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. It worked! But I think your instructions need a little editing.

    By the way. My nano was already turned on and wouldn’t turn off.

    I’m not sure what your line 1 and 2 does. But it seems to me nano should be on for your line 3 to work. Hmm?

    1. The nano doesn’t have an on off switch.

    2. press and hold the “arrow pointing to the 11 thinging” for 2 seconds. Maybe longer.

    3. Do line two again.

    4. Hold down the menu and middle button untill you see an apple on the screen.

    5. Yea! It seems to be working again.

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  2. The instructions don’t say anywhere it has an on/off switch. It’s the hold switch at the top of the nano that you need to toggle on and off.

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  4. hey, my nano is no tuning on only wheni put it in a charger and even than I cant scroll through song or anything. It show the lock feature like i have it on hold it like I cant get it off hold I dont know what to do.

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  8. ummm but my hold is locked on on the screen so the buttons arn’t working, I can toggle the hold swithc all day long and stays locked. toggled on, off and held down buttons but since it thinks the hold is stuck on the buttons do nothing……………….

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  9. Thanks! I locked mine up the same way you describe, and your fix worked perfectly for me.

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  10. This also fixed the problem on my Nano with showing dots at the bottom of the play screen instead of the track time / volume / or track position.

    Sweet. Thx.

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  12. Same thing happened to me. When I had my nano on hold and plugged it into the USB cable it froze. But your fix worked. Thanks!!

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  13. Yea… my i-pod nano has been locked up with the lock mode/hold for 3 days. The thing thats drivin my crazy is that its loked up but its turned on. So i plugged it into my computer but no charging response with that either, nor did it come up in itunes for me.

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  15. Hey guys thx for da tips about rebooting da ipod nano…i’ve just installed ipodlinux on my ipod and da problem was i didn’t knew how to reboot my ipod so that i could log onto podzilla well now i’ve just tried da stuff u said and wow its working 100 % 😉 thx a bunch…. keep on da good work 🙂

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  16. Cheers for that mate

    absolutely petrified that it was broken and then voila!!!! fixed!!!

    i hafta take ya out for dinner lol

    ure my hero!!! 🙂

    xxxxxx MWAH!!! xxxxxx

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  17. my ipod nano keep showing the apple and keep turning on and off and just show the apple. I try to do the trick but it just stop blinking until i let go and i can’t charge it or plug it into usb2

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  18. My iPod is stuck on disk mode. The screen says: : OK to disconnect.”

    But it is not plugged into anything. I have tried to reset it but nothing happens. How do I fix it??

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  19. my nano is completey locked up. I don’t knwo why or how I did it. I cannot do anything. I have charge the battery but still no change. Can anyone help please?

    Does anyone know how to put the Hold Switch off?

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