iPod® and iTunes® for Dummies®, 7th Edition

Chapter 22. Ten Steps to Recovery

In This Chapter

• Resetting your iPod or iPhone

• Updating iPod or iPhone software

• Restoring your iPod or iPhone settings

• Restoring an iPod or iPhone to its original factory condition

This no-nonsense chapter may not be fun, but it's necessary. Humans aren't perfect, and neither are the machines they make. If your iPod or iPhone stops working as it should, or an iPod touch or iPhone app causes it to freeze up, you can turn to this chapter.

This chapter also covers updating the firmware and software on your iPod or iPhone. (Firmware is software encoded in hardware.) All software devices need to be updated now and then — it's a good thing because new versions fix known bugs and add improvements.

Finally, I describe how to restore your iPod or iPhone to its factory default condition. Restoring to factory condition is a drastic measure that erases any music or information, but it usually solves a software glitch when nothing else does.

Powering Up and Unlocking

To turn on an iPod nano or iPod classic, press any part of the click wheel. To turn on an iPod touch or iPhone, press either the Sleep/Wake button or the physical Home button.

If an iPod nano or iPod classic refuses to turn on, check the position of the Hold switch — on the top of a current-model iPod classic or iPod nano (or on the bottom next to the dock connection on older iPod nano models). The Hold switch locks the iPod buttons so that you don't accidentally activate them. Slide the Hold switch to the ...