Hard Reset

    Hey, everyone. Yesterday I had an odd day. I had I-Pad trouble with my I-Pad Air. Let me tell you about it. I'll have to give you the "Reader's Digest Version". Ha, ha. This is an old saying, common during the dark ages. At that time Reader's Digest put abbreviated novels out for consumption by those who didn't really have a lot of time. They were quite good, usually.
     So, a weird thing was going on with my Padster. To wit, I would buy a game and it would not appear on my I-Pad. The store would indicate that the game had downloaded but alas, there was no icon. Distressing. How could I possibly save Duke Nukem in The Manhattan Project?
     I bought other games, like Alpha 9, and they didn't appear either. I just chilled out for a while and meditated on the problem, hoping it would go away or a flash of genius might overtake me. I plugged the Padster into my PC and added some of my old games. They didn't appear either. Hmmmmmm.
     I looked at the screen on I-Tunes and saw that it showed that I had 15 screens of apps. Only 12 screens of apps appeared on my I-Pad. I had Siri call home, like E.T. When Cupertino or San Jose or wherever came on line I talked to several nice people about it. They had me allow them to watch my screen as I did all sorts of neat things. In fact, we worked on it for a couple of hours. I grew really tired and eventually gave up. They were nice and would have continued but hey, I'm an old guy and I needed a nap.
      Today, when I got up, it occurred to me that I should try the old stand-by resolution of the Hard Reset. This is where you hold the power switch down (the one on top of the device) until the screen goes black and the silver Apple appears. When the device returns to life, it will often be miraculously cured of its digital ailments. Sort of like CPR, Artificial Insemination or something. Ha, ha. Anyway, I put the breath of life back in the I-Pad Air and hoped for the best.
     When I saw that my needed updates went from 26, all the way to 50, I suspected that my patient would live. I put my ear to the screen and tried to hear Siri breathing. Then I looked at the last couple of pages and ....Oh, for joy, my games were there! My investment of the $700 I-Pad was returned to robust health. Did Siri thank me? Not.
    The bottom line here is merely this: if you have a problem with an Apple device, the kiss of life, the hard reset, should be the first thing you think of. I had to use it on my I-Phone 4S the other day when I had a Sim Card Failure that took me off the grid. It worked then as well.
    From the author's green retreat, I bid you a good evening from my patient and I.  I'm CE Wills, the master of techy first aid.
P.S. Carley says that you should hold the home button and the power button at the same time. If I were you, I'd believe her, rather than me. She is younger. Either way, the patient will be unharmed, I expect. No I-Pads were harmed during the making of this blog.