A few tips to get an iPod working the way it should.
iPods are great, but as with just about everything electrical and mechanical, they do sometimes have a little tendency to go wrong.
The reason specifically for this article is that a customer asked me the other day what they can do with their iPod, as sometimes it just stops working. But, much for worryingly they proudly told me that the way they got it working again was to deliberately drop it at arm’s length to the floor!!! Needless to say I was cringing at hearing this. But, no! There is more: the customer has found that this fixes mobiles and other electrical products! At this point I was having a small seizure on the floor.*
This is where I now stick in a big fat disclaimer: This is not the way to treat your lovely electrical items, and that careless ‘arm’s length’ drops are never advised. You will be doing [most likely] more harm than good, and almost certainly lose out on the guarantee of the product due to negligence.
With that said, here are a few ways to get your iPod up and running properly, and with no dropping involved:-
The Reset
- Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
- Press and hold the Menu and Centre (Select) buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 8 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.
Update the iPod
- Start iTunes as you normally would
- Look to the left-hand menu and look under the devices heading and click on your ipod
- In the main window area press the button that says “check for new software” or “check for updates”, or words to that affect
- If iTunes detects that a newer version of iPod software is available for your model, you will be prompted to download and install the new version. If the newest software has already been downloaded you may be prompted to install it.
- Depending on the model iPod you have and whether you are using a USB or FireWire connection to connect your iPod, you may be asked to leave your iPod attached to the computer for the update to complete or you may be asked to connect the iPod to the iPod Power Adapter that came with your iPod (Note: not all iPod models ship with a power adapter). Be sure to follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update.
- During the update process, you will notice an Apple logo and progress bar appear on the iPod display (Note: this may be difficult to see since the iPod’s backlight will be turned off). Once this is completed, you can resume normal use of your iPod.
Update iTunes too
To update iTunes, click here, and choose to download the software.
- Do note:-
- the download may take while depending on your broadband speed
- you don’t have to enter your email address to sign-up for marking etc
- Make sure your existing iTunes software is completely closed before you run the update.
If all this does not get it right, then…
The final part would be restoring iPod to factory settings, details and guide can be found here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60983
Again, this will delete all data off your iPod, but nothing from the iTunes library, because a restore erases all of the songs and files on iPod, make sure to back up any files you’ve saved on the iPod disk. All of your songs, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, and games can be loaded back to your iPod provided that you have them stored in your iTunes Library, or somewhere else on your computer.
*The good news is that the customer followed my advice about updating the iPod software and the final result was a happy ending and a happy iPod user.
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