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Ipod Errors and Freezes – how to fix them

Ipods can be compared to small computers that thankfully do not run on a windows operating system. They still tend to spit out an occasional error once in a while. Most of the time it either freezes, is stuck in disk mode or displays other errors that are not that common. (like icons that should not be there).

Most of the time a simple reboot while do the trick. Apple unfortunately decided not to include an on/off switch which means this has to be done by pressing a combination of buttons on the Ipod. If a relatively new Ipod froze up or displays an error do the following:

  1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
  2. Press and hold the Menu and Select buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Some users report that this method is not working for them, the Ipod was still frozen or displayed an error message. Those users had success by reseting the Ipod the following way:

  1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
  2. Press and hold the Menu and Middle buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Users with an older Ipod will have to do the following:

  1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
  2. Press and hold the Play/Pause and Menu buttons until the Apple/iPod logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Apple published additional tips if this procedure did not work out, here is what they suggested.

If the above steps did not work, try connecting iPod to a power adapter and plug the power adapter into an electrical outlet, or connect iPod to your computer. Make sure the computer is turned on and isn’t set to go to sleep.

If you are still unable to reset your iPod, use only one finger from one hand to press the Center (Select) button, and one finger from the other hand to press the Menu button.

When you reset iPod all your music and files are saved, but some customized settings may be lost. Date and time is preserved (unless the iPod reset itself because it had no power and then was reconnected to power). Other customized settings, such as Bookmarks, On-The-Go Playlists, Shuffle, Backlight timer, and so forth are preserved from the last time the hard drive turned on.

Related Articles:

Ipod Disk Mode Ok to Disconnect
Ipod Reset Instructions
Put Wikipedia on your iPod
Ipod Socks
Copy Music from iPod to a Computer

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Tuesday November 7, 2006 -
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Responses so far:

  1. Ezekiel says:

    Hi everyone.
    What's a good alternative to the IPOD?
    I'm wondering if any of you can recommend a good MP3 player that is comparable to the IPod but WITHOUT they hype and price tabe to go with it.
    I was at the apple store a few days ago, and really liked the new 40GB or 80GB IPods that also show video, but was wondering if I could get the same kind of funcationality without that heftly price tag.

  2. candace says:

    i cant get my ipod to come off frozen and im gettin mad i spent some much money on it i dont want it to go to waste

  3. Annie says:

    how come my ipod freezes when i plug it into the computer? i have the old iPod nano, and i downloaded the new iTunes, but as soon as i plug it in, it freezes w/ the do not disconnect screen. how do i update me iPod?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

  4. josh says:

    i dropped my ipod and now whenever i turn it on the apple logo comes up and thenit doesnt go it just satys like that!!!!! please help can i get it repaired

  5. Angela says:

    My ipod nano I recieved for christmas is now frozen!!! It was on the hold mode for about two days and now I tuned it on, i found a song, but now its frozen on the top it says now playing but I still see my songs please help…

  6. Jessica says:

    okay… so I did the following steps and a screen that says “connect ipod to the computer” pops up.. so i did that and then the “do not disconnect” screen pops up in only black and white. and then it freezes. then the itunes store pops up and says that i need to restore it because my ipod is corrupted. so i say okay and restore it.. when it’s finished doing it’s thing. it says that it can’t restore my ipod because of error (1418) and i don’t know what to do from there.

  7. Vanessa says:

    well my ipod is an older version. it is one of the originals and it works for the most part like by playing music but the wheel won’t move to let me listen to other songs it just stays there..so what do i do?….

  8. Martin says:

    Vanessa this looks like a technical defect, don’t think you can repair this on your own.

  9. unknown says:

    reading this was a lot of help.i started to freak out when my ipod froze .this helped completely!on a scale of 1-10….10!

  10. o0kami says:

    OMG THX a lot!!!!! i just had my iPod video 60GB for like 2 days…and i wanted to add more songs…and then it just froze during connection to pc…i went berserk…luckily i found this site THX

  11. Jordan Feuring says:

    Ya….it doesnt work when I push the on/off switch and what do I do if the screen is frozen and give me a good reason and not “toggle the on/off switch” again.
    Another thing is that it has ben frozen for over ten hours is it broken and get a new one or unfreeze it some how.

  12. Tobie Bowman says:

    I have an older ipod nano. it’s been working GREAT. the last time I used it was Wednesday and today is Saturday. When I went to turn it on this time, there’s a big check mark on the screen and it says “disc mode do not disconnect”. it won’t turn on, it won’t charge..nothing. I get the same error when I hook it up to a wall charger and my computer also.

  13. Martin says:

    Take a look at this article Tobie http://www.ghacks.net/2006/08/08/ipod-disk-mode-ok-to-disconnect/

  14. Tobie Bowman says:

    It worked perfectly..Thank you, Martin.

  15. matt says:

    My new computer runs windows vista. I can plug the ipod into the firewire (3rd gen) and it seems to be charging and sync’d. If i try to copy more than a few things off of it (i use it more as an external HD than anything) It freezes. I dont have any crappy itunes, so i dont think thats teh problem… But if i hook it back up to my old computer (XP) it seems to work normally again. have any idea as to what the trouble might be with teh new computer? Do i really have to have itunes just to use it as a HD?

  16. mika says:

    it work!! thank youuuuuuuuuu!!! :)

  17. peter says:

    i have a ipod video and it recently keeps shining the ipod logo on and off and i cant do anything, it wont connect with itunes and it wont do anything except shine the apple logo every other second

  18. strom says:

    Yup. Quick and painless. No lost data. Sweeeet!

  19. JoJo says:

    my ipod i think it is dying on me already! it hasnt even been a year since i got it. it is a 30 gb video ipod and the problem is that when i am listening to a song and i clikc on skip or >> it frezzes for a short period but not completely frozdn the light wont go off but i can still hear the music where it last froze and it is being soo slow on me i alredy clicked on repair ipod which deleted all of my files! and it still does the same thing!i can sometimes hear this weird thing on it when i put my ear on the back of my ipod and i can feel it too it is not loud but it is sensible! can i fix this problem on my own by cleaning it with a software or is this perminent? this problem was not a problem before oh and some videos also don’t play anymore it just stays black screen…please help me !
    thanks and sorry for misspelled words im just very anxious and mad and worry at the same time!

  20. Sarah says:

    Thankyou soooooooo much. This definatley helped me. I was thinkin’ there’s no way I’ll be able to tell my mom I broke a $300 IPOD,lol.
    Thank you, You’re a freakin’ lifesaver!!!!!!!1

  21. Jon says:

    but what about if itunes freezes every time i try to use it?

  22. Dan says:

    Just wanted to say thanks. I had the “Do not disconnect” freeze several times when I tried to update my ipod on my Mini. The first few times, the iPod reset itself when almost out of power. But I tried the toggle hold button and then held the menu and center buttons for 10 seconds, and it reset itself. Now I know what to do in the future instead of having a useless iPod for 6 hours while waiting for it to run out of juice.

    My only question is, is this a widespread problem? If so, do you think an ITune update will remedy this issue in the future?

    BTW- I have a 30GB video 1st gen iPod.

    Thanks, Martin!

  23. Frank says:

    My ipod seems to be frozen on the image of a battery with a triangular sign with an exclamation mark on it. I’m assuming this means there’s something wrong with the battery, but wasn’t sure if I could get around it without bringing the ipod in the store to get fixed. Any suggestions??

  24. kathryn says:

    so my ipod froze for no reason in the middle of a song, and then i did the toggle the hold button, and then held the menu and center buttonfor 6 to 10 seconds, then the screen just lit up with nothing on it and froze like that, its been like this for 2 hrs or something. what should i do ?

  25. Kristen says:

    I have the old nano ipod and it is frozen. I have reset it a bunch of times but still no luck on fixing it. It still will load songs on it but then i cant listen to them because it gets stuck all the time. Also when i put it on hold, sometimes the screen will fade away. I need help!! How can i fix it?

  26. Terencio says:

    I have a digital ipod and I cannot get it off the screen with the Apple logo. I have tried toggling the hold swtich along with holding the menu and play buttons, but nothing seems to work. I like my digital ipod, but it has been nothing but trouble since I purchased it. Trust me, there were far less problems with the 4Gb Shuffle.

  27. Djazz says:

    thank you, thank you so mutch!!! it was working:)

  28. Yvette B. says:

    My ipod frozen on a song…and it will not shut down or change anything..help….

  29. Peach says:

    *have a ipod nano(black)lol
    *can only turn on when i plug ipod in PC
    *has the hold icon displayed on screen when is not toggled on the “hold” mode
    *should not be there
    *cant play music
    ………………………

  30. rachele says:

    I have been trying to charge my ipod nano but when I plug it into my computer it doesnt register anywhere and the screen flashes over and over with the apple symbol on it. This will go on for hours. Ive tried the toggling of the hold button and holding the select and menu buttons but that only lasts for a couple seconds… how in the world do I fix this! it’s driving me crazy.

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