What if it won’t even turn off?

By | August 11, 2016
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On Monday I wrote about how restarting a tablet (or PC) properly (rather than just using the sleep mode all the time) can help if it’s not running very well.

But one question is: “What if it’s having a real strop and I can’t even turn it off?”

Good question! It doesn’t happen very often (and hopefully it’ll never happen to you) but it’s worth knowing what to do so if it does ever happen, you’re not stuck.

Most tablets have something called a “Forced restart”. To do it on an iPad you press the on/off button and the home button (the one on the front) at the same time and hold them down together for a few seconds until you see the apple logo appear on screen – then let go of them.

On Android tablets you have to hold the on/off button down for a long time – much longer than to just turn it off fully as I mentioned last time. On most newish tablets it’s 20 seconds (don’t let go of the button when the screen turns black, keep it held down for the full 20 seconds) but on some older ones it can be as long as 40 seconds.

That should force it to restart and hopefully get it running again.

It’s not the only problem you can have with a tablet, though, I have to admit. More on that next week.

4 thoughts on “What if it won’t even turn off?

  1. Graham Thorley

    If only I had known this some weeks ago!! My iPad simply froze, I could not do anything with it. I resorted to leaving it switched on and letting the battery drain completely, then I recharged it and it was fine, but it took 4 days to go flat! Thanks for your eagerly awaited letters, they are brilliant.

    Reply
    1. Tim Post author

      Thanks for the kind comments! A shame about the timing – if only it had happened a few weeks later! Still, at least you got it sorted in the end.
      Tim

      Reply
      1. linda shaddock

        Hi Tim I had the same problem. My tablet just froze and did’nt want to play ball. So frustrating!. I did’nt have any choice but to leave it until the battery drained. Fortunately only two days for me. Now I know what to do in future, so thank you. Please keep the letters coming. The are a great help.
        Linda

        Reply
        1. Tim Post author

          Thanks for the kind comments – always nice to hear that the emails are helpful!
          Tim

          Reply

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