iPod Click Wheel Stops Working

My iPod photo’s click wheel stopped working this afternoon, and I was getting ready to make an appointment at the so-called "Genius Bar" at the local Apple store.

A quick search online found the answer to the problem, though, and I figured I’d document it here so more people can find it later:

iPod calibrates its touch-sensitive surfaces when you turn off the Hold switch. Touching the buttons or the touch wheel on a sleeping iPod at the same time that you turn off the Hold switch causes iPod to calibrate to the capacitance of your finger instead of the air. This can cause iPod to turn on but appear unresponsive when waking from sleep.

So the solution might be to just switch HOLD ON and then OFF again, without touching the wheel in the process

In my case, this solved the problem. Beauty!


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108 responses to “iPod Click Wheel Stops Working”

  1. woody Avatar
    woody

    Have an ipod (80G) same problem, tried all of these tips. But the only way was to open it and clean wheel connectors. Then it starts working again πŸ™‚ Drawback, when open it is the more or less broke πŸ™ the metal frame needs to be bended a lot and for sure it dose not look so nice any more.
    I have also a Iriver, with a much better sound and it newer fails. So skip all hype around ipod and try something else that works.

  2. Brad Avatar
    Brad

    Bought a new 16 G Nano yesterday. Today the FM radio stopped working, then the click wheel stopped. Tried reset, restore, swearing a lot. All this after only one use.

    Guess I’ll take it back. What a POS. Apple has a lot of balls with their TV ads slamming Microsoft.

  3. Nikita Avatar
    Nikita

    @brad SAME PROBLEM!

  4. Rai Avatar
    Rai

    That is it! I have tried everything!! I am going to stab the Ipod to hell and buy a CD player

  5. fabsugar Avatar
    fabsugar

    my partner gave me a brandnew iMini dock speaker. After using it the ipod click wheel stops working!! =S

  6. Deanna Avatar

    umm my ipod i was just listening to it and i put it down for a sec and when i went to listening to it it wont turn on

  7. Karina Avatar
    Karina

    I have an 80G and had a similar problem this morning, the buttons were not working but it did scroll up and down. I was able to fix it though, just pressed and hold the center button and menu at the same time, it got restored and now its working perfectly πŸ™‚

  8. Mong Avatar
    Mong

    I have the same exact problem. I have a theory. When you use to dock connector, the 20 pin connector gets bent.
    Try this:
    plug a charging cord into ur ipod, dont plug it in to anything.
    make sure ur ipods screen is facing u.
    slightly, gently bend ur ipod back (away from u)
    try bending until the click wheel works.
    Use common sense and dont break ur ipod
    email me at mongrcfreak@gmail.com to tell me whether it works.
    Enjoy ur ipod!