is any other funky behavior.
  • You may have gotten a bad battery. Using a different know good one can help you rule this out. If you have to purchase a new one, get it from a reputed seller. Bad batteries are the norm, not the exception. This is why I get my batteries almost exclusively from iFixit.com since they carry some of the best batteries out there.
  • You may have ripped the battery gas gauge off the board (next to the battery connector) and the battery is reporting wrong values to the board.
  • You may have a charging issue and the charging circuit needs to be addressed. You will need a very systematic approach to narrow it down. I’d start by DFU restoring, and report back with findings. And yeah all data will be lost.