# Ipod won't mount and says do not disconnect



## sweetymac (Sep 14, 2005)

I hope I posted on the right section, I tried to search for help but I did not find any threads. I have a problem i have a 30 gb ipod video and am using an imac g5 computer. I am new to ipods, and don't know much. Basically I plugged in my ipod it was charging and then suddenly it said "do not disconnect" and also now it won't mount on to the desktop even though cds and stuff do mount. Do any of you have any idea what i could do. I tried to reset by turning it on and off and holdling down the play pause button and menu and restarting the computer, niether worked.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-sweetymac


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## Orion (Apr 16, 2004)

While the ipod may not mount on the desktop, are you able to see it (even as a generic disk) in Disk Utilty? If so, choosing "repair disk" may restore the ipod. If all else fails you might at least be able to restore the ipod which will, however, wipe out all of its contents.

By the way, when you say "suddenly said 'do not disconnect'", was this after running the battery very low? When mounted it should say "do not disconnect", but sometimes the ipod will need to be plugged in for as much as ten minutes before it has enough power to be mounted. That said, with the amount of testing you have done I'd guess that the ipod has enough power to boot up.


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

When my Nano does that, it usually appears on the desktop but not in the iTunes source list. I select it on the desktop and 'eject' it to unmount the drive. There have been a couple instances where it appears in neither iTunes nor on the desktop and yes, has that "do not disconnect" message. In those cases, I unplugged it anyway. Cause what the hell… the iPod is not the boss of me.

Usually thereafter I do a restore with the iPod updater utility in the Utilities folder. Which is somewhat of a pain having to reload your music library… but you can live to see another day - I am proof.

I would also check to make sure that you have the latest versions of the iPod software as well as iTunes.

But a good resource for iPod woes is: The Five R's


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I've just moved to a Nano (my Shuffle died... *snif*...) and it behaves a bit differently from my Shuffle, it seems. Of course, on the Shuffle I had no screen that said "Do Not Disconnect"! 

I did have to reset my Nano once... (you use the iPod Software Updater inside the Applications-->Utilities-->iPod Software folder or download from http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/)

As a last resort before mucking around with resetting / restoring / disk utilities, be sure that you have opened iTunes and ejected the iPod from the playlist area on the left column (there should be a little eject symbol if it is recognized).

M.


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

My daughter's Nano does this occasionally. Usually when she runs the battery down!
A reset usually does the trick. No loss of files.
(see Teeterboy's link: the five R's)


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## sweetymac (Sep 14, 2005)

thanks so much for all of your help. i dont know what happened but somehow my ipod just shut right off and then i turned it on and it just had the battery light as a tiny reddish color i am not sure why...i guess it means the battery was dead? now i have it plugged in and it flashes do not disconnect so i assume it is charging, but im not sure. is there any way to check if it really is charging? i dont w ant to unplug it because it says do not disconnect.


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

How long have you left it connected? If it has been more than 3 or 4 hours it would be charged full even if it was dead.

Then run through the 5 R's. It sounds like yours may need a reset or even an update to the iPod software.


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## Orion (Apr 16, 2004)

When charging and mounted the ipod will have a little lightening / electricity symbol next to the battery, possibly with the battery meter scrolling between empty and full every few seconds. Best way to tell if it is charging is to unmount it and then either wait for it to turn off or turn it off yourself (not reset, just sleep). The whole screen should become the charging symbol.

Obviously this won't happen with the Shuffle ^_^; I have found that the Shuffles tend to be less picky about charging, though.

My mini recently told me that it was fully charged and promptly died when I took it out half an hour later. Wasn't happy. I reset it twice and plugged it in to charge for 12 hours straight (unmounted), unplugged, reset, and charged it again until it said it was full. That fixed it ^_^. I'm back to the 14+ hours I'm used to now.


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## sweetymac (Sep 14, 2005)

okay thank you so much for all of your help, i really appreciate it. i now updated the software and my ipod is charged, i think i have so much to learn about ipods!!!! thanks again everyone!!!


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