Why I suddenly get "Activation Required" at start up after several years of no issues.

Question

iFixYouri · Accepted Answer

Hi George, we've heard of this happening before so give this a shot: if you have a cellular data iPad, try opening the SIM card tray on the long side of your iPad and removing the SIM card, then try a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons to see if the Activation Required goes away. If you are not able to make any progress with that, please bring or send your iPad 3 in for a free diagnostic.

Older iPad models have very old SIM cards in them. If the cellular data service has been changed, discontinued or hasn’t been used much over the lifespan of the device, this Activation Required message may happen.

Q: Why I suddenly get "Activation Required" at start up after several years of no issues.