Experience: iPod Touch Stuck on Apple Logo

I hate it when technology that is supposed to make my life easier makes it more complicated. I iPod Touch is a perfect example. Such a great little device. It has my music, all my exercise videos such as P90X and Gimnastica Natural, and movies I watch on planes. With all the additional apps, the added utility of the device has just shot through the roof. I can check Facebook, Twitter, play Scrabble with my friends. I have the Kindle app on there and learned Spring from reading “Spring Recipies, A Problem-Solution Approach” over the course of a couple of nights while traveling. Needless to say, this device has become a major part of my life. I joke that it does everything I need but make phone calls (damned you AT&T and your exclusivity).

So, of course, the dream fades into reality when last night while playing Scrabble with my wife it reboots itself and gets stuck on the Apple Logo. Damned.

So, after a bit of research there are two ways to fix this.

Fix 1. On your computer, start iTunes. On the iPod Touch and press and hold the Power and the Menu button until the screen turns off. Plug the USB cable into your computer. Hold the Home button and plug in the USB cable into the iPod, or turn it on. You will get a notice on your computer that an iPod in restore mode has been connected. Do not click on restore just yet. Wait 5-25 minutes leaving it plugged in. All of a sudden, you will get a notice that you can send diagnostic information to Apple, the iPod will reboot, sync, and work.

When I did this, I did click on restore, and I was on my tethered cell phone, so the connection was slow in downloading the firmware update. The reset and work process above set in before the download was complete, so I didn't have to do a complete factory restore, losing everything on my iPod, which would have been bad because I can't restore anything being that I am on the road.

Fix 2. Follow the above, click on the Restore button, and let iTunes do a complete restore, losing everything on the iPod touch.

I don't know why I had this issue. I had plenty of battery life. I read on a few forums that leaving it there and not clicking restore will work. You've got nothing to lose in trying it. If it doesn't, just go through with the Restore procedure and reload your apps and music. For me, it was a pain because I didn't have a backup, violating rule #1 :|