Click wheel frozen

Hi folks,
I have a nano chromatic, which has been fine for a while but today the click wheel is not responding.
It responds as normal if I shake it (ie it shuffles and starts playing a random song), however none of the buttons work. I can't even turn it off!
I have managed to reset it a few times using menu+select but it doesn't make a difference (at least I know the buttons are physically fine).
I charged it overnight on a Logitech ipod speaker system which I don't use very often. When I discovered the problem I docked it back into the speakers and it responded fine to the speakers' remote control, but still refused to respond to its own controls.
I have tried plugging it into my work computer (no itunes) and properly disconnecting it, but that made no difference as well.
caveat: because I own an ancient ibook G4, I have only managed to update my ipod once through an old windows PC at home which I haven't convinced to boot up for a while. It was an epic effort since all my music is on a mac formatted external HD. As a result, I usually charge my Ipod by plugging it into my work computer (windows) which does not have itunes (and I cannot install itunes on it). I bought the speakers mostly so I could charge it during the christmas holidays. Accordingly, the remaining steps in the "5 rs" are not open to me.
Any suggestions?

hi! i have mostly the same problem. I use my ipod quite a bit but one day i turned it on and started listening to music and the wheel froze so then the battery went dead. but the next morning i charged it and it worked fine. i listened to 3 songs and the wheel froze again. i tried wipeing it off but it still didnt work i wish there would be some solution. my warrenty expieres on december 17,09 but i dont know if i should send it in or if there is just away to get it to work fine. i really need help.
thanks, katelynn

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The infamous problem of the Click Wheel getting frozen

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

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.

Refurbished 4th gen. frozen and click wheel unresponsive.

Hey all,
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Thanks.
James Cobbin
[email protected]
AIM- dancerboijamez

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Cinamon

I don't have a guide or anything, but it is almost as easy as replacing it with another hard drive, and there are online guides for doing that, for example
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Device/iPod4th_Generation_orPhoto
Be sure to use those plastic tools. If you use metal ones, you will damage the iPod's case.
And it's a Compact Flash card that I used, not an SD card (which is smaller). Compact Flash cards 16GB and below are getting affordable (if you shop around online), although 32GB and higher ones are still expensive. 4GB cards are very cheap, so you may want to try it with one of those, to confirm it works, since it is always possible there are other problems with your iPod.
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[CF Compact-Flash SSD To Toshiba IPod 1.8 inch Adapter|http://cgi.ebay.com/CF-Compact-Flash-SSD-To-Toshiba-IPod-1-8-inch-Adapt erW0QQitemZ180303249125QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Cables_Adapters?hash=item29fae93ee5& _trksid=p3911.c0.m14&trkparms=72%3A1240%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A2% 7C294%3A50]
The listing above on eBay is the same item from the same seller as the one I bought.
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60983
=====
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IPOD model A1059 appears frozen and is unresponsive to all click wheel entries. Reset does not work. Does not show up in ITunes or in Windows Explorer. What is the problem and is there a fix?

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1320
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Hey guys,
The other day, my click wheel just completely stopped working. I got it for Christmas '04 (Suffice to say, I'm disappointed that it hasn't even lasted two years yet). It is a 4th-gen 40GB black/white display. Prior to it completely not working, only the bottom right "quarter" of the click wheel would not work (play/pause and ff worked, sliding my thumb around did not move the cursor). However, now I cannot scroll around at all. It appears to work somewhat, as when I move it sometimes, the volume on a song will go up, though at a rate that would probably get to full in 50-60 years.
I know for a fact it is not frozen (or on hold ;p) because it will turn off and on. Furthermore, anything that requires a press works.
I've tried everything except for restore it, and if that's all I can do aside from send it into Apple, I may end up doing that, since it's useless to me if I can only play track 1 of 6500. ;p
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Thanks so much for any help,
Ted
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Have a look at this first.
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