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About iPod Icons
Last modified Fri, Sep 7, 2007

What to do when you see the Sad face iPod or Folder icon

If you see one of the infamous Sad iPod icon or Folder icon or battery icons and many others this page is great starting point.

Don't worry yet, there are still some things you can do. Bookmark this page and you'll save time when a question comes up about your iPod.

Here's what a few look like.

Symptoms: Your iPod displays a sad iPod icon
and
iPod is not recognized in iTunes
iPod is not recognized in My Computer (Windows) or
iPod not recognized in Finder (Mac OS X) - Fix for Sad iPod icon This is often an indicator of hardware problems. Try the fix first.

Help iPod folder icon and exclamation point icon This can happen for a number of reasons--iPod needs charging, needs to be reset or needs to be restored. Follow the guide if it doesn't fix your problems you may need service.

Help with do not disconnect iPod icon iPod has two disconnect screens. They let you know when it is safe to unplug iPod from your computer's port. If you have problems follow the guide and that should take care of it for you.

This charging icon appears but may not recognized by computer - When you plug your iPod into a power source, the charging icon appears—it's a lightning bolt over a battery. If the battery is fully discharged, you won't see an animated icon. Instead, you'll see this icon (even on a color screen). It indicates the battery is charging successfully, but it doesn't have enough charge to power up. When connecting an iPod with a fully discharged battery, it may take up to 30 minutes for iPod to have enough charge to turn on and be recognized by the computer and iTunes.

Help iPod battery icons. The battery icon indicates the state of the internal battery. When your iPod is awake, a small version of this icon appears in the upper right corner of the display. The larger version of the same icon appears in the center of the screen when your iPod is asleep.

You'll see this on color screen when fully charged.

iPod Apple icon The Apple logo normally appears briefly when iPod is reset or turned on after being off for several days. If the logo does not go away after being charged it may indicate damaged software so you'll need to update, reset and maybe restore. Help when you see Apple logo icon.

You may see a disk scan screen if the iPod finds an issue with its hard disk.
This disk scan icon (a magnifying glass on top of a disk platter) may appear when you turn on your iPod.

When the scan is complete (up to 20 minutes) there are five versions of the disk platter icon that can appear.

No issues found. A-OK

Disk scan failed and will be repeated the next time you turn iPod on or reset it. Might be good idea to Reset your iPod now.

The scan found issues with the hard disk, but was able to correct some or all of them. You should restore your iPod.

You manually cancelled the scan (by holding down the center button for approximately three seconds.) The scan will be repeated the next time iPod is turned on.

The surface scan failed and was not able to recover the hard disk data. In this situation, the iPod requires repairs, which you can arrange at the iPod Service Web site .

Read more Help with iPod disk icons

iPod wall charger icon Update and Restore icon. This icon appears on the screen during an update or restore that occurs when iPod is connected to the computer via a low or no-power connector. This can include some USB ports and 4-pin FireWire ports. When this appears, disconnect iPod from the computer and connect it to the power adapter. Then plug the power adapter into a power outlet. The update or restore will complete and iPod will restart to the main menu

Understanding other iPod icons.

Icons that you'll see when you browse a roll of imported photos on an iPod that works with the iPod Camera Connector (currently iPod photo, iPod with color display, and Fifth Generation iPod)

Video camera - This indicates that the imported file is a movie.

Audio - This indicates that the imported file is an audio file.

Question mark—Means that the imported image is either not a compatible media type or the image is corrupted. The question mark icon can also appear as a result of the following circumstances:

You disconnected your camera during a photo import. Please note that the proper way to cancel an import is to select "Stop and Save."
The iPod or camera ran out of power during a photo import. Make sure that both devices are fully charged prior to using Photo Import.

RAW image - This indicates the file is an unprocessed photo image file.