The infamous problem of the Click Wheel getting frozen

Question

Since I've read a lot of stuff on the internet about this very common problem, and that nobody has found a solution, I wanted to start this topic in order to solve it through different experiences in the community.
I live in Spain, but bought my iPod nano in Canada last October, and I noticed the click wheel problem since the very beginning. Sometimes it got frozen, so I used the Hold Button to “reset” it and it worked again, but I have to say that it was very annoying to get this stuff stucked from time to time.
But in December, it started to get frozen more frequently, and now it happens every time I turn the iPod on. It responds to shaking, so I shake it and start listening to it in random play, and after some minutes (may be an hour, or may be never), and after many “Hold Switch slides”, I get it back working properly again. It normally keeps working fine for a while, but suddenly it can get frozen again.
Here is a list of observations I’ve made, despite the problem seems to be very randomly (sometimes it fixes 2 min before turning on, sometimes it gets an hour, sometimes it never unfreeze):
-Some people have said that it’s a moisture problem. Well, it is happening here, where humidity is high, but I was in a very dry place for Xmas and it happened the same way. But the fact that it works when it is hot rather than when it is cold is in support of this hypothesis.
-Some people say it’s some dirt between the wheel and the contacts. I tried cleaning the borders of the wheel and it didn’t worked.
-If I charge it full, it works immediately, but for a while
-Sometimes I turn it on and immediately touch the wheel and it works, but 1 sec latter it isn’t working again. Sometimes I turn it on and it doesn´t work at all.
-Of course I tried the “5 R’s” and a full restore. Reinstallation and updates of iPod software doesn’t work either.
SO:
1- Any suggestions?
2- Is Apple going to do something with this? (the problem is here since iPod Nano 2G). I’ve read somewhere that their policy is to tell you that the iPod is so cheap that you can buy another one (but it seems that is a serial problem so that irrational answers will not work)
Message was edited by: federoy

Answer 1

Some points to ponder:
It is very difficult to determine from Internet reports how common a problem really is for any product with a very high sales volume. If millions are sold, hundreds of reports still just represent a tiny fraction of them. Generally, if a problem really is inherent in its design or manufacture, a very high return rate follows & the maker is forced to correct it to stay in business.
Internet reports also suffer from the problem of not always providing enough info to determine if the issue is exactly the same in each report, or if it has the same cause. Quite often there are a number of "me too" reports that list no details or are too vague to determine much. Sometimes a follow up reveals that user error, abuse, or post-manufacturing damage is involved in some of the reports.
This is not meant to imply that real problems in design or manufacture don't exist, only that it isn't a good idea to make overly broad assumptions about commonality without sufficient information.
You have provided a lot of useful info about your own experience, enough to rule out some of the theories & to make others seem much less likely. But it is still important to consider that those theories may explain some of the reports & that the same symptom does not mean the same cause must always be involved.
With that out of the way, here is what I see as a synopsis of the symptoms you observe:
• The frozen scroll wheel problem was intermittent but occurred from day one of ownership
• It got worse over time & now occurs every time the iPod (Nano?) is powered up
• Toggling the Hold switch repeatedly seems to temporarily cure the problem
• Performing the 5 R's has no effect
• Cleaning the borders of the wheel has no effect (details?)
• The problem doesn't occur if the iPod is fully charged (details?)
• Weather effects may be involved somehow but not in an obvious way
If this is accurate, it would be useful to know how many other users see any of the same things, or if they see something substantially different.
Also, note that the participants in this forum are just users & cannot know what if anything Apple will do about this issue. The terms of use prohibit our discussing Apple policy so all we can do here is try to uncover as many facts as we can about when the symptoms occur & what does & doesn't work to resolve them.