On 24/04/2017 09:13, Grumps wrote:
Hi
So I have an old iPad 3G version 1. It must be 6 years old. I'd never
used the 3G bit until recently (about 6 months ago) when I stuck in a
SIM card just to see how it performs. It was really hit and miss as to
whether it managed to find the carrier, and after a few days the 3G bit
stopped working. I removed the SIM card.

Since then the battery life has been very bad, and after a few weeks it
just went into recovery mode. Needless to say, recovery in this mode (or
DFU mode) failed with the error code (-1). I tried multiple times;
that's the best advice I found.
Googling this code seemed to indicate a hardware problem. iPad then went
into bottom drawer.

So, a few months later I tried again. Still won't recover (don't know
why I thought it would!). But I googled more and someone suggested it
could be the baseband chip. Now I associate this with the 3G part and
had a look at some disassembly videos.
I broke it open gently, and then simply removed the communications
module. This turned it into a iPad WiFi only - so what. It didn't bother
me.

Now I have a working iPad again.

And the rant...
I initially posted my question on apple support community forums. There
did not seem to be anybody else with a solution.
Then I found the cure and posted that thinking that it might help
someone else in the future.

email from apple: "Your posting has been removed due to discussing
inappropriate activities. See our posting guidelines here ..."
I read the guidelines and it doesn't mention anything other than these
forums are for technical questions and answers. I believe I answered
correctly.
Silly me to think that I could provide assistance to others.

BTW I didn't buy the iPad, it was a gift from a happy customer.

1984 Apple-style...