How to Turn Off IPod Do Not Disconnect Error Message

Are you having a problem with your iPod?

by Doug Updated January 29, 2009

Do not disconnect message from a 20GB IPod.

Recently, I had a problem with my iPod not being recognized in iTunes, while it was connected to my computer and uploading .mp3s. I kept getting the Do Not Disconnect message on my iPod. After restarting my computer and going back into iTunes, it still wasn't recognizing my iPod. I thought I was in trouble at this point.

Fortunately, I was able to turn off the Do Not Disconnect message from my IPod, by resetting it while keeping all my files intact. Here's how: To reset iPod (for use during troubleshooting), press and hold the Menu and Select buttons simultaneously for about 6 seconds, until the Apple logo appears.

Another problem I encounter fairly frequently while walking or running with my 20GB iPod is that it will just freeze up and stop playing. The song or podcast I'm listening to at the time will just stop, and the buttons on the iPod will not work when you press them. To get the iPod working again, I've found that you can either plug it back into your computer, or if your not around your computer try keeping the iPod still, toggle the hold switch on and off once or twice, then unplug the headphone jack going into the iPod, now plug it back in, and then reset your iPod (hold the Menu and Select buttons simultaneously for about 6 to 10 seconds).

31 Comments

by jake on 2/17/2007 i woke up this morning and turned on my ipod but when i went to turn it off it wouldn't turn off and it still won't
by Doug on 2/17/2007 Make sure the Hold switch on the top of the ipod is not set to Hold, then try turning the ipod off again.
by Yosalin on 5/30/2007 How do i turn off the ipod. please help me it wont turn OFF
by Doug on 5/30/2007 Yosalin, if you simply just want to turn off the iPod, just push the Pause button, and after a few seconds the iPod will automatically turn off.
by Jill on 8/2/2007 I tried to get songs of my brothers computer he does not have I tunes though. I disconnected the ipod without ejecting it. NOW MY IPOD WILL NOT TURN OFF AND THE DO NOT DISCONNECT SYMBOL IS CONSTANTLY ON.
by tammy on 11/10/2007 i had dropped my ipod and now it wont play or do anything, its frozen, it wont let me do anything with it..
by danielle on 11/23/2007 Help! my ipod nano (the new version) will NOT turn ON ive tried everything tht itunes support has suggested and nothing works is there anything else i could do?
by Doug on 11/23/2007 Danielle, Try charging your iPod. At one time I had thought my iPod died because it wouldn't turn on. But it turned out that the only problem was that the battery was completely drained. If the battery is completely drained when you go to plug in your ipod to start charging it, you may not see the "Charging" icon appear on the screen. I'd probably leave it charging for a day.
by Paul on 12/6/2007 My 30GB IPod classic won't turn off when I want it to. I have tried everything from the hold button to trying to listen to a song and then trying to turn the IPod off. What sholud I do??????
by Paul on 12/6/2007 My IPod classic (30GB) won't turn off when I want it to. I have tried to flick the hold button on and off a few times, listened to part of the song and tried turning it off, yet nonthing seems to be working!!! What should I do about it?
by gabe on 12/14/2007 classic 30g fully charged , do not disconnect, still appears. how do i do this
by Amy on 12/25/2007 thanks for saving my sleep tonight! Thank you thank you thank you! I thought I killed my ipod, and all my data is gone. But you save me!!!! Merry Christmas everyone!
by Alex on 12/26/2007 My ipod will turn off fine, but after about thirty seconds it comes back on automatically!!! What is wrong with the thing....... I just got it yesterday?
by Kati on 12/30/2007 Frozen! All of a sudden my ipod nano froze..the light won't go off and it's says it's playing....but it's not...i tried plugging it in, but nothing happens...what do i do
by Rajae on 1/4/2008 i nded a code or help to unlock my ipod
by Justine on 3/14/2008 connected... even when it's not... I accidentally unplugged my ipod last night, and now the screen in frozen on the 'connected-eject before disconnecting' screen but it's already disconnected, and so i plugged it back in, and now my computer doesn't recognize the device... WHAT DO I DO???
by Jenna on 4/9/2008 ALl of a sudden my ipod won't lpay music it says it is playing but nothing is coming through. I have tried the pause unpause button,resatarting it, plaugging it in and everything I can think of. Pleeeezzse help. THAnx
by bobby jackson on 5/18/2008 wont do anything. man yaal shuda seen my ipod yesterday, it goes self destructing in 8 seconds and then it blew up in me face argh...got burn marks on my nose and all, luckly i had it on warrnty, so im gettin a replacement.
by Andrew on 6/5/2008 Thanks! My iPod was frozen on the 'Ejecting - You may now disconnect' screen, and I couldn't do a thing. Tried your method of toggle and pressing Menu and Select at the same time and it switched off, and I didn't lose my files when I turned it on, so big thanks owed
by Sebastien on 7/17/2008 Hey, I have an ipod classic 20GB 4th generation. Ive had my ipod plugged in through the usb cable and the only thing that comes on the screen is a sign that tells me to plug the ipod charger adapter into the wall. What do I do to fix this problem?
by Doug on 7/19/2008 Hi Sebastien, you may want to do what the ipod screen tells you. So plug it into your ipod wall charger, then into an outlet. If you recently updated your iTunes software, it may need to reinstall and update your iPod software. Keep in mind this might remove all the files on your ipod, so after the reinstall it will probably take a while to upload all the files from iTunes to your ipod. Good Luck!
by Doug on 8/27/2008 hey guy, Open up iTunes -> then select "Music" on the left menu -> now you'll see checkmarks next to each song name, uncheck any songs you don't want to sync to your nano. By unchecking the them, the songs will be removed from your nano the next time you resync you iPod, but will remain in you iTunes library.
by ESTHER on 8/28/2008 I WAS LISTENNIN TO MUSIC ON MY 160GB IPOD ALL OF A SUDDEN IT STOP PLAYING. IT FROZE UP, I VE TRIED PRESSING THE MENU BUTTON AND THE HOLD BUTTON AND THE PAUSE BUTTON BUT NONE IS WORKING. PLESAE HELP. I VE THOUSANDS OF SONGS DOWNLOADED I HOPE I WONT LOOSE THOSE SONGS
by ty on 10/15/2008 my hold swiych is on and it wont come off
by Audrey on 11/14/2008 This worked for my IPOD Classic :) oh shit thanks this worked for my ipod classic, unplugging and pluggin in the headphones about 5-6 times then holding the play/pause button for a couple seconds then hold the menu/middle button for 8 seconds, and it restarted :D
by HELP ME please ! :9 on 11/14/2008 ipod nano 2gb.... I was listening to my ipod and then it just stopped and its on the screen with the time and it has the battery symbol and play on it and it wont turn off . HELP !!!!
by nikka on 11/30/2008 my ipod wont turn off. if i try to turn it off, after some seconds it will turn on automatically. what the matter with it? hepl. please
by Jeffrey Garcia on 6/25/2011 We have same problem and it took 1 week before I got the solution. I will explain to you the series of process on how I solve it. (Ipod still on do not disconnect) 1. Once you read that message, first thing you need to do is simply press at the same time the middle button and the menu button for about 5-6 seconds. Release when it turn to black screen. 2. Once the screen is still on black screen, do a quick press at the same time the middle button and the bottom part then you will see on the screen a message OK to disconnect. Meaning your Ipod is now ready and will be recognize by your Itunes. Hope it helps you a lot.
by Robert on 11/20/2012 my iPod classic 20gb is only showing the charging icon and when i try to press and hold the menu and the select button the apple sign appear for a second and goes back to the charge icon and it is not recognized by iTunes and my computer what can i do ?
by Kivi on 1/5/2013 Thank you so much. It helped a lot.
by SathEdu on 3/2/2014 i updated my ipod. when i connect it to the wall socket nothing happens and it wont even turn off.. My mind says "what to do, what to do"

by jake on 2/17/2007

i woke up this morning and turned on my ipod but when i went to turn it off it wouldn't turn off and it still won't

by Doug on 2/17/2007

Make sure the Hold switch on the top of the ipod is not set to Hold, then try turning the ipod off again.

by Yosalin on 5/30/2007

How do i turn off the ipod. please help me it wont turn OFF

by Doug on 5/30/2007

Yosalin, if you simply just want to turn off the iPod, just push the Pause button, and after a few seconds the iPod will automatically turn off.

by Jill on 8/2/2007

I tried to get songs of my brothers computer he does not have I tunes though. I disconnected the ipod without ejecting it. NOW MY IPOD WILL NOT TURN OFF AND THE DO NOT DISCONNECT SYMBOL IS CONSTANTLY ON.

by tammy on 11/10/2007

i had dropped my ipod and now it wont play or do anything, its frozen, it wont let me do anything with it..

by danielle on 11/23/2007

Help! my ipod nano (the new version) will NOT turn ON
ive tried everything tht itunes support has suggested and nothing works
is there anything else i could do?

by Doug on 11/23/2007

Danielle,
Try charging your iPod. At one time I had thought my iPod died because it wouldn't turn on. But it turned out that the only problem was that the battery was completely drained. If the battery is completely drained when you go to plug in your ipod to start charging it, you may not see the "Charging" icon appear on the screen. I'd probably leave it charging for a day.

by Paul on 12/6/2007

My 30GB IPod classic won't turn off when I want it to. I have tried everything from the hold button to trying to listen to a song and then trying to turn the IPod off. What sholud I do??????

by Paul on 12/6/2007

My IPod classic (30GB) won't turn off when I want it to. I have tried to flick the hold button on and off a few times, listened to part of the song and tried turning it off, yet nonthing seems to be working!!! What should I do about it?

by gabe on 12/14/2007

classic 30g fully charged , do not disconnect, still appears. how do i do this

by Amy on 12/25/2007

thanks for saving my sleep tonight! Thank you thank you thank you! I thought I killed my ipod, and all my data is gone. But you save me!!!! Merry Christmas everyone!

by Alex on 12/26/2007

My ipod will turn off fine, but after about thirty seconds it comes back on automatically!!! What is wrong with the thing....... I just got it yesterday?

by Kati on 12/30/2007

Frozen! All of a sudden my ipod nano froze..the light won't go off and it's says it's playing....but it's not...i tried plugging it in, but nothing happens...what do i do

by Rajae on 1/4/2008

i nded a code or help to unlock my ipod

by Justine on 3/14/2008

connected... even when it's not... I accidentally unplugged my ipod last night, and now the screen in frozen on the 'connected-eject before disconnecting' screen but it's already disconnected, and so i plugged it back in, and now my computer doesn't recognize the device... WHAT DO I DO???

by Jenna on 4/9/2008

ALl of a sudden my ipod won't lpay music it says it is playing but nothing is coming through. I have tried the pause unpause button,resatarting it, plaugging it in and everything I can think of. Pleeeezzse help. THAnx

by bobby jackson on 5/18/2008

wont do anything. man yaal shuda seen my ipod yesterday, it goes self destructing in 8 seconds and then it blew up in me face argh...got burn marks on my nose and all, luckly i had it on warrnty, so im gettin a replacement.

by Andrew on 6/5/2008

Thanks! My iPod was frozen on the 'Ejecting - You may now disconnect' screen, and I couldn't do a thing. Tried your method of toggle and pressing Menu and Select at the same time and it switched off, and I didn't lose my files when I turned it on, so big thanks owed

by Sebastien on 7/17/2008

Hey, I have an ipod classic 20GB 4th generation. Ive had my ipod plugged in through the usb cable and the only thing that comes on the screen is a sign that tells me to plug the ipod charger adapter into the wall. What do I do to fix this problem?

by Doug on 7/19/2008

Hi Sebastien, you may want to do what the ipod screen tells you. So plug it into your ipod wall charger, then into an outlet. If you recently updated your iTunes software, it may need to reinstall and update your iPod software. Keep in mind this might remove all the files on your ipod, so after the reinstall it will probably take a while to upload all the files from iTunes to your ipod. Good Luck!

by Doug on 8/27/2008

hey guy,
Open up iTunes -> then select "Music" on the left menu -> now you'll see checkmarks next to each song name, uncheck any songs you don't want to sync to your nano. By unchecking the them, the songs will be removed from your nano the next time you resync you iPod, but will remain in you iTunes library.

by ESTHER on 8/28/2008

I WAS LISTENNIN TO MUSIC ON MY 160GB IPOD ALL OF A SUDDEN IT STOP PLAYING. IT FROZE UP, I VE TRIED PRESSING THE MENU BUTTON AND THE HOLD BUTTON AND THE PAUSE BUTTON BUT NONE IS WORKING. PLESAE HELP. I VE THOUSANDS OF SONGS DOWNLOADED I HOPE I WONT LOOSE THOSE SONGS

by ty on 10/15/2008

my hold swiych is on and it wont come off

by Audrey on 11/14/2008

This worked for my IPOD Classic :) oh shit thanks this worked for my ipod classic, unplugging and pluggin in the headphones about 5-6 times then holding the play/pause button for a couple seconds then hold the menu/middle button for 8 seconds, and it restarted :D

by HELP ME please ! :9 on 11/14/2008

ipod nano 2gb.... I was listening to my ipod and then it just stopped and its on the screen with the time and it has the battery symbol and play on it and it wont turn off . HELP !!!!

by nikka on 11/30/2008

my ipod wont turn off. if i try to turn it off, after some seconds it will turn on automatically. what the matter with it? hepl. please

by Jeffrey Garcia on 6/25/2011

We have same problem and it took 1 week before I got the solution. I will explain to you the series of process on how I solve it.

(Ipod still on do not disconnect)
1. Once you read that message, first thing you need to do is simply press at the same time the middle button and the menu button for about 5-6 seconds. Release when it turn to black screen.
2. Once the screen is still on black screen, do a quick press at the same time the middle button and the bottom part then you will see on the screen a message OK to disconnect.

Meaning your Ipod is now ready and will be recognize by your Itunes.

Hope it helps you a lot.

by Robert on 11/20/2012

my iPod classic 20gb is only showing the charging icon and when i try to press and hold the menu and the select button the apple sign appear for a second and goes back to the charge icon and it is not recognized by iTunes and my computer what can i do ?

by Kivi on 1/5/2013

Thank you so much. It helped a lot.

by SathEdu on 3/2/2014

i updated my ipod. when i connect it to the wall socket nothing happens and it wont even turn off..
My mind says "what to do, what to do"

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How to Turn Off IPod Do Not Disconnect Error Message

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