'Please Wait. Very Low Battery.'

REEEAAAD MEEEE!!!
Alright so this just happened to my iPod and I spent like two hours trying to figure it out and I finally did. It's totally simple, by the way.

It won't charge because it doesn't have enough juice to start charging [crazy as that sounds] so it just continually resets it's self. You need to have it hooked up to your computer in 'disk mode'.



1. Take your iPod and plug it in to your USB port.
2. Hold down the select [center button] and the play button.

That's it, It might have to update your library but you shouldn't lose all your music. It worked for me so I'm hoping it can solve all of your guys' problems too. Good luck!

The hard drive mode solution above probably won't work. If the iPod had enough juice to enter drive mode it would probably have enough juice to charge.

Here's the solution that just worked for me:

The problem is that the iPod doesn't have enough power to move past the initial boot process, and it can't charge while it's stuck in the process of booting (when you see the black screen with the Apple logo). Hopefully Apple will get their act together and make the next generation iPod charge via USB while it's booting, but I digress.

When you see the "Please Wait. Very Low Battery." screen, the iPod is in the process of taking as much of a charge as it can before entering the boot process. The trick is to keep resetting the iPod (hold Select and Menu) once it leaves the "Please Wait" screen. Eventually you'll be able to work up just enough juice to move beyond the boot screen.

Try resetting it 5 times once you see the black/Apple page, then let it run through the whole boot process once and see if it works. If not, just repeat that process. It worked for me after just a few tries.

Message was edited by: Saul123

These directions worked without a problem for me...with a slightly different step in there. Instead of constantly holding down the buttons (maybe it's just the wording you used, and I'm still doing the same as you suggested), but when the screen is on the "battery very low"/spinny circle screen, I'd hold Menu+Select until the apple icon showed up (not lit, just displaying), and immediately let go. A few second later, when the screen would backlight, that's when I would press and hold until the iPod shut off again. Rinse, repeat. I noticed that the more I did, the more frequently the "battery very low" screen would come up.

Once it started coming up after every cycle, I unplugged the iPod and did a Play+Select reboot, and it booted up to my main iPod menu. I immediately plugged it in tot he USB, and is charging peacefully as I type this. I hope this helps someone else, cuz a wave of relief just washed over me.

Multiple resets worked for me as well. (30GB video, only 6 months old) I was stuck on "Please wait, very low battery" for 6 hours plugged into either USB or wall charger. After resetting it 5 or 6 times, it finally booted and is now charging as normal.

Thanks!

Recently my G5 ipod started exhibiting all of the problem mentioned in this forum. Showing a full charge then going dead, not communicating with the computer just whirring and clicking and so on. from reading the other posts here I have concluded the the problem begins because the battery is allowed to drain to an extreme low and this for some reason gives the iPod a brain cramp from which it has great difficulty recovering.
This is a very frustrating situation because even if you can get your iPod fully charged it doesn't seem to realize it has a charge and hence all the other problems. I am convinced that it is charging but the HD refuses to recognize that the battery is charged. I have found a solution that worked for me but you will need an external charger to get the process started. Any sort of charger will do so if you don't particularly want to buy an adapter any iPod accessory with a charging base, like an iPod clock radio or car charger will do if those are items you are more inclined to purchase.
All you need to do is get the iPod functioning well enough to be able to do a reset and then put it into disk mode. I did this while the iPod was attached to the charger. Instructions on how to do the reset and set it to disk mode are here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651. I then dashed over to the computer and while the iPod screen was still lit I plugged it in to the computer by USB. You need just enough power so that your computer will recognize the iPod when you attach it and then the USB will take over powering the iPod.
When iTunes starts up and begins to sync the iPod select Restore. In my case when that process was completed the iPod returned to the old "low battery please wait" message ( because it had restarted ) and no longer showed up on the computer so I disconnected it from the USB. I then turned the iPod off and on again, the apple screen came up and then I did a reset. Up she came nice and clean and with a full charge. Then all that was left was to re-connect to the computer and sync with iTunes since the iPod at this point is just as it came out of the box with no files on it. I think the crucial point is to get the iPod reset to factory and disconnected from the computer before it begins to sync your files automatically. If you don't get the "low battery" message as I did perhaps you should eject the iPod as soon as the restore is complete and before syncing begins in order to emulate the steps as I did them. I don't know for sure if prematurely ejecting the iPod is harmful so consider that step thoroughly before you proceed with it. My guess is that if iTunes will let you do it then it is probably OK.
I chose to sync only my audio files and not my movies at this point to save time and I will test for a few days to see if the problem is truly solved and report back.
I have no technical basis on which to explain why this series of steps worked for me I just know that it did. When you don't know why your iPod suddenly went mental it's bad enough but when the so called "experts" can't tell you what to do ( or care for that matter ) it can feel pretty bleak so I hope this information is helpful to someone.

Scratch that. Once the iPod booted and connected to the computer, I figured everything was fine. The charging icon was up, and I could listen to music via iTunes. At the end of the day I ejected it and stuck it in my bag, only to find out on the train that it won't turn on at all. I later plugged it into the wall charger and it said 'charging' for about 2 hours, then switched to "charged". When plugged into the wall, it also played music fine. Unplug from wall and poof, screen goes off and it won't turn on at all. AND, it won't talk to the laptop anymore either.

Help!

Yes, this is very disappointing. I took my ipod to the "genius bar" three times (one of the times they wanted me to wait three hours after my appointment time because they were running late! ridiculous!), and finally when I spoke with somebody he just said that my ipod was dead and so i have to buy a new one. If it is dead, why is it flashing that icon when i plug it in? Surely something is working. I got my ipod last year, I shouldn't have to be replacing it already! It is just disappointing to kind of feel hoodwinked here--like the whole time they don't really care and just want you to buy a new 300 dollar ipod.

Hi,

I have already posted this before and I would really appreciate some help. I have a 30GB Video iPod 5G, which I bought about a year ago. I have had no problems, but suddenly, I have a major. I have tried changing computers, using USB 2.0, changing the cable and wall charger, but to no avail.

Basically, when the iPod is not plugged in to anything, it seems to work fine, but with hardly any battery. When I plug in a wall charger, it operates a lot slower than usual, without charging.

The bigger problem is that when I connect it to the computer, the following happens:

1. It displays 'Do not disconnect' for around 2 seconds, and my computer recognises it with the USB sound.

2. It automatically restarts, and the computer sounds the USB unplugged sound. The iPod displays the Apple logo for around one second, and restarts a few more times.

3. It then displays the dreaded 'Very Low Battery, Please Wait' sign. This continues for around 2 minutes.

4. It then goes blank, and restarts itself every second, continually, without ever stopping. After about an hour of this, the back becomes very hot.

The main reason I cannot restore or update the iPod is because it is not recognised by iTunes or the computer, simply because it is not a USB device while restarting. PLEASE HELP!!

This is the last resort before opening the iPod up and doing a hard reset.

Thank you for your time!!

I'm sure they are all USB2. But are you using a front USB Port or one on the rear of the computer?

Do you have access to a wall charger?


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.9) Powerbook G5 15", AEXs, US iPod set (Red Nano, White 5G, Blue Shuffle)

The front ports on Dells are slaves. Some will put out enough power to charge an iPod (or run a Shuffle) others won't, and if new devices are plugged into the rear port they can siphon off the power available to front port. Try a rear one and see if it solves your issue.

I just find the wall charger more convenient, don't have to worry with sleep mode, I can travel with it, etc.

Anyone have a solution? I have the same problem and it is amazingly frustrating. I have a 60 gig Ipod I bought recently, I was dumb and let it run out of batteries. It is at the 'Restore' screen. Yet as soon as I connect it to my computer it reboots and continuously reboots. The battery is too dead. Often I will get the 'Please Wait. Very Low Battery.' Screen, once it passes it starts to reboot.

I can not get my Ipod to charge thorough an AC adapter. With it plugged in at the Restore screen the ipod just shuts off due to inactivity. This is insane. So for some reason their is a massive loophole in the Ipod that renders it useless? Wow. I do not know if I will ever buy an Apple product again. >.<

BTW I also bought a new cable too. And I also stayed up and kept rebooting my ipod so it would charge plugged in and shut down due to inactivity, after two hours of this nothing changed either.

I ended up with this kind of problem this week. My 60G videopod was so drained (funny, I hadn't used it for a week, but it had had a full charge ... that's pathetic to me) that it wouldn't charge off USB. Neither from my PC (which is USB2) nor from my car charger. Powered on, gave the "very low battery, please wait" message, started to boot up, hard drive clicked, and then it would shut down and go through the boot/click/boot/click.

I finally ended up shelling out more money for an AC adaptor. I think I had one when I bought it 8 months ago, but I never used it and I couldn't find it.

This is really bad. There needs to be a mode you can enter that says "never try to boot, just charge, until I say so".

Anyway ... if you're having this problem and have read one of the threads here or elsewhere that says you need to SHAKE the ipod, or OPEN the ipod, or have it REPLACED ... for goodness sake ... go down to your nearest CompUSA/BestBuy/Circuit City/etc and stick it on one of their display docks. See if it will start charging.

I had found -4- other sites that recommended one of the above methods of fixing it. I think it ***** that the ipod is too stupid to charge properly on USB when fully drained, but its WORSE that there is so much totally bad information about the problem.

I have had a somewhat similar problem--my ipod will not charge on my computer or using a wall adapter. If i plug it into my computer, it shows a blinking battery/exclamation point icon, but doesn't appear to be charging. It doesn't show anything on the screen when I plug it into the wall. Anyone know how to fix this? The ipod will not reset or do anything else.

Thanks for your help!