Question: My iPod has totally stopped working. It won't charge when plugged into the computer and won't turn on at all. What can I do?
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? 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, iPhone, or iPad
The trick for resetting a frozen iPod or iPhone (yes, this works on iPads too) 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.
Comments (156)
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
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks rick you turned my ipod back on
Thanks so much for the info! My iPod, my commute and my workouts are saved!
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!
Thank you my I pod wouldn't work the screen was black no matter how many times I tried to turn it on. But it works perfectly now!!
hey ricky the same thing that happened to jean happened to me and i followed your advice and it worked thanks man later john
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.
cheers! that actually works!! im so grateful!
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??
dont worry i had to try like five billion times then when i held it for like 20 seconds it finally came on thanx
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 =(
my ipod touch stoped working completly! what do i do?
hey thanks man the my ipod was frozen and i pressed the two buttons you mentioned and it work thanks..
ok, sceptical old me is proven wrong, this worked, amazing! cheers dude!
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
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 ?
Sounds like it may just need to charge a while before it will let you use it.
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 !!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad this helped! :)
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
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!
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
exact same thing is happening to me...:(:( please email me if you get any news
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...!!!!!!
Thanks, Ricky! Within ten seconds you had my frozen ipod working. M
I thought my ipod was screwed up, but I tried what you said to do and it worked. Thanks alot. ~Andrew
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! :-)
thanksa million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my ipod got fixed!!!!
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.
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.
hi my blackberry music player won't play my music any more, it was working last week but now it wont any suggestions
My iPod stopped working but now it works but when i plug it into my computer it won't upload what do i do ?
thankss sooo muchh for the adviceee i thought id lost my ipod ! frozen for four hoursss !
Omg thx ricky i went all maaaad when my Ipod stopped working and became all white LUV YA
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
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
thanks alot, my ipod froze too, and luckily, it worked again, hehe, thanks again, for the info, really helped me alot
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!! (:
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?
Thanks bro. My IPod froze and the menu/center button restart worked great. I was a little worried it was fried. Phew.
What should you do if the vbuttons stop working but the scrolling circle thing still works ?
that same thing happened to me what do i do? please help ricky?
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!!!
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
Thank You So Much!! Thought my ipod was dead I had no idea it could just freeze like that!
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!!
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!!
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
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.
It works thank you 4 years n still running
if you hold the home button and power of button it resets and the touch screen starts working again.
My Ipod touch have this problem before i download the video from link inside de game Ultraman Pinball. Like you inform, i press the Menu and center button at the same time and hold them for about 6 seconds and they working again !!!!!! Thanks !!!!!
Yo, thanks much man, that trick really does work. just make sure its not locked when doing it.
Hey , i have been trying to get my ipod to work i see the little apple picture and i tried reseting it but it just keeps going to the ipod apple picture , what happen was that i tried to put some songs on it but it wouldn't show on my ipod so i tried to find the files on the computer for it , when i got the files it showed that the songs were on it, but yet it wouldn't show up on the ipod .soo i deleted the songs and tried to put it back on and wont come on. nor detect on the computer when i hook it up ? any ideas what i can do
Thanks for the help! This definitely worked for me -- after I realized that having the hold button turned on wasn't helpful! :)
thank you so much. ive had my 80 gig classic ipod for 2+ years now... the buttons just stopped working in the middle of a workout last week but the wheel still worked. i tried all sorts of things but didnt know how to reboot it. your website helped me out... however, it took me holding the button for like 15 seconds and having it reboot a couple times to work... but its back to normal now! i figured i was gonna have to buy a new one. i would be lost at the gym, in the car and at the poker table without it. thank you so much!!
I dropped my Nano 5G real bad. It completely froze. Then I googled and found your blog. Used the menu and center button trick and it started working again! Thanks a ton~!
My daughter was so upset this morning when her iPod wouldnt come on. I typed the question on Bing, and your blog showed up. Biggest hug, as it worked and you made a little girl very happy. She had bought the iPod with her own money she had saved up. You also saved a Mom, who could not afford to buy her another one. Thank you from bottom of our hearts.
hey thanks for telling me i was totally freaking out thanks so much dude
Wow, I feel like the rest of the people....I figured I was "F'd" and your advice worked....Ipod reset!!! Bingo! Thanks.
It is 1st Gen, and 2 GB. Well, I fell on an oil slick yesterday, and my iPod was in my pocket. When I tried to listen to it, it turned hot and only showed part of the screen. Should I try to get it to the Apple Store?
Thank you so much for the original post! I had the same problem with my ipod last night, it was off and would not react to anything pushing the two buttons seems to have fixed the issue. I was afraid I would have to buy a new one or just have to live without it lol Who knew the answer is so simple :-)
Thank you sooooooooo much, i thought i was gonna have to get a new one because i tried a lot of things but completely forgot about that. thanks again. [:
I tried to reset my ipod touch, it still wont come on. any ideas?
Thanks your advice worked first time. Though I had lost everything but now is't all back. A great site which I will bookmark for future info.
I held those two buttons for 6 seconds and the apple showed up. My iPod is working again! Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.
I use an OLD 2nd generation 20 gig iPod. Thanks for helping me avoid spending money on a new one. Thank you SO much!!
Can I just say a big thank you Ricky, my iPod is now working again after pressing the middle button and menu button at the same time. I am so happy that I don't have to fork out money for a new one :-)
hi, my ipod when im trying to charge or upload songs now shows that its connected then flicks back to the apply sympbol and just keeps doing it, it wont charge and it isnt registering in my itunes as being connected, ive bought a new connector/charger and tried on different pcs but looks like its the actual ipod, ive tried your top post holding the power and menu button at the same time and it isnt working, i keep trying but no joy, i didnt buy it from an apple store but a supermarket, any advice on something i can do with it without having to go back to a store?
Thanks! Your advice worked. Your a genius.
Many thanks Ricky. You are the man!
RICKY YOUR A LEGEND!
I've spent at LEAST 30 hours trying to connect my ITouch (bought about Feb 2008 I think) to my own WiFi without success. It was connected for a short time what seems like eons ago but NOTHING i do now seems to work. Can ANYONE help me PLEEEEEEZE. Thank you muchly in advance. Ellie
Thank you for saving my I-pod!!! I thought I had to go buy a new one! You're a genius!!!
Thank you!! My ipod's working again!!
wow thanks!!!!!!!!!!!! was ready to take back to the store!! Ur solution worked like a dream!!!!!! thank u thank u :-)
Holding the power button and centre button got the itouch working again thanks for this article. But am i the only one to think that this is totally crazy, my itouch is 2 days old and it froze up on me! thats crazy! Come on Apple, i paid $500 for this faulty piece of ....! My old Nano screen packed up on me after a year too. Im starting to lose my respect for Apple...!
Holding the power button and centre button got the itouch working again thanks for this article. But am i the only one to think that this is totally crazy, my itouch is 2 days old and it froze up on me! thats crazy! Come on Apple, i paid $500 for this faulty piece of ....! My old Nano screen packed up on me after a year too. Im starting to lose my respect for Apple...!
i was totally freaked out afraid that my ipod was dead but thanks to the following advise:"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...ey can check if the battery is fried." it worked...thank you!
You saved my Ipods life lol thank you soo much!!
Thank you so much! My ipod stopped working and I found this page. Your advice worked like a dream. God bless you.
Thank you sooooooooooooo much!!!! We panicked and my daughter cried. We just had the Itouch for Christmas and we thought it broke! Thanks again for your advice.
stumbled into this as i googled what to do when my ipod stops working and the *trick* worked like magic! im soo happy, u saved my day rick! gracias! :)
Thanks so much Rick! stumbled across this page in my search for how to fix a broken ipod and the trick saved my day! soo happy!
My iPod touch was dead, I did what you said & after a bit it did come on but just with a white screen. Is that good or bad? Should I wait & try it again a little later, or is there something else I should do? Plz help!!!!!!
Wow !!! That did work !!! I tried it a few times and it didn't.... then i tried it again and BAM !!! It worked... Thanks so much !!!
Thanks man, google up the problem and found your site, did the fix and 6 seconds later my ipod was back. Thanks man thought i lost my ipod.
thank you sooooooo much i thought i would have to buy a neew titchy tiny little one ;P
thank you so much, my ipod had frozen i had no idea what to do and now its working again. i had only got it a few months ago and was like what the $%^#. your a $%^#&% live saver. thanks thanks
Thank You Ricky My Ipod just stopped working, I tried what you suggested with the Menu and Center button and it came on immediately and began charging. Informaton is Power Thank You
I LOVE YOU... You saved my IPod. It just went out/black wouldn't turn on for anything. I thought I lost everything, everything link I saved to screen, every note I wrote in notes, all my pics and music then I found this article and presto bango its up and running. Thank you thank you thank you.
ThANKS DUDE, ALL FIXED!!
Thanks so much for your advice on how to unfreeze an iPod. It worked perfectly. If you could give an explanation as to why this happens, it would also help to avoid it happening again. Thanks again!
OMG!!!!!!!!!! this works....thankyou sooo much...I thought it was dead...I feel sooo happy now! hehe :D
I was on the tennis courts, i set my iPod down but when we finished our game it was completely frozen but I remembered what you said and it came back to life!!! This was sooooo helpful!
thank you i thought i had lost the whole thing after only 3 weeks use. Great info
It died when I was walking into work. I have stressed all day. All my stuff is in my car because I had to get my IPOD to work. The Menu+button works!!!!! Now ITunes does not recognize it but I will deal with that.
Hi There, My Ipod stopped working after I gave to my friend over the weekend. When he returned it was dead flat and when I tryed to charge it there was no respond, nothing happen no sign of any thing on the ipod. Can help with some advice. Kind regards
very many thanks for un freezing my ipod,Mr D, Bedford
my ipod just wont turn on. its fully charged. is there a way i can get my photos on my computer even if it wont work ? -kaylee
My ipod classic 120mb no longer turns on properly it shows a flashing circle with a slash and tells me not to disconect. then when i finaly recharged it all the way and ejected it properly it still flashes that circle but instead says its ok to disconect. i cant veiw music or anything i cant do anything it just stays on that screen. be for this started it would randomly freez and you coouldnt do a thing except wait for it to die and then when u went to recharge it it would take files from my computer and hen replace them with viruses and completly make my computer crash. i dont know what to do. apple told me that they dont even know whats wrong with it.
God Ricky thanks soooooo much,,, I thought my IPOD was a goner,,, one google search , up u popped and its fixed! cheers man Linda
Thanks, i solve the problem by go thorough to ur advice........thanks a lot.
Thank you, my iPod wasn't working at all and with your post I could make it work again.
I just had to write to say "Thank you very much!!" I could not get my iPod to turn on. Half the time my computer could not detect it. I finally got iTunes to detect it but I got a corruption message. I tried to restore my iPod but nothing happened. I finally searched on "iPod stopped working". I came straight here and tried what you said to do. Worked PERFECTLY!! Everything is still on my iPod. Thank you so much! I iPod is invaluable for my workouts and my guided meditation. Thank you again!
Ohmygosh! Thankyou soooo much. You made my dead ipod work!xxx
thankyou somuch you helped me to get my ipod touch to work again :) :) sooo happy!!!
Thank you! That advice just fixed my ipod and made my week!!!
Rick, thanks so much. I was convinced my son had killed my ipod and was totally gutted. Just tried your tip and its working! I am so happy! I had almost accepted it was only good for the ago and am so glad i found your site. Thanks again Rick, you really are a star x
my ipod toutch is not working i was half way through a game and stopped working. when i press the on button noathing happens same with the home button. when i put it on to charge noathing happens heeelpp -_- how do i get it to work!?!
My ipod touch 4G 32 gig stopped working!! its screen will not turn on, it still shows on i tunes when plugged in and it the voice comand still works.. what do i do??
thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU. I had the same problem and I had no idea how to get it working, I though i had to go out and buy a new one. Really, thank you so much.
ricky you are the boss thanks
Haha.. Works like a champ now!! Read the other Thanx.. Seems like you saved a million Ipods... Thanks much
Thank you so much! I thought my iPod had died on me, but all I had to do is reset! Thank youu!
Thank you so much Ricky, that tip about pressing Menu and the centre button worked straightaway, that is so good to know, thought my ipod had died forever. I am going to pass it around everyone I know. Good on ya from downunder
The start of my I-Pod brings my life again...It had stopped working completely but after I read ur comments I was able to get my I-Pod back to working condition...U r a genius!! Thanks a ton for sharing this!!!
thank you! my ipod just went blank yesterday and i was about to take it to apple then googled it. Awesome. Hooray.
My Ipod has previously uploaded a Virus but i had it took back to the shop for them to clear it twice but still doesn't work. It always says on Itunes i need to restore but when i do it does nothing. It claims its in recovery mode. It won't let me upload anything or do anything to it.. Help
Thank you VERY much, I never heard about the trick, but it worked alright!
Thanks for the tips to reset, it worked immediately.
Reading these comments about your advice working really made me believe that my beautiful Ipod WILL work again. Unfortunetly, it didn't helped me at all. I hold the Menu and Center button and nothing comes out. I tried charging it, i didn't use it for a day hoping that somehow it'll start working again. Haha. I think my Ipod is gone forever this time. 6 years with him! 6 years!!!!!!!!! 3
Thanks a LOT the reset trick worked I had NO idea what to do before then I'm sure I'll need your help again so once again BIG thanks.
A big thanks Rick hubby happy once again holdin down menu and centre button restarted his ipod
Thank you so much for the tip on how to reset my ipod! I was just sick until I googled and found your website. I can't believe I couldn't find anything in the user guide on this!
...just found this through a google search. my son is also very grateful. we both are, because i was going to go buy him a new unit tomorrow. thank you again.
i had the problem of my ipod freezing and just being blank. i tried holding the menu button and the middle button at the same time and now it works. but why does this happen?
Hi. Same thing happened to me when I was out on my bike at the weekend. Thought iPod had given up the ghost till I Googled my problem and your page came up. Took your advice and it did the trick. Thanks a lot!!
This is 2012 and your 'menu and middle button' advice literarily bailed me out tonight. I wish you all the best wherever you are today.
Just saved me from having a mental breakdown I thought my iPod was broken for good, the reset trick really helped me thanks so much
RICK YOU ARE A GENIUS!! I was so upset when I thought my ITouch was broken but thanks to you I got it working again :) You don't know how much it means to me so thank you.
Thank yo so much man...you are a genious!
I thought my iPod was toast but I re-set the device as per your instructions and now it works perfectly. Thanks!
in the front of the ipod it is showing the sub cable and the itunes icon and it is frozen on that screen and its says you need to connect it to itunes.
MIne stopped working last night after a gym session and just logged on today to see if it was fried. Tried your little trick and after about 15 seconds it came on!! You are a genius. Peter
Thanks Ricky, it worked just as you said it would. I was about to take it in to a shop here in Chinatown you just save some money. Thanks again.
My daughter gave me my Ipod a few years ago and didn't know if I would use it. I love it and went to use it the other day and it worked fine--drove a ways and took it out when I reached my destination and it wouldn't work--was heartbroken and thought it was done. Found this site--tried it and it once again works---the first song that came up was thunderstruck by AC/DC I sure was thunderstruck that my IPod came back to life--I am 56 and hate cell phones but love computers to research help like this--thanks so much for all the help!!
THANKYOU!!!! My ipod has been down for months and I'd given it up for dead then today thought I would give it one last shot before I binned it. Had to try the button pressing for a while but was delighted when it finally worked!!
Thanks a lot. I tried the trick you posted to press menu and center botton for 6 seconds. Apple icone appeared and ipod started working. Thanks again.
Thank you very much! My sons ipod just froze , and you enabled me (mum) to perform technical wizardry that stunned him and put the smile back on his face!
Thank you sooooooooooo much for making this site Ricky, you saved may life, Im very thankful. Awesome tip it really works !! YOU ROCK !!!!!!!!
My sons ipod touch has done same thing. he has informed me that his menu button doesnt work right so what can i do to reset his without the second button to push
thank you so much. I freaked out on my daughter because I thought she was lying to me when she said it just stopped working. I figured she dropped it or something.
Thank you so much for this info, I thought my ipod had died this morning. Have liked and shared on Facebook. Chuffed to bits!
Thx!! I thought my I pod was totally messed up but now it works!!
Thank you so much!! I thought my iPod was a definite goner. This saved the day. :)
I hadn't used my iPod in a while. Yesterday I used it and all was fine. This morning all was fine. Now it won't work. It's fully charged. I tried your trick and the Apple logo did come up. It even went to the screen with Music, Genius, Albums, Videos, etc. It's even shuffling album covers on the bottom of the screen. It just won't work! I press Play, nothing, no sound or anything! Please help
My little 'ipod' has now been resurrected. You are a wizard and my hero!!! What happened? Will this happen again? Thank You So, So much!
amazing... I too thought my 3rd generation Nano was done but I found this post! Thank you sooo much
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you saved my ipod!
Resetting worked for me. However, apparently nothing was done that could have triggered the switch off... Apple and it's mysterious bugs...
Thanks for the trick anyway
Thank you. Like others have said, I thought I'd have to buy a new I pod. Not looking forward to that expense. I'm a happy camper again.
Thank you so much! I went to a MAC/Apple specialist repair shop today and they had no idea how to fix it!!! Took two attempts, but it started back up and is working perfectly again! Wonderful!!!
Ricky - you are the best! My ipod suddenly stopped. I couldn't turn it on. Charged it for days -still nothing. Started to google and found your answer. Held for 10 seconds and it's back on. Thanks for saving my workouts from being silent and boring!!
The advice for unfreezing my iPod was brilliant! Think the little grandsons had been pressing buttons randomly in quick succession; this solution worked instantly with all files left intact. Thank you!