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”

  3. THanks for the help. I was about to throe my nano at the wall, my girl stoped me. Is this in the manual? I lost mine a while back. Im not computer literate so this site saved me $150.00

    Like

  4. Wow, that first set of instructions worked like a CHAMP! Weird that the iPod website gives different instructions…or at least it didn’t include what you provided.

    Thanks again.

    Mike

    Like

  5. thax it worked i thought it was broken so thax u for the tip i am so happy thaught that i was dead it worked thax again

    Like

  8. Thank you so much for the help my ipod was frozen the entire day and i was so afraid because it was a birthday gift which i had to take very good care of! thanks once again

    Like

  12. 0MG!!! THANK U SO MUCH! I THOUGH I WASTED MY MONEY 4 NOTHING BUT NOW IT REALLY WORKS! =]

    Like

  14. Many thanks for the tip. Didn’t know what to do when my daughter turned on the lock and I couldn’t access the data inside

    Like

  15. great tip! first ping from google search hits this response, and it works perfectly now. thank you so much

    Like

  16. thanks so much !!omg i was gonna got ot he store adn stuff and in less than 1 minute it’s working again wohow thanks !!!

    Like

  17. Thanks for your tip. My nano froze and wheel wouldn’t move but your tip sorted it. You are a genius, at the very least

    Like

  18. Oh my goodness! Yous saved me thanks so much. My iPod had been frozen and I would have been in so much trouble if I wouldn’t have fixed it! Thanks a bunch!

    Like

Comments are closed.