- One of the most common issues an iPod can have is a frozen screen. This can happen if the iPod becomes overheated, is trying to load too much content or is low on power. If the iPod freezes, the first thing you should do is plug it in to a power source. Sometimes, this will trigger an auto-reset, and your screen will unfreeze. If you are still experiencing issues with the iPod, you will have to perform an auto-reset. If you have an iPod classic or Nano, press and hold the center button and the play buttons at the same time. If you have an iPod Touch, hold the center button until the device resets.
- Syncing is the process by which the media from your computer is copied to the iPod. If you cannot sync the iPod, there could be several things causing the issue. First, make sure the iPod is powered on and has sufficient battery life. If you have let the battery power dip below 5 percent, the sync will fail until the iPod reaches the 5 percent threshold again. Another issue that might cause an iPod to fail to sync is hardware incompatibility. All iPods come with a sync cable that must be plugged in to a USB 2.0 port for the sync to be successful. If you have an older computer, you may be using USB ports that are outdated and do not conform to this standard. In this case, you will need to switch computers for the sync to be successful.
- If you have one or more files that will not play on the iPod, check them in iTunes and make sure that they are in the correct format. iPods natively support AAC for music playback, and MP4s for video playback. If your files are not in this format, you can use iTunes to convert them. Simply right-click the files, and then press "add to conversion queue" and iTunes will handle the rest. If none of your files will play back, you will need to perform a system restore. This will delete all of the content on the iPod, but because it is all stored in iTunes, you can re-sync all of your content once the restore is complete. To perform the restore, plug in the iPod, then press the "System Restore" button underneath the iPod icon.