iPod Touch 4g in recovery mode, won't restore!

Hold down the home and lock buttons at the same time. That should kick your iPod out of recovery mode, and then it'll boot.

Hmm.

Try holding the home button, then plugging in the charger while still holding the home button.....

- Reboot the computer

- Try another cable and USB port

- Inspect the dock connector on the iPod for bent or missing contacts, foreign material, corroded contacts, broken, missing or cracked plastic.

- Do:

Removing and Reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP

or

Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7

- Try on another computer to help determine if you have an iPod or coputer problem.

- Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store.

Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

I also had a 4th gen touch that became a "brick" and was unable to restore and even after the genius bar examined it they declared it "unrecoverable" but my persistance paid off and I was able to finally figure out how to restore it.

This worked for mine, I don't guarantee it will work for yours but if you have gone through the restoration process only to find itunes is stuck on "waiting for ipod" and your touch shows the apple logo with the status bar is empty below it try this: Press and hold ONLY THE POWER BUTTON (the button on the edge of the ipod) and DO NOT LET GO. If yours is like mine it will then start the process of restoration with the status bar filling, then it will verify the restore, then it will update the firmware. LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR - DO NOT RELEASE THE POWER BUTTON DURING THIS ENTIRE PROCESS - it will take several minutes and your finger will get tired but do not let go!

Once it is done installing the firmware there will be a popup from itunes saying your ipod will restart and appear in itunes. When you see this you can now release the power button and itunes will restart and ask you about the final process of either restoring previous settings or starting with a "clean restore". I don't think it matters which you choose but I chose to restore my old settings and it did work, and then my ipod touch worked just like before!

If this works for you too please reply to this post so others will know mine wasn't just a fluke. It took me 2 weeks of trying all sorts of iterations of pushing buttons and releasing them at various times to get it to work, but finally this was the ONLY way I could find to get mine to complete the restore process!

Good Luck!

Is there any way to do what you guys are saying to fix this without using the home button, mine's broken. I was trying to do a restore to put the ipod in DFU mode and now its just sitting there with the loading bar like its trying to do an update/restore, but it looks like it's not doing anything. I'm in huge trouble if I can't fix it and it's stuck like this because I don't have any other ipod and I don't have the money for a new one. PLEASE HELP ME IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING!!!! I now have it sitting unplugged, hoping that if the battery dies and I plug it back into the computer it'll help.

the same thing happend 2 me but my ipod 4g isnt sycned to my commputer and my old computer that my ipod is synced 2 broke i also forgot my password and it sayes Conect 2 itunes i was going 2 see if apple store could restore it for me will they do that or will i have to pay money to get it resored

take it to apple store if you live near 1 or you can send it 2 apple through a package

hope it helps.

Hi, I have the same problem, at what point do you start holding the power button, after you plug it into the pc or at the point where you begin the restore?

I pressed and held the power button down after it read "waiting for ipod" after it wasn't responding for several minutes. Then it started to respond after I was holding the power button down for a little while and went into its restore mode.

As an update to my status my touch did actually work for a short time but then it crapped out again. I went to apple and they replaced it with a new (remanufactured) one for $79 which wasn't too bad a deal considering mine was 3-4 years old. I suspect this problem is actually caused by a dead battery since it happened after mine was allowed to discharge completely. Unfortunately replacing the battery on the 4th gen touch is a PITA so I opted to just get a new one to replace it with.

So, if you have one which is DOA and nothing works keep in mind they can trade it in for you on a replacement for a reasonable fee (it's probably about what they charge for applecare on a new one anyway).

Ah ok, doesn't look to be working for me. Might try with apple but since I got mine used and have no receipt, doubt I will qualify for a replacement. Worth a try anyway.

Thanks very much for your reply, happy new year.

This worked for my Ipod touch .....the apple service centre had turned me down saying nothing was possible except paying 50% of the cost and getting a restored Ipod touch ....tried your suggestion after trying a few others (which did not work) and it worked....

I've tried that too, but it's not working. I'm just gonna let it die, then try again.

Thank you soooo much for posting...I've tried every method in tha book and your solution worked like a charm...I will say this tho, I held the home key down, plugged the charger into the ipod while continuing to hold the home key and i did not release the home key until the ipod was restored... Worked perfectly....