Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ivinadivina

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2016
2
0
I found my old 3rd gen iPod nano after several years. I had used this for 3 years with absolutely no issue and then got an iPhone so listened to music there instead. But this and my sister's iPod were in great condition despite 3 years of use so they were packed away to give someone else. My mother then forgot where she put them and we never found them until recently, over 5 years later! Both iPods were stored in a box so they were completely clean and undamaged. I thought it would be great to use for working out so I charged mine (not to my laptop and iTunes) and it's taking a charge. The buttons work fine and I can even listen to music on it, but only went it's plugged in. Otherwise it just WON'T TURN ON. The EXACT same thing is happening to my sister's iPod. WTF? I've followed all the recommendations and don't know what the issue is because everything seems fine (all buttons working, battery charges, software is fine, etc. It just won't turn on, so it's basically useless. So sick of Apple's crap. Is there any way to actually fix this?
 

MultiFinder17

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2008
2,719
2,036
Tampa, Florida
The battery is 100% dead. It's a decade-old battery that was left unused for five years. Long periods of disuse will kill off any rechargeable battery, especially when left alone for several years like that. My wife found her old 2G nano that she hadn't seen in several years when we were moving a few months ago, and it's in the same boat; it works wonderfully when plugged in, and it even shows that it's charging for a while and that the battery gets to a fully-charged state, but it's deader than a doornail when unplugged. We just use it docked in an iHome for music on our porch now.
 

Matthew.H

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2015
769
945
Norwich, UK
The batteries are knackered. You can change the battery on the 3rd gen nano but it's soldered to the motherboard so you would need to know how to solder to do the replacement. What ipod model does your sister have?
 

ivinadivina

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2016
2
0
The batteries are knackered. You can change the battery on the 3rd gen nano but it's soldered to the motherboard so you would need to know how to solder to do the replacement. What ipod model does your sister have?

Same model as mine (3rd gen nano).
[doublepost=1464804919][/doublepost]
The battery is 100% dead. It's a decade-old battery that was left unused for five years. Long periods of disuse will kill off any rechargeable battery, especially when left alone for several years like that. My wife found her old 2G nano that she hadn't seen in several years when we were moving a few months ago, and it's in the same boat; it works wonderfully when plugged in, and it even shows that it's charging for a while and that the battery gets to a fully-charged state, but it's deader than a doornail when unplugged. We just use it docked in an iHome for music on our porch now.

I figured that was likely the case but when looking online it made it seem like if it was dead, it wouldn't turn on at all. A friend has the same model since 2008 and it still works, but they've used it here and there throughout the years. The date on the iPod is Dec 25, 2010 so if it died then, that would mean it died 3.5 months since I stopped using it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.