MacBasics: The Five R’s of iPod troubleshooting

Posted by Don Foy Apr 11, 2006 at 9:44pm

So, I’m sitting on a plane from Nashville to Boston, politely listening to my iPod when something went wrong. I don’t know what, but none of the buttons worked. This is a 5G iPod with video. I’ve had it for five months and after an early episode where I had to completely wipe it clean and restore (more than likely operator error), it has worked without a glitch.

Of course, it was at the beginning of the flight, so I was stuck reading the cheesy magazine in the seat-back pocket that holds the barf bag and the little card telling you how to kiss yourself goodbye in the event of an emergency (that’s the polite way to say plane crash).

I tried to reset the iPod, but I missed an important step in the process.

I remembered to hold down the Menu and Select (center) buttons until the iPod rebooted, but I neglected to toggle the Hold switch before doing so. So the iPod would sort of reset, but never booted back up. In fact, it just stayed on the black screen with the white Apple logo and wouldn’t go off, either.

So I put it back in its case and read the magazine. Did the same on the way to Presque Isle, Maine. But when I got to the hotel in Edmonston, New Brunswick, Canada, I got on the Apple support site to see what options I had.

The first option is to reset the iPod the right way: (This is taken directly from the Apple Knowledge-Base article 61705, which covers resetting all iPods. This works for 5G, nano, mini, click wheel and photo models. See the article for instructions for other iPods.)

1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)

2. Press and hold the Menu and Select buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Tip: If you are having difficulty resetting your iPod, set it on a flat surface. Make sure the finger pressing the Select button is not touching any part of the click wheel. Also make sure that you are pressing the Menu button toward the outside of the click wheel, and not near the center.

If the above steps did not work, try connecting iPod to a power adapter and plug the power adapter into an electrical outlet, or connect iPod to your computer. Make sure the computer is turned on and isn’t set to go to sleep.

When I did it the right way, the iPod booted right away and worked fine the rest of the trip. I listened to an audio book, “The Time Machine,” by H.G. Wells on the way back.

But what if it hadn’t?

This is apparently more common than any of us would like to believe, because Apple has put an iPod troubleshooting panel quite prominently on the main support page.

It’s called the Five R’s:

Reset your iPod.

Retry with a different USB port.

Restart your computer.

Reinstall iPod and iTunes software.

Restore your iPod.

Each of the R’s is a link to a page that explains exactly how to do what you need to do for that R. Bear in mind that none of the first four procedures will damage your data on the iPod. The fifth one wipes it clean. You have been warned.

iPod support information on the Apple support site is quite helpful. Because I had never had an iPod before, I didn’t know much about them when I got my wife one in July last year and when I got one late last year. I’ve learned a lot. For iPod newbies, the iPod 101 site.

There’s also built-in help for both iTunes and iPod in the Help menu in iTunes, but I find the Apple support web site to be easier to find answers in. Whatever you prefer.

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