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3rd Gen iPod, completely dead?

KingDDD

KingDDD

macrumors newbie
Original poster
My friend dropped off his 3rd Gen iPod (later 20GB ed.) to fix, but I didn't expect it to be this bad!

I plugged it into the wall with a recent small transformer, and absolutely nothing happens. No red buttons, no display, nothing.

I tried it on a windows box USB for a couple minutes and same thing.

It's been a while since I used a third gen, how are you supposed to wake these guys up again?

7828361058313561.JPG
 
Try plugging it in with the wall charger and holding menu + play. If that doesn't work, try prev/forward/center.
 
Dang, neither of those combinations work.

Do I need to replace the motherboard?
 
If you're comfortable, open it and make sure everything is physically still connected -- sounds like a loose connector. The scan thing should work even if the hard drive is completely fried.
 
I opened it up, the battery was connected of course, it is a molex style connector. I reseated it just in case.

The hard drive ribbon connection seemed to be fine, but I reseated it just in case.

I put it back together. The only thing that could still possibly be disconnected is the 1.8" to the ribbon itself, but I doubt that would prevent it from powering up, it would just give me a sad face.

When I plug it into the wall it should see some evidence of power, even if there was no battery or hard drive connected, right?

I'm thinking a cap blew or something and the board is dead.
 
I signed up just to reply to this thread, so, hello there!

Basically, 3rd gen iPod's reqire a firewire connection to charge, they DO NOT charge by USB, AT ALL! This is why your PC connection + new style USB wall charger connection do nothing.

Try with a firewire charger and see what happens 🙂
 
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