MethodShop: Unresponsive iPod

5/01/2006

Unresponsive iPod

Do you have an iPod that is unresponsive? Occasionally an iPod may freeze or fail to respond to your commands. There are a few things you can do to troubleshoot this.

Here's an email from a MethodShop.com reader about an unresponsive iPod:

"I'm using a 40GB click-wheel iPod in Windows 2k. It is unable to fully boot up. When I turn it on, the Apple symbol comes up and the hard drive sounds like it begins to spin, and then it stops. Occasionally it gets to the folder w/exclamation point screen and then the hard drives stops and then starts again, going back to the apple screen. The iPod update application either doesn't detect the iPod or it freezes my whole computer. I have tried resetting, and since Windows/iPod update don't detect it, I can't restore either (even in disk mode). I have been unable to get the disk scan working." ~ dan

You most likely dropped your iPod or hit it pretty hard. This happened to a friend of mine (Bill) when he threw his backpack on the floor. His iPod was inside the backpack and the jolt from hitting the floor physically damaged the iPod's hard drive.

Unfortunately, if your hard drive is physically damaged, there's only one way to fix it - get it replaced. If your iPod is still under warranty or you purchased extended AppleCare for your iPod, then have Apple replace or repair your iPod. If your iPod is out of warranty, there are several third-party companies that can fix your iPod like these guys.

But before going through the hassle and cost of sending your iPod off to be repaired, try these free iPod troubleshooting tips first. Good luck!

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Labels: ipod

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permanent link | 8:36 AM

| MethodShop.com

i was scared shitless... maybe more pissed than scared. my warranty ran out a month ago, and my ipod dropped onto the cold, hard tile. but alas, helpful websites like yours are out there to save the ipod day. reseting my ipod was simple and easy, thank you guys for doing what you do! by the way, does anyone else think its bs to charge for service help over the phone? steve jobs is an ass

[*] posted by mcmack85 : July 14, 2005 7:59 AM

My wife's ipod froze this morning. I googled ipod freeze and went to your site, read the easy to follow instructions and it's up and running. I am a hero (but we know how long that will last). Thanks for your help.

[*] posted by Anonymous : July 14, 2005 1:49 PM

yes!!!! thank you for helping me fix my ipod! All those people on your site who rave about you are absolutely right! thank you.

m.kyle

[*] posted by m.kyle : July 18, 2005 8:55 PM

Thank you for your simple yet informative ipod restarting article. It helped me fix my ipod and let me find a quick and easy answer, after going to out-dated and poor sites which only gave instructions as to how to reset an earlier model. THANKS!

[*] posted by Anonymous : August 06, 2005 5:09 PM

Thank you for your help!! My ipod froze and your site helped me to easily fix it. You guys have a great site. Keep up the good work!

[*] posted by uzi07 : August 07, 2005 1:04 PM

I was in a state of panic after I woke up this morning and my ipod was frozen on "Room a Thousand Years Wide" by Soundgarden (I fell asleep listening to my 40g ipod in my drunken state)...nothing I pressed would fix the stupid thing.

After checking out some sites, it was suggested that I press and hold the menu and play buttons for 10 secs. But alas, that did nothing for my wicked piece of white machinery. It was only after I saw your site that it mentioned any ipods greater than 4G require the menu and select buttons to be held for 10 secs. Gave it a go and PRESTO!

Thanks heaps, 'cause I leave London today for Sydney, Australia (a gruelling 23hr plane trip back home). So as you can imagine, doing this trip without my ipod would have been pure torture.

You guys ROCK...

Simon

[*] posted by simon : August 07, 2005 1:07 PM

I was in shock when my ipod froze. I came to ur site and my iPOD WAS FIXED. Thank you so much for your help, i almost had a heart attack. THANK YOUUUUU!

[*] posted by Anonymous : August 13, 2005 11:19 AM

OMG Thankz So Much i thought my lil old ipod mini was dead but itz was just broked and now it workz thankz to youz Thankz xxx

[*] posted by Cheddermonkey : August 21, 2005 2:45 PM

I tried all that already. mine resets, but just stays on the little apple. i wish someone actually would give me a solution

[*] posted by Anonymous : August 25, 2005 11:15 AM

My ipod froze on one song and I was pissed. I left the gym because it ruined my work out to see it broken. i got home, read your site through google and now it works. You guys re great. Thank you.

[*] posted by Anonymous : September 03, 2005 6:19 PM

Thanks for the info on how to restart a frozen ipod. You saved me a trip to the Apple store tomorrow.

[*] posted by trl36 : September 19, 2005 6:17 AM

Dude you guys are awesome, ive had ipod problems for ages but 3 minutes on your site was all i needed to fix it. thanks a ton

[*] posted by Ty76 : September 23, 2005 8:31 PM

this site is the shit thanks for helping me with my i pod

[*] posted by Anonymous : October 09, 2005 11:56 PM

it still didnt work >_<

[*] posted by Anonymous : October 14, 2005 10:30 PM

thank you so much, i just bought this iPod not too long ago, it froze up on me, thanks to this page i got my iPod working again

[*] posted by Anonymous : October 15, 2005 5:06 PM

Thanks for the info. It was v helpful! My ipod nano froze while trying to connect to the pc. What was the worst thing about the situation was that the battery was full! Holding Menu+select did the trick!

[*] posted by Anonymous : October 23, 2005 4:38 PM

I love u guys!!!!!! UR trick worked. AT first it didnt but then i realized that the hold button was on. I flipped it off hold and tried it again and presto!!!!!! IT WORKED!!!!!!
Thankx a bunch

[*] posted by Brock G : October 25, 2005 10:38 PM

A big THANK YOU for the Ipod Tech Support!!!!! My ipod froze up on me and I could not get it to respond. I thought at first, wow how could this happen, I didn't drop it or mis-handle it in fact it was just sitting still on my desk when nothing....nothing but silence. I thought maybe if I try to charge it that that would wake it up but to no avail. Thats when I turned to the Internet and found your site. What a BIG relief, 10 seconds later my Ipod came back to life. Thanks again for the info.

[*] posted by Lisa : November 02, 2005 7:32 AM

Im only 14 years old, so when my nano froze i was like 'i wont find anything simple enough for me to read' but i did! thanks to your site its not in full working order. cheers.

[*] posted by Charis : November 05, 2005 9:21 AM

30 minutes before i had to go on a long bus ride and i wanted to give my ipod a quick charge

it froze

i tryed everything i could and asked my parents if they had any ideas

nothing worked

i then tryed searching for answers and came upon this site

finally the promblem was solved

thanks

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 05, 2005 12:17 PM

Thanks for the info. Got the unit working from what I read at your site. Thanks again.

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 09, 2005 5:48 PM

Whew! My mini froze at the gym, and I thought that the little thing had died (at only 11 months old)! I found your site through google and your solution worked the second time that I tried it. Thanks for the clear instructions ("so simple that even the little woman could fix it").

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 09, 2005 9:19 PM

Thanks! Worked. Checked the apple site and it had the wrong buttons to hold(stupid imbelcels). Came here gave it a try no more than 5 second it worked. Thanks alot!

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 10, 2005 7:59 PM

OH MI GOSHHHHHHH! I cant believe a website is finally helping me!!! and from users!?? wow, its like MAGIC! Thanks to the chic that specified she had a NANO! cause none of these other combos were working for me, so I scroll down and see MENU + Select (the middle button), I do it and VOILA, my shyts back in order!

gosh what a lovely world of a site this is THAANKS YOU, A MILIONS jazillions!

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 12, 2005 5:28 AM

A million thanks for the info on "restarting a frozen ipod" on your site. My brand new out of the box ipod froze and initially I didn't know what to do (no thanks to Apple for making the ipod battery non-removeable)... a search on the web brought me to your site and now the ipod's working...AC from India

[*] posted by AC : November 12, 2005 3:21 PM

Oh my God! I was so scared when my iPod froze on me. I thought my parents would be pissed to the core! Thanks to your site, I managed to unfreeze it, and now I don't even need to mention it to them! Thanks!

[*] posted by Alex : November 20, 2005 5:58 PM

You guys rock hardcore! Thanks a bunch!!

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 20, 2005 5:59 PM

i agree with everyone else--you guys make me so happy! my ipod froze (yes, i've dropped it a few times) just after switching to a new song, and i started freaking out. i hooked it up to my computer: nothing. jammed all the buttons: nothing. freaked out: nothing.

then i searched "ipod froze help" online. the official Apple website was USELESS, but you guys fixed it (with the Menu+Select solution). thanks!!

[*] posted by Kristan : November 21, 2005 11:16 AM

hi yea i read this and my ipods still not working ive pressed the menu select key about 50 times and its not restarting and it wont let me go to any sonds it doesnt move its frozen and i cant get it to work!

if u can help me pleaseeeeeee do!

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 03, 2005 11:35 AM

Hooray--it works! My FF symbol never went away so I could never see it if was playing or paused. Thanks!

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 07, 2005 12:01 PM

thanks a billion...i thought my nano was done!

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 11, 2005 1:57 AM

Thanks a billion...I thought my iPod nano was done for sure!

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 11, 2005 1:57 AM

just got my ipod nano this morning and was horrified to see it freeze...thanx a lot for ur useful advice!!!!keep up the good work!!

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 19, 2005 3:14 PM

Thank you very much for your help. For restarting the Ipod Video is holding the menu and select keys.

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 24, 2005 9:04 AM

Oh my goodness!! Thanks a billion. I could probably jump with joy right now. You see, I got my ipod today, and when it froze, i was almost on the verge of tears (come on, my dad bought it for me for 200 dollars, and he was all the way in brazil, plus it was brand new). Your site helped me fix my ipod. but believe me, I tried billions of times! I seriously thought that i had to replace it. thank you, you guys, I love you. I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am.

[*] posted by caroline : December 25, 2005 10:18 PM

I just got my ipod today and I was so scared that I broke it THANK you

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 26, 2005 1:27 AM

Any idea why my nano keeps requiring me to reset it all the time? I have a PC...could that be it? This is the second time in a week that I have had to reset my nano and I haven't dropped it or anything.

[*] posted by Anonymous : December 28, 2005 2:41 PM

txh my ipod 60 gb video wasnt workin it was froze but i got it work, it wasnt working for 2 hours, i was gettin frickin irrated,
thanx aton

[*] posted by Anonymous : January 05, 2006 10:01 PM

When first trying to upload the iTunes software onto my computer, I already had my iPod plugged into my computer. My iPod froze and my computer kept saying that the device (my iPod) was corrupted. By using your advice--pressing Menu & Select simutaneously--my iPod was able to restart & unfreeze, and saved me from going insane. Thank you very much.

[*] posted by Desiree : January 06, 2006 11:06 PM

OMG!!!!! Thank you soooo much for helping me fix my nano. This was the first time my ipod nano froze on me... I was so pissed! I mean, I did kinda drop... But only once. I really didn't want to get it replaced. Thank you soo much. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[*] posted by Nikki L. : January 07, 2006 4:54 PM

Thank you so much that really helped.

[*] posted by Anonymous : January 15, 2006 8:52 PM

Along with everybody else, I'd like to thank you. I just got my ipod tonight and it froze, no hit, nothing just as I went to plug it in, a nice bright screen appeared...so the nano recomendation worked, just as soon as I figured out what the select button was, that is.

Anyhow, thanks again.

:)

SK.

[*] posted by Anonymous : January 21, 2006 5:08 AM

After reading every manual and trying each method they suggested I thought I'd have to send my iPod Vid back to the shop, but one simple button combination fixed it, how come this is not told in the basic Apple iPod manual? Doesn't make sense to me, but thanks a lot for the advice, really helped!
Johnny

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 01, 2006 6:35 PM

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was scared shitless when my nano froze up! now its working perfectly and still has all the data on it. thx alot

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 05, 2006 12:55 PM

omg omg omg!!!!!!!
i luv you guys i thought mah ipod mini was broken n it's fixed 'm like mah sister is gonna like kill me n u helped n saved me
tanx

luv from evangelia

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 12, 2006 10:18 PM

I can't thank you enough! My sisters ipod froze and she didn't know what to do! While she went in her room to cry i googled ipod freeze and got to this website and learned how to restart her ipod and it worked! You don't know how grateful i am THANK YOU!!!

[*] posted by McKenzi Hoover : February 21, 2006 11:40 PM

thanks so much! my ipod nano just froze when i tried to connect it to the computer. i was so scared; i thought i had broken it or something, then i found this site. now it's totally good to go. thanks again!!

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2006 10:29 PM

thanks so much!!! this was so helpful when my nano froze on me. it was all fixed in 10 seconds!

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2006 10:31 PM

Holy Moly I was scared there for a sec, thanks a ton, my iPod nano just suddenly froze :S life saver!!

[*] posted by Anonymous : February 26, 2006 10:56 AM

god you guys effing rock!!! im obsessed with you!! thanks soooo much!! i cant live w/out my baby nano... mwuahhhh

[*] posted by Anonymous : March 07, 2006 7:23 PM

Nice job guys, got my ipod working again. Thank god for the internet

[*] posted by Anonymous : March 09, 2006 12:24 PM

for some reason, this did'nt work...and it hardly ever does on mine, it's stuck on the "do not disconnect" screen, so now i've gotta wait until the battery runs out, then wait to fully recharge it....there should be like a little button that u need a really sharp pencil (ya know, like on a furby, or a cheap watch) that shuts off the power no matter what...

[*] posted by moultie : March 13, 2006 11:02 AM

Oh my god. I was sitting in an angry hopeless daze holding down the reset combo and right when i accepted it was dead it reset and changed my mood for the day. Thank you.

[*] posted by Anonymous : March 21, 2006 9:09 PM

FANTASTIC Thank you so much for the iPod Diagnostic test how-to. I had tried to put my iPod 4G 20GB into disk mode a million times, and had given it up for dead. I was about to buy a new hard drive on eBay but figured I'd do one last google search. I searched "fix your ipod" and stumbled upon this entry. The iPod Diagnostic test page showed me how to check that it actually WASN'T the hard drive. I proceeded to, in the menu, choose "disk mode" and suddenly iTunes was flashing and told me a new iPod was connected to the computer. After three months borrowing my wife's iPod, she was really happy that I had mine back, as am I!!! Thanks so much!

[*] posted by Jerome Eno : April 09, 2006 5:38 PM

Thanks! That was easy!

[*] posted by Anonymous : April 11, 2006 1:52 AM

Thank you!! Wow, you just saved my life there ! Thank you very much!!

[*] posted by Jonathan : April 25, 2006 6:16 PM

THANK YOU!!!
My iPod Nano froze up while I was trying to go from one file to the next. With no ON/OFF button I was lost on how to get it going again. I Googled 'ipod nano froze up' and it brought me here! thanks for the help. Menu/select button brought my Nano back to life! great job :-) now off to listen to my meditation music to help me fall asleep ;-)

[*] posted by Anonymous : September 18, 2006 12:44 AM

Okay, so my ipod has frozen before, and me being...well, me, had to ask a guy friend to help me restart it since it didn't work for me. So when my ipod just randomly froze a few minutes ago, I was a little ticked off because I definitely did not want to sound like an idiot and ask the guys for help again. Then I read about holding the middle and Menu buttons down for my 20GB ipod, and there ya go. Thanks for the help! (For once I don't feel totally stupid)

[*] posted by Mimi : September 19, 2006 2:35 AM

my ipod wont even turn on and i am really scared and the website is not helping me so can any of u people can help me please!!!!!

[*] posted by Anonymous : November 20, 2006 7:36 PM

Cunning stunt!
My iPod was frozen like a winter corpse... but it lives again thanks to your witchcraft!

[*] posted by Catsniffer : April 15, 2007 1:36 PM

okay well i have a problem that is too complicated for the basic "use hold switch and buttons to make it reboot" trick.

does anyone happen to know how to fix an ipod if even after you resore it with itunes the buttons are STILL unresponsive. I restored no prob., but when I try to select a language I can not because the touch-wheel and all the buttons just do not work.

maybe someone on this site can tell me a easy fix.

maybe its a hardware problem.

anyone?

[*] posted by Anonymous : May 16, 2007 7:49 PM

u guys are the best! my ipod 40GB was jammed a few hours ago when i was out. as soon as i reached home, i went straight to the internet to seek any solution for it and thats when i stumble upon this site! i was sooo relieved it can be fixed. it only requires me to press the menu & select button for 10 seconds.. THANKS!!!! you guys are sooo useful!

[*] posted by Pammie : September 14, 2007 9:42 AM

guyz!!!! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! i've been to their ipod support but their instructions didnt work...waaaaaaaah!! i was so scared... i was starting to get paranoid...*whew* so happy!!! thanks God i found your website!!! THANK YOU!!!

[*] posted by kazie : March 11, 2008 11:46 PM

Aw, man. Thanks for help, article writer! I thought my iPod was gone, but it took twenty seconds and I'm back in business. I just bought mine six months ago and I'm in love with it...got a two year replacement plan with my retailer, but that's two years I can still cash in. I've got four kids, I can't afford to replace it if my reaplcement were to break.

[*] posted by J.T. Ryan : June 12, 2008 11:18 PM

5/01/2006

Unresponsive iPod

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