IPad mini stuck in recovery mode and my computer won't reset it?

I have an old iPad mini (first generation) that I want to boot up again. Since purchasing and last using the device I have switched apple id's, and thus I wanted to just wipe the whole thing and start over with its factory settings. When I turned the thing on, I realized I didn't know the passcode anymore, so I googled what to do and what I found told me to put it into recovery mode and reset it through iTunes. I was intending to wipe it anyway, so I was totally cool with doing this.

I connected the iPad to my computer and did everything it told me to do. I downloaded the newest software and then clicked restore. It extracted the software alright, but when it tried to "prepare ipad for restore" it gave me an error message and just stopped. It went right back to the beginning. I figured I would try it again before worrying, so I did, and it did the exact same thing. What I noticed is that when it goes to prepare the ipad for restore it looses the serial code. I don't know if that's important but I'm guessing it probably is.

Then I started thinking of all the passcodes that I could have had, and I'm pretty sure I remembered what the passcode was, so I tried to take it out of recovery mode in order to just get into it the normal way. It won't let me out of recovery mode. I tried everything the internet told me to do (except tinyumbrella because I don't trust sketchy software) and it wouldn't get out of recovery mode.

I just want to use that damn thing. Help.

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