My iPod has Stopped Working - How do I Reset It?

Submitted by Ricky on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 21:46

Question: My iPod has totally stopped working. It won't charge when plugged into the computer and won't turn on at all. Could it be a battery issue? As far as iTunes goes, how can I transfer my entire library over from our old computer to our new computer? I've tried copying and pasting and I installed the iTunes from the disk but my library is still empty? Thanks - Jean

Answer: Jean, you're not alone with the whole iPod freezing situation. I just bought my wife an iPod nano for Valentine's Day, and two days later it completely froze up. The kids had been playing with it, and I think they just got a little crazy with all the buttons.

Resetting a Frozen iPod

The trick for resetting a frozen iPod is to press the Menu and center button at the same time and hold them for about 6 seconds. You should see the Apple icon and your iPod should restart. Give that a try and let me know if it does the trick. If it doesn't work, then I recommend taking your iPod into an Apple store where they can check if the battery is fried.

Copying Music from an Old Computer to a New Computer

As for copying your music from your old computer to your new computer, look in your My Documents folder and you'll see a My Music subfolder. iTunes stores it's music under My Music --> iTunes --> iTunes Music. That's the folder you'll need to copy to your new computer, and for Windows Vista you'll paste it into your C:\Users\Jean\Documents\My Music\iTunes\ folder (assuming you have a user account created named Jean).

iTunes should recognize the music automatically, but if it doesn't then you can use the File --> Add Folder to Library menu in iTunes to load the new folder into iTunes.

If you have several albums worth of songs, then you'll want to transfer these music files to an external hard drive, and then copy those files from the external hard drive to the new computer. There'll probably be too many files to copy to a USB jump drive or even a DVD (especially if your iPod mini was full).

Copying Music from an iPod to Another Computer

Many people also find that they have music on their iPod that they don't have in their iTunes library. This can happen if you downloaded music from your work machine onto your iPod that you don't have on your home machine. In my case, I had lots of music on my iPod that were not on my wife's laptop, that she wanted to have on her new iPod.

For this I have used a couple programs, one called Media Pilot and another called iPod 2 iTunes. They both let you upload files directly from your iPod to any computer running iTunes.

You can't do this with iTunes alone - iTunes only lets you download to your iPod, whereas iPod 2 iTunes lets you copy from your iPod to iTunes.

I wrote a separate article covering how to upload files directly from your iPod to iTunes, and it shows screenshots of these programs in action so you'll know what to expect when you download them.




Rob (not verified)

Fri, 02/29/2008 - 15:23

the same thing happened to me (with the hole freezing thing) and after hours of messing around with it ,it turns out one of my songs had a virus that made it stay off ....was really strange

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 09/14/2008 - 20:54

thank you so much i can't believe it!!!!! i thought i had to go and buy a new one like i want to buy a new one anyway but i love my iPod now thanks i can't tell you how much you rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 02/26/2009 - 05:11

thanks rick you turned my ipod back on

Meg (not verified)

Tue, 08/25/2009 - 16:53

Thanks so much for the info! My iPod, my commute and my workouts are saved!

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 03/13/2008 - 13:29

My ipod stoped working so i went to google and searched how to fix a broke ipod and this came up. i didnt think it would work but i though i would give it a try and it did!!! thats awsome!

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 04/03/2008 - 06:53

hey ricky the same thing that happened to jean happened to me and i followed your advice and it worked thanks man later

john

April (not verified)

Sun, 04/06/2008 - 06:56

wow i thought i lost my ipod because of the freezing .. thx u so much no i knoe wut to do next time... does it happen off then.. anyways thx i would be lost without my ipod.

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 05/17/2008 - 13:57

cheers! that actually works!! im so grateful!

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 06/03/2008 - 13:53

this did not work for me i have the same problem and my ipod is frozen right now well that button thing for 6 sec did not work any idea of what else i could try??

megan (not verified)

Thu, 06/26/2008 - 12:00

dont worry i had to try like five billion times then when i held it for like 20 seconds it finally came on thanx

katie (not verified)

Tue, 05/18/2010 - 13:22

i tried it and it won't work...im rippenin ...its just a white screen with with a blue line through it...it wasnt droped certain,worked properly this morning...tried da middle button an up...didnt work...tried the lock switch back and forward didnt work...please help =(

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 07/19/2008 - 17:03

my ipod touch stoped working completly!
what do i do?

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 08/19/2008 - 15:23

hey thanks man the my ipod was frozen and i pressed the two buttons you mentioned and it work thanks..

taff (not verified)

Wed, 09/17/2008 - 14:02

ok, sceptical old me is proven wrong, this worked, amazing! cheers dude!

robert coulson (not verified)

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:08

You site kicks @##

Its nice to see someone out there helping others without demanding compensation - you got my ipod running again
Thanks a million

Robert

Matt (not verified)

Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:45

Holding the 2 buttons turned on my ipod after days of it staring blankly at me now however i seem to have another problem. it isnt off anymore however all i can see is a picture of a battery with 1 bar and its not doing anything. Any ideas what the problem could be ?

Ricky's picture

Ricky

Sun, 11/23/2008 - 04:34

Sounds like it may just need to charge a while before it will let you use it.

Matt (not verified)

Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:47

After borrowing the ipod from my brother i have been worried for a while it might go wrong. The other day it just died :( i was so worried but thanks to you it is now charging happily. Thank you so much !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ricky's picture

Ricky

Sun, 11/23/2008 - 04:34

Glad this helped! :)

mickey (not verified)

Thu, 12/11/2008 - 09:24

Hi Rick( This is also my elder brother's name, so i better call you Dada- Indian word for respected elder brother)

I purchased an ipod( chinese made) just for a chill, the looks were stricking( how so My brother purchased me a legal apple ipod later).just in the month it got frozen..lol i said, chinese things are always such. and for God there were no reset buttons))damn it!!!!

i was going through the net and got your site..i was surprised to see that even if my ipod wasnt legal one, indeed a fake if better said, the above trick you provided actually worked and i got the life out of this a$$y mp3 player,

don't you get life, when you see the known green player logo and it says welcome))

Thanks a lot again and again!!!!

i welcome you a stay in India...
Bye

Ricky's picture

Ricky

Fri, 12/12/2008 - 13:26

Thanks, Mickey for taking time to reply with how this worked, and I hope I can someday take you up on your offer for a stay in India!

scott (not verified)

Mon, 12/22/2008 - 17:13

my ipod wont work it stopped working it just stay's at the screen with the apple......

when I go to turn it on it just stays on the first screen it comes to the one with the apple then after a few seconds it turns off the on automatically back the the same screen what do i do????

plz help me out i dont know what to do

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 09/12/2009 - 14:50

exact same thing is happening to me...:(:( please email me if you get any news

geo (not verified)

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 07:28

Hey...i need help i was on my ipod and on it i was on itunes well then i want to get off of it and go to the page with all my apps and all off that so i was pressing the button under the screen and it would not go to it and i kept pressing it so then i trun it off for 5 mins then i wanted to trun it on then it just turn all white and it wont do anything all you see is white and all you can do is turn it off.

i need help please can some one help me...!!!!!!

mersha (not verified)

Mon, 12/29/2008 - 18:00

Thanks, Ricky! Within ten seconds you had my frozen ipod working.
M

Andrew (not verified)

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 11:52

I thought my ipod was screwed up, but I tried what you said to do and it worked. Thanks alot. ~Andrew

Ricky's picture

Ricky

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 12:46

Glad this did the trick! :-)

If you had already started looking for a new one, and maybe decided to upgrade anyway, you can at least get some cash for your old ipod from this site:

Recycle Your iPod for Cash

In fact, now that I have an iphone I don't really need my old black 4-gig nano. Time to make some extra cash! :-)

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 01/04/2009 - 18:17

thanksa million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my ipod got fixed!!!!

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 01/21/2009 - 09:56

My ipod screen froze on a blank screen but you could tell it was still on. I had no idea how to even think about fixing it. I was worried that I'd have to buy a new one but thanks to this guy I have learned a new trick to reset it if it were to happen again. Thanks a lot.

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 03/01/2009 - 15:51

when i went skating today i fell and when i got back to my house and took out my i pod it had a dent on the back near the apple logo.when i turned my i pod on the screen was white and to the left side it was a faded blue, when i push the menu or any other button it doesn't respond.

What do i do?

please help if you can.

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 03/04/2009 - 07:20

hi my blackberry music player won't play my music any more, it was working last week but now it wont any suggestions

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 09:10

My iPod stopped working but now it works but when i plug it into my computer it won't upload what do i do ?

ss (not verified)

Tue, 03/17/2009 - 13:38

thankss sooo muchh for the adviceee i thought id lost my ipod !
frozen for four hoursss !

ABW (not verified)

Wed, 04/22/2009 - 12:56

Omg thx ricky i went all maaaad when my Ipod stopped working and became all white LUV YA

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 04/24/2009 - 15:55

YES MY IPOD....IT LIVVVEEESSSSS lol thx ricky i thought it was like broken forevers just the battery lol
NOW TO LISTEN MORE MIND ROTTING MUSIC ON THE IPOD MWAHAHAHAHAH

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 06/14/2009 - 07:11

i love you.
I actually love you soooo much. I was on the verge of buying a new ipod and I'd tried resetting it but i was pushing the wrong buttons,i looked on your site and now its happily charging away. If i ever meet you in a bar (not that i'll know it's you as there are lots of poeple called Ricky) I'll buy you a drink.
Zoe slater :D

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 07/05/2009 - 05:14

thanks alot, my ipod froze too, and luckily, it worked again, hehe, thanks again, for the info, really helped me alot

Briella (not verified)

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 12:48

Oh, my goodness.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

You are a lifesaver!

I didn't think it would work, but it did!
Hahaha, thank you again!!

(:

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 07/17/2009 - 19:11

hi ricky is that my ipod touch stopped in the main image that appears when you turn on your ipod that appears the apple there it stopped can you please help me?

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 08/21/2009 - 11:41

Thanks bro. My IPod froze and the menu/center button restart worked great. I was a little worried it was fried. Phew.

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 09/23/2009 - 16:55

What should you do if the vbuttons stop working but the scrolling circle thing still works ?

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 04/18/2011 - 05:30

that same thing happened to me what do i do? please help ricky?

Laura Anghel (not verified)

Fri, 10/02/2009 - 12:36

You're my saviour, I was about to have a heart attack when it shut down all of a sudden(it got stuck on a song or menu before, but never like this). iPods are quite expensive, luckily I won mine at a contest. GREAT ADVISE!!! TKA again!!!

Noman Waheed (not verified)

Sat, 10/24/2009 - 08:22

my ipode classic was totally held. it was on charging mode, when i plugged out from charger it was held, its screen is held on flash mode even not worked any key,
finally here i got a solution. my i pode is now working. i am really thankful to u.
thanks thanks thanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanksthanks thanks

leota81 (not verified)

Sat, 11/07/2009 - 09:25

Thank You So Much!! Thought my ipod was dead I had no idea it could just freeze like that!

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 11/08/2009 - 05:20

ricky!!! ur my man!!! it helps a lot!! i thought im gonna have to buy a new one or spend a lot of money for repairs its like im gonna pass out! i dont have enough money cuz im about to replace my broken phone.,but then u saved me and my pocket!thanks a lot man!!

The clays (not verified)

Sun, 11/22/2009 - 14:47

Count us in on the Thank You page. Fortunately I googled that my iPod had quit and your site came up, otherwise I was about to hunt for my receipt and head for the store!! I am also about to transfer music to a new computer so needed that tip as well. Great work!!

STREET (not verified)

Wed, 12/23/2009 - 01:25

Ricky,

Sorry to bother you but I saw the success that others have had with you, and wondered if you could possibly help me please?

My brother owns an i-pod 8gb thing (the same as the pink picture at the top of the page) and his i-pod doesn't do anything. It is just over the year warranty, and it will not charge anymore or turn on. I tried holding the two buttons down like you suggested, however because the pod has no battery power left, i don't know if this is why it wont work. I have tried plugging the cable into the PC and trying again, but it just doesn't seem to be responding.

Do you have any suggestions at all?

Thanks

Ricky's picture

Ricky

Wed, 12/23/2009 - 08:03

You'll probably need to take it into an Apple store and ask them to check the battery.

One thing I notice though when I try to charge an ipod/iphone that's had it's battery completely drained, is that it can take a couple minutes after I plug it in before it registers that it's charging.

You might try plugging it in and waiting a couple minutes before trying the button trick I described above.

If that doesn't work, then a trip to the Apple store is the next step.

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2009 - 21:59

if you hold the home button and power of button it resets and the touch screen starts working again.

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