How to: Troubleshoot, restart a frozen, crashed iPod nano
This morning my daugher came to me distraught, iPod nano in hand. It had crashed with the words “Connect to Power” fixed on the screen.
She had tried docking it on our iHome and dock-equipped Sony home stereo to no avail. She even tried toggling the “Hold” switch twice, which didn’t help either.
The next step in iPod troubleshooting is to force it to restart, which is where I come in, and that’s quite easy to do: 1.) Make sure the “Hold” toggle is off (i.e. no red), 2.) hold down the “Menu” and then “Select” (center) buttons together for about 10 seconds, 3.) when the screen flashes to the Apple logo, let go of the buttons.
I found an handy dandy video on YouTube that shows the iPod nano troubleshooting process clearly
In the case of my daughter’s iPod nano, pressing the “Menu” and “Select” (center) button together without tethering worked. Pretty slick.
And, in case you were wondering “HD” is actually geek speak for clean your fingernails— *bleck*—before recording a how to video that shows your hands clearly.
Have an iPod horror story or tale of resurrection (it’s alive!) to tell? Share it in the comments below…
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July 15th, 2009
Why does this problem continue to occur? I will be in the middle of a run and my ipod will freeze up! I have nike plus ipod so I lose all my workout data, which is extremely frustrating!
July 24th, 2009
Hi, THANKKKKKK YOU!!!! i got so scared and sad about my ipod nano, because this is new, i bought it just 3 days ago and frozen completely its screen, so thanks for the explanations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bye bye, I’m happy now hehe!!!
August 29th, 2009
THANK YOU!!! I just got my ipod 2 days ago and it was frozen. I had no idea what to do. Looks like it is fixed! YOu are a savior!
September 3rd, 2009
Thanks so much!! I had my iPod connected to a speaker system and stood up to sing tonight in front of an audience and nothing happened! Fortunately I had a CD backup of a different song, so I managed to get through the service. I was so upset because all my singing trax are on it. I thought it was completely broken. You have made me a happy person tonight!
October 17th, 2009
OMG! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’ve had my iPod for about eight months, use it constantly, even for DJ’ing weddings and I’ve never had a problem. I grabbed it this afternoon to use it in the car on the way to work and it was frozen. I was so sad. As soon as I got to work I did a google search, found this and immediately called my hubby to have him try it and it worked! I’m so happy I could squee!
October 23rd, 2009
this trick fixed my 3rd generation ipod nano also, was just watching a podcast, tried to pause it and it didn’t work, then i wasn’t able to change my volume, then the video just froze, thanks for the solution, just holding the center button and menu for the 10 seconds worked like a charm, it was a nice relief to see the apple logo.
October 31st, 2009
thank you! I was having a minor heart attack. Gotta love the ‘Net and smart people like you
November 2nd, 2009
Thank you, You solved my problem in 10 sec.
November 8th, 2009
thank you for the tips, it help a lot…
November 15th, 2009
My 3rd generation nano will not turn on. I’ve had it just over a year and have not had any problems until now.
I tried the reset process and tried plugging it into my computer, wall charger, speaker, car…nothing will work. Are there any other options?
January 22nd, 2010
Thank you. It worked!!