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Submitted by Xenoveritas on
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Kyle (not verified)

In reply to by Kat (not verified)

Your right! It will now shut off when I hold the play button. I'm not sure why it hanged all sudden, but it works. Thanks for the great tip! 4th gen Nano
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:21 Permalink
Donna (not verified)

Thanks soooo much.. I just knew I was going to have to buy a new Nano. I dropped it and while it played the current song it was completely black and not responding. Using the steps above reset it. THANKS!

Donna

Sat, 04/03/2010 - 14:51 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

my ipod froze and i couldnt get it to turn off and i tried pluging it in to the pc. but that didnt word

then i did what u said... nd guess what! IT WORKEDDDDDDDD
THANKS ??

Sat, 06/26/2010 - 15:12 Permalink
Troubleshooter (not verified)

My friend’s 5th Gen iPod also had the same problem. I tried to reset it over ten times (by toggling the HOLD switch and then pressing the MENU + Middle button for several seconds) but that would not resolve the problem. I also tried to reset it back to factory settings, but that did not fix it either.
The Sleep option would also not work correctly. I configured the iPod to show the Sleep option on the Main Menu. When I selected it, it would only disable the wheel and leave the display active. I had to toggle the HOLD switch to regain functionality of the wheel.
Setting the Sleep Timer for 15 minutes did work, somewhat. The HOLD switch had to be set to the ON position in order for the iPod not to wake up when the scroll wheel was touched.
I have an iPod power cable that plugs into an electrical outlet. I connected it to the iPod and tried selecting the Sleep option to see what would happen. This made the screen show a big green battery blinking on the screen. After that, I unplugged this cable from the iPod and the screen went black. Woo Hoo! But this seems like a lot of work to just turn it off, so I kept looking for a better fix.
I read that this particular problem occurred when you keep your iPod plugged into a computer, via USB cable, while the computer boots up. So I tried resetting the iPod while it was still plugged into the computer, just to see what would happen. After it resetted, I disconnected the iPod and tried to play a song. Then, I paused the song and attempted to turn off the iPod by pressing down the Play/Pause button. Eureka! It now turns off properly. The Sleep option also works now.
I apologize for posting such a large comment, but maybe the order at which I troubleshooted the problem is significant in fixing the problem.

Tue, 06/29/2010 - 00:14 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Troubleshooter (not verified)

My ipod is having the exact same problem as your friends, like everything matches up. However, when I tried doing what you said to do it still does not work. Restoring it also has no effect whatsoever.

Wed, 07/14/2010 - 15:25 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Worked first time!thanks!

Tue, 08/03/2010 - 02:56 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Thx a ton! I was freaking because I was told I would have to do a factory reset because it was frozen! Hugs <3

Wed, 08/25/2010 - 03:43 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

OMG! I was freaking out a friend let me borrow it. Thanks it worked.

Fri, 08/13/2010 - 21:47 Permalink
MillieMOn (not verified)

Thanks Work like a Charm!!!!!
Sun, 10/03/2010 - 15:33 Permalink
Andie (not verified)

My iPod wasn't working and then I searched it up on Google and I got this and it works now! Thanks so much! I was about to return it when I fixed it!

Thanks again!

Sat, 10/09/2010 - 12:58 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

That's what parents are for - to sort out a frozen ipod screen...with a little help...many thanks.

Mon, 11/22/2010 - 21:14 Permalink

My iPod wouldn't shut off after my run this morning and I had visions of big bills to fix it or buy a new one... your reboot worked, and I was concerned that the article was 4 years old... it WORKED! Thanks so much!

Tue, 12/21/2010 - 16:11 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

You are a lifesaver on Xmas morning... Worked briliantly after half an hour of frustration!

Sat, 12/25/2010 - 10:35 Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

omygosh thank you soo much!!!! i searched the entire apple website and nothing came up!! i was really sad because ive had this ipod forever and i love it because its not one of the new fancy ones!! LIFE SAVER

Wed, 12/29/2010 - 16:50 Permalink
carrie (not verified)

i have no idea which one is the 'hold' button D: aha. and i have the new, itouch, where it can take pics, and record vids, and my turn off/sleep button won't work, neither will my sound buttons on the side, idk why, i just got it yesterday,
and, i had the old kinda ipod touch, but my screen cracked, & had to pay alittle extra to get the new one, so i need help, D: PLEASE!?!?!?! thank you,!!! if ssomeone can!

-xoxo
carrie.

Sun, 01/23/2011 - 17:16 Permalink
Xenoveritas

In reply to by carrie (not verified)

You should be able to reboot the iPod Touch by pressing and holding both the Lock and Home buttons for up to 10 seconds. (The Lock button is also the power button.)

If none of the side buttons are working and it's brand new, you probably should contact Apple and see if they can fix it under warranty. The other option is trying to reboot it as described above and seeing if that fixes it. If not, and taking it to Apple is not an option, I guess you can try to completely drain the battery. (The fastest way is probably playing a video.) That will forcibly reboot it, since it should automatically shut down once the battery drops below a certain level.

Tue, 01/25/2011 - 02:58 Permalink

I had this problem and the pressing of the Menu and Select at the same time worked right away. So pleased.
I have registered just so that I could say thanks. Ill be sure to come here everytime I have a tech problem.

Wed, 02/02/2011 - 10:20 Permalink
Jackie (not verified)

OMG even the Apple store did not know this trick. They told me to buy a new ipod! I've been dealing with this problem for years and this fixed it! THANK YOU!!!!!

Wed, 03/23/2011 - 12:21 Permalink
ginger (not verified)

it also help if it wont turn back on too! yr like my savior! THANK YOU

Fri, 04/22/2011 - 20:51 Permalink
Roger Nelson (not verified)

I have found that you can fix the no sleeping issue in the Diagnostics Menu. Getting to Diagnostics is based on model of Ipod.
1st Generation Previous + Center + Next
2nd Generation Previous + Center + Next
3rd Generation Previous + Center + Next
4th Generation Previous + Center
5th Generation Previous + Center

Once in Diagnostics, hit menu to go to Manual Test.
Scroll down to Power. Hit select button.
Scroll down to sleep. Hit select button.
Scroll down to sleepforever. Hit select button.

Ipod should shut down.
Press menu to restart Ipod.

Ipod should now sleep normally.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 01:31 Permalink
PHil (not verified)

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I never go this far..but I mean it, Thank you very much for this amazingly helpful information...you saved me a lot of time and frustration.....and I hate frustration. lol

Mon, 06/06/2011 - 02:08 Permalink
Robin (not verified)

Thank you for your help. I tried two other suggestions from another site that didn't work. Your suggestion worked perfectly. I am eternally grateful!

Fri, 06/24/2011 - 22:36 Permalink
Farah (not verified)

My ipod won't turn off and it's on disc mode. The screen of the ipod just says ok to disconnect. How do i turn it off?

Thu, 06/30/2011 - 15:45 Permalink
Jones (not verified)

In reply to by Farah (not verified)

my ipod will not turn off. the screen is stuck to the menu but i cannot select anything. the battery is showing with a lightning bolt through it; charging it for any period of time does nothing. I've toggles the HOLD then held Menu and Select to no avail. tried different combinations of buttons. i dont get it. i have the 2gb

Fri, 07/29/2011 - 01:30 Permalink

hi all

to turn thoses pesky ipod's off when they don't wont to go off, I have found a way!
Hold the Menu and Select (the round one) till it goes off then quickly change to rewind (<<) and select (the round one) this will enter you into a new menu then scroll down to sleep and off it goes! to turn it back on press the play/pause button and it comes back to the previous menu which had sleep in it continue down one to reset and off it goes again!!

Fri, 07/22/2011 - 08:36 Permalink
Chinthana Damith (not verified)

Ohh...Thnx Man..It Really Helps...i just use my friends ipod and it freezed when i sync with my pc...i really get nervous...:) then i googled and find this article....Now its ok.....thnx again man.....

Fri, 03/16/2012 - 16:55 Permalink
Tag (not verified)

My son's Ipod 5 was on but the main screen was black. We could see the battery status, time, etc. but not the screen. The Ipod was still working, as it was beeping when a text came in and I could sync it. But it would not turn off. So thanks for this advice. Worked like a charm!

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 11:56 Permalink

My iPod won't shut off. Holding down the Play button does nothing. It just won't turn off. A quick Google reveals that this isn't exactly a new thing, and comes up with several articles that explain how to fix it: reboot the thing.

How do you reboot an iPod? Well, Apple has the answer. Toggle the Hold switch to Hold and then back off again, and then hold down Menu and Select (the center button) for six to ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears. The Apple logo displays while the iPod is booting.

That fixed it. Yay.

You can tell if your iPod won't turn off (beyond the obvious "why the frak won't holding Play shut it off?!") when it remains at the menu after being docked with iTunes - assuming Disk Mode isn't active.

Update: Making sure to remove the headphones before rebooting it. There may be a really loud "snapping" sound as it reboots. Ow.

Update 2009-11-12: Should it ever come up, you can reboot the iPhone/iPod Touch by pressing and holding the Home and Lock buttons for 5-10 seconds. I haven't had these refuse to shut off (mainly because they never shut off, instead they suspend) but I have managed to crash my iPhone.