Apple’s first-generation iPod shuffle can, under certain circumstances, stop working correctly. To help address the problem Apple has released the
iPod shuffle Reset Utility v1.0, available as a 2.1MB download from Apple’s Web site.
Installing and running the software will completely erase all music and data on the iPod shuffle and restore software v1.1.4, the most recent update to the iPod shuffle software. This is only for use with 512MB and 1GB first-generation iPod shuffles — not the newer second-generation iPod shuffle.
The Reset Utility fixes the following issues, according to Apple:
With the iPod shuffle switched on, pressing the Play button will cause amber and green LEDs to flash for a few seconds, and the unit will not play any music, nor can you sync music to it from iTunes.
On a Windows PC, iPod shuffle will appear in My Computer as a “Removable Disk,” however the iPod shuffle volume will not mount correctly. The unit is listed in Device Manager under “Disk Drives” as “Apple iPod USB Device.”
On a Mac, the unit will only be recognized in Apple System Profiler under Hardware -> USB and will not appear or mount in the Finder.
When attempting to restore, the unit may not be recognized at all. However, if it is recognized, the restore may fail with an error dialog “Firmware update failure. Disk write error” or another error. It may take 3 restore attempts before the error appears. Note: iPod shuffle may take several minutes to be recognized. More specific details about what the iPod shuffle Reset Utility does are
available from Apple’s support Web site.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later.
A Windows version of the utility is also available.