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simp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2006
18
0
Hi All:-

I thought I would be really kind and polish my girlfriend's iPod with Radtech Ice Creme acrylic polish. So I polished and I polished and I polished.

And then I realised that the buttons had stopped working. The click wheel rotated, the centre button worked, but the menu, back, forward, play had stopped. Then the clickwheel peeled away from the the body to reveal a load of polish gunk in there.... So I cleared it all away with a q-tip, rebooted the ipod, and it all worked just fine, but those buttons still don't - except the menu button on very rare occasions...

So... Does anyone have any suggestions? Apart from selling on eBay for parts and buying a replacement refurb iPod! I am such a klutz...
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
When you cleared away the polish inside the clickwheel, did you do anything to clean the contacts between the wheel and the underlying pad, in case there was a light coating of polishing compound still on it?
 

simp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2006
18
0
(It's a 5G iPod by the way)

On the underside of the clickwheel, beneath the centre of each button, are four little white plastic dots, and these press down onto four black rubberized dots on the iPod. These black dots are affixed to square contacts which are soldered onto the circuit board.

When I was cleaning away the polish, I could see excess polish squeezing out from under the contacts - so yes, I think that's where the problem lies - but I can see no way of removing the contacts as they are soldered on...
 
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