There’s a conspiracy theory that Steve Jobs wants you to buy a new iPod every 12 months. That may or may not be the case, but if your iPod is hosed, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to put it out to pasture. Most iPods are user-fixable and you don’t need to be a total geek to make it work.
An iPod, no matter which version you have, is basically a self-contained, battery-operated, pocket-sized computer. All the components that a regular laptop has are represented: display, battery, storage, RAM, and logic board. This is what makes the iPod something easily fixable: the pieces are just scaled-down versions of their PC analogues, and are put together in the same basic way. This means if you can isolate your iPod’s problem, you can fix it.
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There are a number of things that can go wrong with an iPod, but, like any other computer, the majority of the ailments are hard-drive based, usually taking the form of a boot error: either a sad iPod face, constant Apple logo, or folder-with-exclamation-mark icon when it’s turned on. Fortunately, these problems are easier to fix than people realize, and we’ve come up with a five-point plan for getting your little friend back on its feet. Some of our advice is straight from Apple, but some of it is a little more guerrilla. Take heed, though, as the farther into our plan you delve, the greater the chances you’ll kill your warranty or permanently damage your iPod. But, then, if you’re desperate enough to go that far, chances are your warranty is up anyway, so what have you to lose, adventurer?
Apple’s superb design of the iPod isn’t just what you see on the outside, the inside is organized into easily recognizable parts that can be manipulated and removed with very few tools. Indeed, a very thin, flat-head screwdriver is all most repairs require. If you’re fixing a Mini, you might also consider a hair dryer to melt the industrial adhesive that holds the tops on. For our illustrations, we’ve used a 5G iPod with video, but the steps for any disk-based iPod are more or less the same.
Step 1: Doing things the Apple way
 for 6 to 10 seconds will force the iPod to reboot, clearing the memory and bringing it back to life. The first couple generations of iPod have their own button sequences, but they’re just as easy to actuate.</p>
<p>Apple recommends a few other steps if this doesn’t remedy your problem, including plugging the iPod into a different port or computer, restarting your PC or Mac, and reinstalling the iPod desktop software. If these actions don’t restore your iPod to full functionality, then the problem lies deeper and more drastic steps are needed.</p>
<p><strong>Step 2: Restoring to factory conditions</strong></p>
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If your iPod worked fine the day you got it, but is now acting possessed, then it’s possible it has a problem with its file structure or software. This cannot be remedied by resets, as the problem is static between boots. This means that the problem has to be manually deleted from the iPod, which, sadly, means it will take all of your content with it.
Fortunately it’s a painless process, and if you keep your iTunes updated, then re-syncing after a restore brings you up to speed quickly. To really make this go well, you should make sure you’ve got the most recent version of iTunes installed.
Plug your iPod into a USB port, just as you would to sync with iTunes. When it shows up in the left-hand pane of iTunes, you’ll see a button in the main content window that says restore. Click it. You’ll be warned that you’re going to erase everything, but you know that already. Select Restore and Update to kill the troublesome code in storage and bring it up to the latest factory settings. This works. After it’s updated, it’s simply a matter of syncing with iTunes, and you’re hopefully good to go.
Step 3: Minor surgery
While the guides recommend a special plastic iPod opening tool, you can easily substitute a flat-head screwdriver, though you risk gouging your iPod’s trim. One tool we’ve used that worked out nicely was a sturdy plastic guitar pick, but anything firm and fairly thin should work. The iPod is basically held together with industrial glue. Starting at the side, work your shim around the exterior of the iPod where the metal meets the plastic. The two main halves should then separate with little more than gentle wiggling.
, and fold it to be about 1/16th of an inch or so, and rip it to be about a 1-inch-by-1-inch square. Place it carefully on the hard drive (watch out for those ribbon cables), and replace the backing.</p>
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Using the reset steps above, reboot the iPod. Chances are, it’ll boot up nicely and work just as it did before without any problems. You may have to restore it again, though, as the former problem may have prohibited that fix. If you’re skeptical, and you should be, try it out. I tried it first on my girlfriend’s busted-ass iPod has really worked on six of the seven broken iPods we’ve tried it on, with the only hold-out sadly requiring the next step.
Step 4: Major surgery
, and lift the hard disk from the top end of the iPod. Remove the blue rubber bumpers and white plastic top (shock absorbers) and <i>carefully</i> pull the drive a quarter-inch to the top of the iPod. You’ll note a thin ribbon cable at the “bottom” end of the drive. Using your screwdriver, carefully work the ribbon out of the drive. This ribbon carries the data and power to and from the disk, once it’s detached, the disk should slide out easily. Remove the foam and find your donor disk.</p>
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Put the rubber bumpers and foam onto the new disk and put it right where the old one was. Carefully replace the ribbon to the drive and close the iPod up. At this point, you’ll need to do another factory restore in iTunes to write the iPod operating system and software onto the new drive. Once it’s done, sync it up and you’re good to go.
Step 5: Prayer
, have it professionally repaired (not cheap, but better than buying new), or sell it for parts, using the income towards a new iPod.</p>
<p>Yes, it sucks, but nothing is guaranteed. But look at it this way: a new iPod means a new chance for something to go wrong, which means you can try these steps again, this time knowing exactly what you’re doing.</p>
<p>Don’t try these repairs on your new iPod; these are for “bricked” units that nobody will care about should you muck it up. But if you do have success, let us know here, it makes us feel warm and fuzzy knowing that we’ve helped.</p>
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Nice Job Matt.
ok so i guess im just stupid or something but the screen is frozen on my ipod and it wont respond to anything i do to it…any help?
i had the same problem. i was PISSED!!! I tried everything, really! but then… i held down the menu and the select buttons for real long… after i had smacked it and dropped it a few times earlier, this made the screen turn off, and then it restarted,seeming fine,as it now is!!! but BEFORE IT WOULD NOT RESPOND TO ANYTHING!!!!!! so just try smack and drop first then hold down menu and select vbuttons for a long time!!! i almost GARANTEE that THIS WILL WORK!!
Nice! I tried rebooting/resetting repeatedly to no avail and with two gleeful WHACKS sad ipod is happy again! Who’dve thunk it? Thanks!!!
SO I have been messing around with this dag gone i pod for hours it would not charge or restart… just black screen…
I held the center && menu button i heard it turn off…. then lightly smacked the back of it 2 x then held the menu & center button again && it came on … YEA! yet it had to be disconnected from the computer first!
Thank you
Wow! Mine came back on, too!! 2 whacks and hold down the center and menu button for about 30 seconds. Thank you!!
OMG! that actually worked! i tried everything 2 fix my ipod and i just tried that and it turned back on… i rly wasnt expecting that
I’ll be damned. Nothing worked; my Ipod (Gen 3) was dead to the world. But figuring nothing ventured, nothing gained I banged (hard) it against my palm three or four times, held down the restart keys and PRESTO, it’s alive and well like nothing ever happened. I’m the freakin’ Fonz over here – I’m going to go smack the bejeezus out of my broken food processor. Winchester, you are a genius.
awesome! the two taps were’ne quite good enough for my ipod nano, but throwing it against a carpeted floor did the trick. i reccomend only doing this with the ipods with a one piece case like mini, nano 2Gig because my mate did it with a touch and trashed it.
Hey i have tried all off this, but i wont work;(
i have the iPod with 80GB hard drive, so i dont know, but its keeps saying “Please wait Very low battery” and then ” :( ” contact:www.apple.com/service7ipod”
i dont understad a shit dude..:(
I have to be honest…I thought you were all full of crap but my ipod was dead and desperation set in. 2 good smacks didn’t do the job so I dropped it on the carpeted floor of my office and voila….it’s alive!! I cannot believe that worked but the ipod is back and good as new….Thank you!
I thought you were smoking funnie stuff, but what the ++++. I held the menue and start button as you said, slaped on the desk! held down the start button for a bit and the apple came up! You saved me $190.00
Thank very you!
I just hit my 4 year old ipod classic white twice on my desk and voila….I’m back in biz. no kidding
You LEGEND!! That worked perfectly, holding those keys down. Back in business and darn happy thank you soooooo much
omg omg omg thank you so much i thought that my ipod was stuffed
omfg that smacking thing worked omg and im like so happy like omg i cant believe it worked thank u so much : )
worked great ty so much
Thanks man I took your advice and held the menu button down for that loong time and it worked.
OMG thank you so much it fucking worked thank you thank you thank you
Unbelievable. That just resurrected my 4th gen from the dead.
dude thanks i got so pissed pressed the minue button and… thanks dude
I can’t BELIEVE that worked! I totally expected it to not work! But I had gotten to a point where this was going to end up being a paper weight (4th G)… didn’t think it was worth paying ANY money to fix… and low and behold, a couple good wacks on the carpeted floor of my office and VOILA! I’m just thrown back it worked!
omg! billiewinchester i followed your advise it worked perfectly thanx
the old hit it a few times and see if it works trick eh? i had been trying to get this fucker working since 11 am today now 4 and a half hours later 2 whacks its working fine.. you are a genius
whoa-
I sat here and looked at all the happy ipodders out there who whacked their ipods, and as I gingerly tapped mine, then moved up to a good solid whack, my problem still was there. but alas, I decided, what the hell, I’ll drop it (on my cushy home carpet) still nothing- then screw it I’ll drop it from chest height. Now I’m listening to tunes on my ipod again. weird. worked like magic.
mine is a 5th gen ipod vid 60gig, and it did this weird thing where it was stuck in a loop of restarting itself. kept going from dim grey apple screen to bright grey apple screen, and back again. but it works now!!
that smack your ipod two times and hold middle and menu button realy works so thank you very much
ok.. i admit it I was very skeptical…. 2 hits on my palm one hit on my desks chair plastic arm rest and voila!!!! THANX!!!!! I can survive w/o buying a new ipod and updating my OS to Tiger thanx..!!!!!
your a god!!!!
oh my goodness!!
my ipod was completely dead.
the screen was black and i couldn’t
reset it or anything.
it wouldn’t even do anything
when i plugged it on my computer
after dropping it hard on my carpet about five
times i plugged it in and VIOLA!!!
Wow.. my ipod mini has had the sad face for over a year now. Two little taps wasn’t enough for mine, so I whacked it against my four year old’s skull and presto it worked like a charm
I bought my iPod c.2004 and I guess that it has served me well, but I was not ready for it to crap out like it did. Got the frown face, and then the folder icon. Would not reset, go into disc mode or get recognized by iTunes or my computer. After reading this thread I smacked it twice and it did not fix the problem. Being tenacious however, I dropped it onto carpeting from about 18″ and I’m now syncing to iTunes! Beats the heck out of prying the thing open or paying $250 to have Apple service the thing. Thanks!
this worked perfectly thank you so much! i tryed everything and nothing would work. but this unfroze it!
I was convinced this fix was a hoax until I read all of the posts and tried it myself. I’m here to tell you, it worked. My sad face ipod is now recharging and works fine. Thanks for the tip.
i did exactly what you said. I hit it hella hard and dropped it, then held the 2 buttons and my piece of crap ipod started to work again.
You rock my world it actually worked!
you, my friend are a genius that just saved me craploads of money. marry me.
thank you so much i was gonna die im the guy who gets worried about stuff breaking
haha hitting it actually works!! so glad i found this website
WOW!!
That worked almaost instantly!!
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
i cant believe this! it worked! i smacked my first generation nano off my hand a few times, then Robin bounced it off the carpeted floor in our room and then i smacked it off her daughters basinette, then POW! THANK HEAVENS. also i noticed if its REALLY dead like mine was, then you’ll get the black on black apple, but when it goes away again if you keep holding the menu button but let go of the center button and press it again while still holding the menu button the apple screen will come back. the apple screen may keep flashing but let it go… it works!
You know what – it really did work! Mine was accidentally formatted by my sister (don’t ask how it was an accidental thing!) – anyway it kept whirring and clicking but the screen wouldn’t come on. Three hits on the palm of my hand, one with the back of the ipod onto the edge of the desk, held down Menu and the centre circle button for 30-40 secs and the lot rebooted! Thank you!
that worked…THANK YOU!!!
i cannot freakin’ believe it. i was on the verge of paying Apple $29 to look at it – in retrospect, that would have been kinda funny. paying someone thirty bucks to throw my friggin’ ipod on the floor. thanks for the tip!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! A quick wallop and my iPod is back to full function – I love you guys…
thank you!! i gave it some good whacks and in the end the ipod got working again!!! thanks guys!!!
wow – 2 whacks on a wood chair, pressed select/menu and presto. nice job – i’m off and running again. (my son thanks you too…i loaned it to him in perfect working order after he had is touch stolen – he gives it back to me with the frown face and low battery warning. 3 hours and 2 whacks later – we’re seeing eye to eye again!!!! Mike
you dont have to smack it i just held select and menu down for 8 seconds and it worked
Unbelievable! I was ready to throw my four year old 20GB Classic into the garbage until I read this post.
Two drops onto the wood floor and it is good as new —- outstanding advice!
yeahhhhhh :) thanks so much, threw it about and held down the buttons and hey presto….
This works well. It actually resolves an issue with the HDD cable becoming unseated. If you open the iPod and remove the cable from the slot, remove the corrosion from the silver input, then reinsert, it should resolve this issue for a long time. It’s general maintenance for the Fourth Gen models in particular.
A thousand thanks for the silly Fonzerelli advice that cured my poor little nano!
Whoa….that worked. I was getting a sad iPod icon on my 4th Gen and it wouldn’t sync anything no matter how many times I reset the iPod. But a business card inserted between the HD and the processor did the trick. Thanks.
Holy shit. I can’t believe it. The “business card” fix worked!
very nice.
i do however have one question, i’m wondering if you can help me out here, i was updating my ipods firmware on itunes the other day, and as you probably know the first step in updating firmware is erasing the old. unfortunately i unplugged the cable right after the firmware was deleted my ipods firmware is now a resemblance of nothingness and my computer doesnt recognize it anymore, not even in “My Computer” or “Comand Promt” here is a direct link of a video i posted showing what it’s doing now-
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/458699/ipod_hacking_can_be_fatal/
Any help will be much appreciated and probably save my life
My Email adress is xslatex@sbcglobal.net
My 4th gen was just giving a clicking noise from the hard drive with the sad ipod icon. I tried all the resetting, etc. I eventually discovered that if I operate it standing (near) vertially in the ipod doc it works fine. Lay it down and the clicking starts. Not sure if this fix would work in this case. If I get desperate I might give it a try.
holy! Crap!
it worked!!!!!!!!
thanx!!!! so much
i just put a thin piece of cardboard and it started working again!
i though i had lost it forever!
OMG, not to sound like a broken record, but it worked perfectly. Thank youThank youThank youThank youThank youThank youThank youThank youThank youThank you!
I had the exact same problem before and all i did was just taking it apart and putting it back together and eventually it just started working again. So my ipod works just fine now but if it messes up again I’ll know how to fix it for good now. =D Thanks for the info!
Fantastic! I was very scepticall, but as I figured my iPod was hosed anyway, I had nothing to fear – and sure enough, it worked! Don’t know if it was the piece of cardboard, or just the reseating of the cables, but I know have a working iPod Photo!
Thanks for inspiring me to take a knife (Leatherman Wave, in fact) to the ol’ fella.
Thanks for an informative how-to. I hope I will never have to digg it out of my bookmarks :))
I actually did a trick like this with my brothers iPod photo about a month ago exept I used foam from one of my iPod shipping boxes… lol
Cannot believe this has worked, I’d tried everything and nothing worked until now. Well done!
I thought my 4G iPod was toast–wouldn’t turn on and wouldn’t charge. What did I have to lose? Holding down the Menu and center button and 2 whacks on the back fixed it and lost no music. Thanks for the ingenious solution.
Looks like Kamy may have visited from Digg.
Now that cardboard trick is a great tip to hide some emergency portably money…. just 20€ or so would do the trick…
A friend of mine had given me his “broken” iPod. It appeared as though the hard drive had stuck in mid spin. After much research and reading, nothing worked until I came across a post on the Apple discussion boards that I thought I’d pass on here.
Drop it. That’s right, drop the iPod from a short distance. I dropped mine at work from my desk to the carpeted floor. Lo and behold, I’ve had a free, working iPod for over a year now.
I just want to say use the tip at your own risk but it worked for me.
grt thx my daughters ipod is fixed and all I had to do is drop it on the carpet
i just used http://www.ipodmechanic.com and had it done in a couple of days…
There is obviously a real design/production fault with the HD……..Apple should sort it out……..stop ripping us off!!
If more people were prepared to complain to Apple and publicly (via the lovely internet) Apple would have to fix the problem. I’m sure they would deny it but I’m also sure they are fully aware of this problem
Salva: If you are robbed chances are they will take your ipod…..along with your ‘hidden’ money….. ; )
I can’t believe dropping the ipod worked…
the only reason you ipod users don’t complain is because you want to keep all the ipod problems under wraps, you should switch to a zune, I’ve never had a problem except for zune 2k9 but one day without my zune is nothing compared to the problems that I see here… Oh by the way I think if you blow into the plug it might work, if not use a shirt over the hole then blow…lol
I’m going to try the cardboard trick when I get home, but I was wondering if you have to reglue the backing once you take it off, or if it will just fit back into place and stay there.
Try loosing all your hope and throing it against a wall, worked for me.
Nice write up. After going through 2 iPods in 2 years, I’ll try anything. If this doesn’t work, I’m going with Luis’ method.
seems to have fixed my ipod’s sporadic problems as well. thanks for the tutorial.
digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!! digg suXX!!
Looks like Bob Holness may have visited from the dumbass academy
I have a 6gig mini. Any fixes for that?
HA! this happens to my ipod quite often, not sure if i cause it but it seems to crash whenever i try to skip songs (maybe i press the next track button too fast-dont know). I can’t even reset it, no matter how much i try, i have to leave it until the battery runs out. ohhh the frustration!
I wouldn’t hack it, i suppose warranty is void after the whole operation?
Once you’ve tried all of the above doesn’t Apple give you $50 off a new iPod if you trade in a broken one?
They forgot the step that I use. This should be done before cracking the bad boy open. Gently drop your ipod onto a carpet surface from a few inches up, this is especially useful if you ipod’s HD seems frozen, which is the problem I experience most.
OH MY FREAKING GOD!!! THAT WORKED!! I could hardly stop laughing at your post thinking all the others were so technical and serious. I went to the other room and told my husband. He laughed and asked ”Did you try it?” Me, looking dumbstruck, lowered my ipod to about 5” from the carpet and dropped it. IT WORKED !!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought it was gone forever. Thanks, man!
I opened my young Conehead’s iPod and had a look around. I noticed corrosion around the battery port, sprung for a new battery ($12 on flea-Bay) and tried it.
No Joy.
I read your article and was excited by the “wedge” explanation you listed as a possible solution for the HDD going bad.
I cleaned the connector again and pushed a non-metallic wedge into the ribbon connector, along with the new battery connector, and…
JOY !!!!!
Thanks for the well-reasoned and informative blog.
I think it’s a 10% discount.
Wow I love my 1st gen… Still going strong even though it’s thick and heavy as hell… guess it was built to last – I’ve even dropped it a couple times!
for fourth gen iPods I suggest checking the hard drive cable where it mounts to the board. Most HD problems (short of actual HD problems) seem to be related to this. there is a little black bar that holds the cable in and this bar should be swung down and nearly flush with the board. there is a piece of tape covering this connection which is under the hard drive.
The Business Card idea is the worst idea I have ever heard of. Your shimming a Hard drive dude. That is stupid. It might temporarily work but will cause the the drive casing to put pressure on the drive heads and platters. This will lead the drive to fail in the near future. If you are having problems with your drive, you should be able to pick up the replacement hard drive’s off of froogle.com pretty cheap or you could always try and disconnect the battery cord in the bottom right corner, for 3-5 seconds.
Wait, let me get this straight… you’re saying his suggestion is bad because it takes a non-functioning and essentially dead drive and might damage it? If it even gets a couple of weeks more use from the drive, I’d say that’s a net gain over no use at all.
does thie work with a water damaged ipod?
if you are having a hard time getting your computer to talk to your iPod, try putting it into disk mode: press and hold MENU – SELECT like a reset, then, as soon as the screen goes off, switch it so that you are holding SELECT – PLAY/PAUSE. there are times when restoring an iPod will fail. but don’t start dropping your ipods until you have tried one more software fix. On Macs there is an app called Disk Utility, and pcs have something similar but I’m not all that familiar with the windows platform (besides, windows tends to have the hardest time recognizing an iPod with any isssue at all), you want to erase the iPod. after erasing, if successful, iTunes will pop up and ask you to restore, do it, it probably worked.
If, however, the little guy still won’t breathe, continue on with the dropping, sometimes a swift strike to the butt of the unit on a mouse pad works well.
other than my bloated $.002 this was a very good article. Well done!
Thanks for the inspiration! I started with Disk Utility, which failed miserably, changed to DiskWarrior, rebuilt the directory, iTunes now recognized it but wouldn’t let me restore because of the disk “being in use by another application”. Dragging all the recovered files from the iPod on the desktop into the trash, empty trash, hold down the apple key and restore from iTunes, It finally disabled the disk mode and restored the mini I was trying to fix for my sister! No more brick and it’s charging beautifully!
Matt, I know Apple needs to sell more iPods, but this info will probably mean a few less replacement sales. Great info. I Dugg this story, so I hope you don’t mind the extra traffic.
worked like a charm on a 4th gen video ipod. to be honest, when my gf’s cat knocked it off the table, i think the hdd got knocked loose. when i opened it up, the ribbon connecting it to the logic board (with some sort of plastic piece of ‘tape’ over it), was not firmly attached. i pressed it down and sorta re-adhered it. i threw in some folded paper over the top to make sure it didn’t have room to jostle loose in the future though. rebooted just fine!
if anything, your guide helped me realize that taking the thing apart would work at all. kudos!
The ipod my wife bought me a 2 years ago with the loving inscription, the one that has been sitting dead in a ziplock storage bag for the last 16 months; is now happily recharging in its dock.
Thank you!
The folded business card did the trick. Go figure.
As for shimming a hard disk…if the drive fails again in a few months, am I any worse off than I was prior?
wow, this post is very similar to the one i wrote a year and a half ago…
http://www.notpopular.com/blog/post/63
Oh my God. I just tried that crap, didn’t work. However, following the recommendations of several of the psychos on this thread I bashed it very very hard and it worked!!!!! Bloody ‘ell.
My problem is that I had to get a new charger for my car and my iPod hates it! Whenever it’s plugged in, the thing freezes up, no buttons will work, it will finish playing the song but nothing else. If I disconnect it, I have to reboot it and it will work fine.
@ Josh Highland : Yah, nice! I like yours better, more detailed photos. If you all wanna really the guts, check out Josh’s link above.
@ iPod dropping psychos: I should have added “if dropping it or banging the side doesn’t work, try this,” you’re right. When my GF’s 4th Gen iPod first started acting up, hitting it on the side would make it work, but only temporarily. I’m guessing it shook the skipping platters back into a usable place. The business card thing kept them there, as far as I can tell. But thanks for the feedback.
@ Everyone who’s made this work: Congrats! I know it sounds cheesy, but I really am loving hearing that you’re all having success with this. It sounds like a stupid idea, but it really does work. Next week: how to run Windows Mobile 6 on your Apple TV via Bluetooth.
Ok, not really.
I was curious i have the 5th gen iPod Nano, the one that basically looks liked a flattened tube. My question is how do i get it open?
my ipod is having a problem, where it won’t load on itunes. I figured out how to do a system check and found out that the USB is the problem, it is the port on my ipod that is corrupted/damaged what ever you want to call it. How would i go about fixing this on my own rather than paying $140+ to have it done professionally.
Thanks
On ifixit they show you how to open a mini, but it doesn’t look like the business card trick will work on it. Anyone have a fix?
I followed the advice in Josh Highland’s article’s comments section and slapped my 4G iPod silly, after giving up on it over a year ago. Lo and behold, it works again, so now I have an iPod to experiment with (I got a 5G video iPod to replace it last year). Now if I could just get it to stop sucking battery while attached to a computer (which happened with the original battery as well as the new battery I put in it just before it died)…
Wow. This worked. I got a broken iPod from Craigslist and put a new hard drive in it. It worked for a few months and then I got the sad iPod icon. Putting the folded up business card in there worked like a charm. We’ll see how long that lasts though.
MH to the rescue! Who needs warranties when you have Hickey?
it worked! finally after a year of having a dead ipod. problem now is that my screen went completely black. any help there??
The business card trick works… I don’t believe it… I just replaced my hard drive too… worked for 3 mos… then crapped out… Wow… i bought a new one too… guess I have the 4th Gen and the new video… Does this work with Ipod mini’s too?