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:
- Toggle hold switch on.
- Toggle hold switch off.
- Hold down the menu and middle button for a few seconds.
- 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:
- Toggle hold on.
- Toggle hold off.
- Press and hold the Play/Pause and Menu buttons until the Apple/iPod logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds.
- You might need to repeat.
To reset an iPod shuffle:
- Move the switch on the back of iPod shuffle to the off position (green stripe not visible).
- Wait 5 seconds.
- Move the switch on the back to the play in order or the shuffle position (green stripe visible).
Still having problems?
- Connect to a different USB or FireWire port on the computer.
- Install the latest Operating System upgrades.
- Restart the computer.
- Reinstall the iPod with iPod Updater
- Reinstall iTunes
- 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.
- Restore your iPod using the latest iPod Updater.
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.
Nick Momrik 
thanks alot foe the help, on how to fix the ipod nano
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I’m hoping this is going to work next time my 20gig freezes. This may be the most helpful post ever on mtdewvirus.
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I AM DUMB I CANNOT RESET ALLAALA
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Thanks for the great tip..I was getting a little worried.
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thanx for the info mine did the exact same thing.
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Mine did the same thing too. Your tip worked like a charm. Thanks.
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My Nano 4GB did the same ten minutes ago, thanks for the tip it worked like a charm.
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Wow! I was like ???? I broke it already?? First post I checked to help and it was fixed!! Thank you!!
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yo dis shit really helped me yo, thx , at least i didnt had to go to future shop and complain about it
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Thank you so much!!! We were at our wit’s end!!! You’re a peach!!
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accidentally booted mine into disk mode somehow, and it got stuck, thanks for the tip.
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i just want to say thank you so much for ur tip i was ready to to put in a huge companit now i am glad i never thanks again
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Thank you for the tip.. worked perfectly!
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THANK YOU i was getting very worried.
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Thanks alot thought I broke it too, but was ready to pound hard on the table with the 20gig, (use it like a hammer) to get it to work but found this site first with google.
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hey 🙂 omg thank-you so much for the advice! – was starting to freak out! 😐 cheers! x x x x
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Many thanks, that probably just saved me a few hours’ aggravation… (nano 4GB white stuck at B&W battery symbol)
(PS: Thank * for google, too)
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Thanks so much for posting this fix ;). Worked like a charm. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my Nano had frozen up.
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Thanks greet help,thought i would have to mess about taking it back…
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it worked!!!! thanks
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