iPod gone whacky

[dudewheresmymac]

I have a third gen iPod and it is having a lot for problems. I usually can get the thing to boot to the main menu, but after i select a song that i wanna listen to i hear the hard drive start to spin up and then i hear a click and it dies. I can go through this routine about 2 or 3 times and then the battery is depleted. It does the same thing when im trying to update it... i is fine for a little bit and transfers a few songs but then i have that clicking noise again and it dies. The only time that it works well is when its plugged into a power source (i use my windows comp for my iPod syncing). And when its plugged in i can play it fine through the line out in the dock or the head phones.

Now i will be honest and tell you that i havent treated my iPod perfectly and the back plate is a bit dented and what not. But it has been like that for a long time and it still worked well even after it got the damage.

So what do you guys think is wrong with my iPod, i know that the warrenty is long gone so is it severe hardware problem or something that can be fixed relatively easily (and cheaply)

Thanks guys

 

[mkrishnan]

It's possible your iPod's hard drive is dying, but that doesn't really explain the dead battery aspect of the issue. I would try a couple things first....

1) Try a hard reset of the iPod. *goes to copy instructions out of old thread* Like this:

Hard reset: plug it into the power adapter, but not the computer. Then toggle the hold switch to hold, and back to normal, and then press and hold the menu and play buttons simultaneously for ten seconds.

This will *NOT* delete any songs from your iPod.

2) Try reformatting it with the iPod Updater program. This *WILL* delete all the songs and anything else on the 'pod, so you will have to re-copy all music onto it from iTunes.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i would say that either your battery or your harddrive is fried

the only reason i am not sure is because you say it works find plugged in, which leads me to believe its not the harddrive because if the harddrive were dead you would get the same experience all around....


odd problem though....

 

[aplasticspork]

you can put it into diagnostic mode and do some tests on it by holding down play and menu to reset it, then while it's starting hold down the select button, the skip forward button, and the skip backward button. when the screen goes blank release the buttons, the ipod will show a backwards apple logo and make a chirp. you have to use the skip forward and backward buttons to go through the menu cuz the scroll wheel is disabled...this website tells what the tests are. it probably wont be able to fix it, but it will tell you what's wrong if you decide to try it. good luck
--andrzej

 

[dudewheresmymac]

thanks for the replies..
i ran the hardware dianostics and the hard drive test failed.. It said that it was unable to read and then some letters and numbers that i think represent a location on the hard drive. now is there anyway that i could you fsck or something of the likes to repair that section of the disk.. or to make it so that it wont recongnise it?

 

[mkrishnan]

thanks for the replies..
i ran the hardware dianostics and the hard drive test failed.. It said that it was unable to read and then some letters and numbers that i think represent a location on the hard drive. now is there anyway that i could you fsck or something of the likes to repair that section of the disk.. or to make it so that it wont recongnise it?

Does re-formatting an iPod block out bad sectors like it does on a PC hd? I would think it probably does, but I'm not sure.