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”

  5. Thanks, worked like a charm. Your web site came up as the first search in Google for “ipod nano locked”. Now I see why!

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  6. my ipod nano keeps turning on to the Apple logo and then right back off again. Over and over and over, any ideas for that one??? It’s currently docked while doing this as well.

    please help!

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  7. OMG…my nano froze on me while i was upd my music and it was on the charger. So i typed in Google to find a site that could help me unfreeze it and this site was the 2nd one i went to and the 3rd step that is required worked and i was soo happy! Thanks!!!

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  8. Although it is minor, I thought I’d suggest adding this verbiage to your ‘toggle’ steps, (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.) … some people won’t know which position of ‘hold’ is on or off. The on position is the position where the button is closest to the word ‘hold’ …

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  9. My ipod still wont work. I did the steps afew times over and over. But its still frozen at a song I was trying to skip. Does anyone else have this promble?

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  11. Many Thanks,

    My 4G Nano refused to bootup at all. Just spent 10 mins on the iPod website trying to find this info. & gave up.

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  13. thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!!! i was so worried and what u sugested fixed it staright away! thankyou so much. whatb a great website. clear and precise info.

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  15. IPOD SUCKS……THIS KEEPS HAPPENING ALOT…THIS IS MY SECOND NANO AND IT KEEPS FREEZING.. I WONT BE BUYING ANOTHER ONE THATS FOR SURE…***BUT THIS SITE IS VERY HELPFUL IT DOES RESET AFTER A FEW TRY*** STILL I SHOULDNT HAVE TO BE DOING IT IF APPLE WOULD HAVE CORRECTED THIS PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE

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  18. Thanx so much my iPod nano froze up with some Privatepics I took with my girlfriend on vacation I was pissed then I looked up google worked like a charm.

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