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. My Nano locked up this morning and I paniced. Now, after making the reset, it is working just fine again… and I am working just fine again 🙂

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  2. Thankyou soo much for the help… for a minute there, I thought I might be flying to vegas with a f*cked up ipod and if you know how boring flights are when you’re flying the plane, then you would know what I’m taking about.

    Thanks again,

    Cpt Corey

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  5. The trick worked thank goodness. I already exchanged mine 2 times because it froze and they had NO IDEA what to do.. BUT this time it used all my battery when i did that trick. Did it happen to everyone or does mine now have a battery problem, like holding the charge. It charged all night and when i unplugged it froze but with full strenght. After reseting..DEAD…

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  6. Great help, I jsut bought my iPod after having charged it and put it in pocket to retreive later I found it locked up. Found this site after a few searches and your post fixed my ipod on the first try.

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  10. OMG! I was like freaking out when my nano froze… it was 2day like 10 minutes ago… i was like i broke it ALREADY?!?!? But i looked it up on google and found this… U ROK!!!!! It worked perfectly!

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  11. omg thank u so much i got my nano for christmas and it froze and i found this and it worked thank u very much

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  13. THANKYOU!!! im in a state of extreme happyness right now i thought i was gonna get killed by my mom thankyou !!! i love you !! will you marry me ?

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  14. Thx for the info .Wife’s new ipod locked up first time tryin to play a song,had no idea how to reset it.

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  15. Thank you soooooo much!!! My ipod was in the exact same state as yours. I went to many sites that told me to hold down the play/pause button and menu button but this did not work. However, this info fixed my problem!! Its about time Apple picked up on this info and should place it in their support page!

    Many thanks again!!!

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  16. omg thankyou sooo much !! it worked perfectly !! if i didnt fix it , my dad would of been really mad at me and wouldnt trust me any more so thank you soo much . God bless you :]

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  17. fuck yeah 😛 haha thanks to this thing i didnt have to cuz the national gaurd out lol … cuz my sister won an ipod nano the new one there and today that shit froze so i was flipping out … but thanks to this site i still have it in one peace … lol anyone if it freezes just press menu and middle button 😛 haha sorry im happy as fuck ..

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  19. oh my gosh, thank god i found this site. i called circuit city and they thought i was retarded for it freezing on me! you resurected my ipod nano =p

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  20. I was so sad that my dear iPod nano had frozen up. I search on google: “How to fix an iPod nano” And this site came up on the screen.

    Thank you!

    Like

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