iPod Touch 5g keeps crashing, why?

Question

Level 1

10 points

iPod Touch 5g keeps crashing, why?

My 32gb iPod Touch 5th gen. started crashing a few days ago. Usually in Pandora or Podcasts. Routine is, my wi-fi connection is lost, 10 or 30 seconds later the app crashes, screen goes to black background with big white Apple logo. After about 30 seconds, it boots back into the "Slide to unlock" screen. It works normally till it crashes again in the same fashion - about two or three times a day.

I've done a Reset, with no noticable improvement. I then Synced with my MacBook, did "Erase all content and settings" followed by "Restore" via iTunes. All my app's and settings copied back on perfectly and the iPod ran crash free for about a day and a half. Now it has started crashing again as desribed above...

Some background: I don't have any oddball apps, mostly well known names. I don't have any games or what I think of as processor intensive apps. Also, I have a fairly minimall number of apps and music. I'm using 24gb's of the 32gb capacity. I've had the iPod for about 14 months, never dropped it. Using iTunes 11.1.2 and my MacBook Pro is only about a month old.

What should I do? Does this sound like a hardware issue? Any other things I can try software wise?

Thank's in advance for any advice or tips.

Matt

iPod touch, iOS 7.0.4, 5th Gen., Model Ident. iPod5,1

Posted on Dec 28, 2013 8:12 PM

Reply

Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Dec 29, 2013 3:06 AM in response to Matt Stewart

Connect the iPod to your computer and restore to factory settings/new iPod via iTunes

iTunes: Restoring iOS software

That will install a fresh copy of the OS unlike Erase All Content and Settings.

If still problem, make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store since it appears you have a hardware problem.

Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

Reply

Answer 2

Dec 29, 2013 3:14 AM in response to Matt Stewart

Hi,

There are three things you can do:

1) Look at the App Store on these apps that crash. See if other people wrote a review, and have the same problem.

2) See if you have lots of apps open, and close them if necessary. This is accessible by double-tapping the home button and holding the icons. (You may need to swipe to the right to see if there are more open apps).

3) Visit an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Approved Service Retailer and get a Genius to look at your iPod.

Hope this helps! 😀

Reply

Answer 3

Matt Stewart Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 29, 2013 9:19 AM in response to Matt Stewart

Thanks guys,

I double clicked the Home button and yes, lots of app's were running. I figured out how to close them (swipe up) and then went into the Settings app hoping I could control or limit how many app's can be running in the background. As I was navigating around in Settings, the iPod crashed again - Black screen with white Apple logo, hung for 30 seconds, booted into "slide to unlock" screen.

I decided to try "Restore to factory settings." First I downloaded iTunes 11.1.3 and updated to OSX 10.8.5 on my MacBook. Restarted, connected the iPod, synced, ran "Restore to factory settings." When it was done I hit "Restore from back up." Should I have selected "set up as New iPod" instead???

Oh well, moment of laziness on my part. Let me know if I should have hit "set up as new iPod" and I will. As for now I going to use the iPod and see how it does - will have Pandora open and playing music for a few hours to see how it runs - hopefully crash free.

BTW, I'm now very familiar with Multitasking. Does Settings have a way to control/limit how many app's are running in the background? If so, should I set it to 3 or 5 apps? What's your advice there?

Thanks agian, pretty cool to get tech support on a Sunday!

Matt

Reply

Answer 4

Dec 29, 2013 9:44 AM in response to Matt Stewart

There is no limit on how many apps are running. However, if the iPod is overloaded it will probably shut down and come up with a blue screen or an error code for you to investigate.

Reply

Answer 5

Matt Stewart Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 29, 2013 12:05 PM in response to lllaass

Well, after 2 hours the iPod crashed again. I had been playing music via Pandora and it did the same crash I've described previously. I'm going to "Restore to factory settings" again. This time I will select "New" iPod and the only 3rd party app I will download is Pandora. I'll let Pandora play music all day to see if it causes a "white apple logo" crash. If I can narrow it down to Pandora causing the crashing, I can delete it and just do without. Hopefully that will be okay solution and I can then restore all my apps and settings from my sync earlier today.

Any other tips you can think of?

Thanks again!

Reply

Answer 6

Dec 29, 2013 2:20 PM in response to Matt Stewart

Good idea. If it doesn't work, I suggest going to an Apple Store. See what they say, of course, if it all goes wrong. Good luck! 😀

(P.S. Sorry for the late response 😉)

Reply

Answer 7

Jan 1, 2014 9:53 PM in response to Matt Stewart

I have done all of the above. Reset settings , set up at new, many times over. Been to the apple store and after my fourth visit they gave me a refurbished unit. Set it up as new, and didn't install all the previous apps. Lots of space unused. Always keep apps closed down and my iPod still crashes.

Appears it happens most often when it looses wifi connection. I know apple states to set up the wifi radio to transmit on all channels. But iOS devices really responds better when you pick one channel to broadcast on. Had also done this in the middle of fighting with my berserk iPod. I have better internet connectivity on my iPad 2 that's running iOS 7. But still having issues with it crashing. In the last hour I was using Facebook, then I was listening to bill Cosby cd I downloaded from my local library ( using the hoopla app. The content is downloaded and not streaming like pandora) and I still get crashes.

Really hope apple fixes this issue with iOS 7 , wifi connectivity and constant crashing and resetting of my device.

Reply

Answer 8

Matt Stewart Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 3, 2014 1:22 PM in response to Community User

Hey mishellereine -

Yep, I'm still having crashing issues - the "Big White Apple logo" crash. I did find out that it signifies a "Memory Allocation" problem. . . I also noticed that loss of wi-fi fortells this crash. When my wi-fi goes down, I quick switch to "Airplane" mode for about 5 seconds and then turn it off. Most times wi-fi will come back on and I avoid the "Big White Apple" logo crash.

I'm slowly deleting app's (Pandora, Mercury, etc) to see if I can narrow it down to one 3rd party app causing the crash. But yes, this is a slow and frustrating process.

Matt

Reply

Answer 9

Matt Stewart Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 19, 2014 9:08 AM in response to Matt Stewart

Still haveing wi-fi issues. Strangely there are fewer 'white logo crashes," just ongoiing loss of wi-fi. Normal routine is: lose wi-fi signal, hit Airplane Mode for a five count, turn off Airplane Mode and most times I'm able to get back on-line. I'm only getting the 'white logo crash' three times or so a week. I also have a MacBook and an older iPod Touch using the same wi-fi network, both maintain wi-fi while the iPod Touch 5g loses it's wi-fi signal.

Doesn't seem tied to a paticular app (3rd party or Apple app). I've given up trying to track it down. Best I can say is that iOS 7.0.4 is the problem - hopefully this will be fixed in next iOS update.

Reply