iPod nano Lockup Reset When Frozen

Nick Momrik765 Comments

My iPod nano locked up and I had no idea what to do. Holding down buttons wouldn’t turn it off. Toggling the hold switch didn’t do anything either. It was in a stuck state where hold was turned on and none of the buttons would respond.

If you own an iPod with the Click Wheel (iPod with video, nano, iPod photo, iPod, or mini) follow these steps to reset the iPod:

  1. Toggle hold switch on.
  2. Toggle hold switch off.
  3. Hold down the menu and middle button for a few seconds.
  4. You might need to repeat.

Both times my iPod nano has frozen up I was plugging the ipod into the USB cable while the the hold switch was toggled on. Make sure to hold switch is togged off when connecting your iPod with the USB cable.

To reset some of the earlier iPods including like the iPod, iPod (scroll wheel), iPod (touch wheel), and iPod (dock connector), follow these steps:

  1. Toggle hold on.
  2. Toggle hold off.
  3. Press and hold the Play/Pause and Menu buttons until the Apple/iPod logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds.
  4. You might need to repeat.

To reset an iPod shuffle:

  1. Move the switch on the back of iPod shuffle to the off position (green stripe not visible).
  2. Wait 5 seconds.
  3. Move the switch on the back to the play in order or the shuffle position (green stripe visible).

Still having problems?

  1. Connect to a different USB or FireWire port on the computer.
  2. Install the latest Operating System upgrades.
  3. Restart the computer.
  4. Reinstall the iPod with iPod Updater
  5. Reinstall iTunes
  6. Restore your iPod using the latest iPod Updater.

    *Restoring an iPod will erase all songs and files from the iPod, restoring it to the original state. Backup all files from the iPod before restoring it. Once restoration is complete, you can transfer your music and files from the computer back to your iPod again.

iPod displays sad iPod icon

In most cases, the sad iPod icon indicates a hardware issue. If you are able to force iPod into Disk Mode, then it may not be a hardware issue, and you should try to restore your iPod with the latest software.

765 thoughts on “iPod nano Lockup Reset When Frozen”

  1. Yes seems strange mine happened too! just got mine for xmas and was freaking out it cost to much to bust so soon. Thanks for the unlock – helped BIG TIME.

    Like

  3. hey i tried what u said and it still wont work it says that its on hold but its not! idk what to do im so confuzzled HELP ME!!!

    Like

  4. Thank you so much for this tip. I put it in to charge and it froze. I had the warrenty ready after it wasnt working for a while but i saw this and it worked. Again thank you.

    Like

  5. Mine ran out ofatteries and then locked up. I pluged it in and tried the lock up thing it worked once before. please, anyone HELP

    Like

  8. Thanks Google for connecting me with this tip. My Nano was stuck with the display on, but was completely unresponsive, but your tip helped unlock it, thanks.

    Like

  10. Thank you so much I am borrowing my nano from my uncel and i thought it was broken but its not its fixed THANK YOU SO MUCH

    Like

  11. My nano which I received for Christmas will not turn off or go insto sleep mode. I called Apple support and went through resetting and restoring several times. I still have the same problem. I am also getting a message about Firewire not being supported for downloading of songs. I have never connected via firwire. I only use USB. Apple has asked me to return the unit. I’m wondering if they have a manufacturing problem??

    Like

  14. i had software issue with nano. after i played with speed normal/fast when an audiobook was playing, i got stuck with speed normal on menu all the times. when i pressed the middle button, it switched between speed normal (a few times per cycle) and audiobook picture. doing a hard reset solved this problem.

    thanks.

    Like

Comments are closed.