A while back I read numerous posts on Safari crashing with iOS 5. Well I ran across this article today and put it forward as a possible fix.
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Fix Safari Crashing on iPad and iOS 5
osxdaily.com
We've been made aware of some ongoing issues with apps crashing constantly on iPads running iOS 5, both iPad and iPad 2 are impacted with Safari being particularly sensitive and seemingly crashing anytime javascript or a video loads and sometimes with just general web browsing. At worst, Safari won't even launch and crashes immediately, and often the application instability goes beyond Safari and impacts nearly all applications as well. First we'll focus on resolving the Safari crashes, but if you're having issues with multiple apps crashing you may want to jump down and go straight for a clean reinstallation of iOS 5.
Troubleshooting Tips for Safari Crashes on iPad & iOS 5
If the majority of crashes are centered around Safari, use these troubleshooting tips and see if the problem is resolved:
Update to iOS 5.0.1 either manually, through iTunes, or using OTA
Disable iCloud Bookmark Syncing: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch Bookmark syncing to OFF
Clear & Disable Autofill: Settings > Safari > Autofill > Clear All and then turn everything to "OFF"
Clear Safari history and cookies: Tap on Settings > Safari > Clear History, Clear Cookies and Data
Clear Safari stored data: Tap Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remova All Website Data
Try using Safari again, for many users the above solutions help to prevent the crashing. If not, these secondary options may work as well:
Disable iCloud Completely: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch all to OFF
Disable Javascript: Tap on Settings > Safari > Javascript > OFF
Yes, it's annoying to not have iCloud or Javascript, but it's more annoying to not be able to use Safari. If the above tips aren't working, or if you need javascript, then the next idea is to manually erase and reinstall iOS 5.0.1 on the iPad, but not restore from a backup.
Performing a Clean iOS 5 Install on iPad
This is the most drastic approach because it will remove all data from the iPad, and the key for this to work is to not restore from a backup. In other words, you will lose all data on the device and have to manually setup things like iMessage again and then re-download apps and content from the iOS App Store.
Update to iOS 5.0.1 before continuing, but you already did this in the first troubleshooting step though, right?
Connect the iPad to a computer and launch iTunes
Find the iPad in iTunes device list and click on the "Summary" tab
Click on "Restore" under the Version section, and click "Don't Back Up" when asked
Let iTunes restore the iPad, this will wipe all content and reinstall iOS 5.0.1
When finished, you will see the familiar `Connect to iTunes' screen, do not restore from a backup, instead choose to "Set Up As New"
Note: Some Apple Store Geniuses are performing the clean install of iOS 5 from DFU mode. You are welcome to try that, although after reading through several threads on Apple's Discussion Boards it does not seem to make a difference whether the device is restored from DFU or not, it's more important to avoid the prior backup as it may contain corrupted data causing the crashes.
If you continue to have issues, there's a slim chance of a hardware problem and contacting Apple may be the best bet. It's also possible there are some lingering bugs in iOS 5 that impact only the iPad, and an update will resolve them with iOS 5.0.2 or iOS 5.1 whenever they come out. iOS 5.1 is currently available to developers as a beta, and is expected to be released to the public alongside iPad 3 in March.
Hope this helps.
Russ
http://techsavvypatient.blogspot.com/
