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HELP! iPod dead...

T

Thirteenva

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
679
0
I have a 14 month old 3rd gen iPod. I usually use it daily but have not used it for about 3 - 4 weeks.

I took it out of my laptop bag this weekend and it would not boot. The screen is blank. Nothing happens. I plugged it into the computer thinking the battery may be drained and still nothing.

I sat it in its dock to charge for 10 minutes and then tried to boot it. Still nothing. No apple icon, no sign of life at all.

What should i do. It's currently out of warranty. Any ideas? The apple support docs say to reset it but this does not appear to work because the ipod is completely dead.

Help is much appreciated, thanks.

Oh and i've tried toggling the 'hold' button, nothing happens.
 
Charge up your ipod as much as possible. Reset the iPod by pressing the menu and play/stop keys at once for a few seconds.
If doesn't seem to still work, try putting your ipod into disk mode to connect to your computer. You can do this by pressing the forward and backward buttons at once until the firewire symbol pops up (after you reset the ipod). Then connect it your computer and used the ipod software updater to restore your ipod. (This step revived my 2nd gen. iPod.)
If the drive keeps on spinning after you try to turn it on, maybe your ipod hard drive is busted.
 
This has happened to me with my iPod mini and my dad's 20 GB iPod.

Try charging it via the AC adapter (that usually works) and if that fails resetting it (hold down the menu and select buttons for 5 seconds). One of those two methods should work. I doubt your iPod is broken just because it hasn't been used to 3-4 weeks. I have left my iPod idle for longer than that and it's perfectly fine.
 
noel4r said:
Take it to an Apple Store asap. I dropped my iPod last week, they reset it. It's been working fine so far.
Click to expand...
They did what posters 3 and 4 told him to do. No need to take it to Apple at this point.

Thirteenva, this doesn't sound like a serious problem. If you follow the advice already given I'm sure your iPod will spring back to life.
 
Docked it for ten minutes with the power plugged in. I still get nothing. I'm not hearing a drive noise and holding down the menu/play button to reset it seems to have no affect.

My powerbook does not recognize it at all when plugged in. It does not show up as a mounted disk or in iTunes.

Any other suggestions?
 
Horrortaxi said:
Docked it for ten minutes with the power plugged in. I still get nothing. I'm not hearing a drive noise and holding down the menu/play button to reset it seems to have no affect.

My powerbook does not recognize it at all when plugged in. It does not show up as a mounted disk or in iTunes.

Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Maybe you can take it to an Apple Store now. Really, you've got nothing to lose.
 
noel4r said:
Maybe you can take it to an Apple Store now. Really, you've got nothing to lose.
Click to expand...

The problem with that is the apple store is over an hour away and my iPod is out of warranty. So I'd like to solve the issue myself if i could.
 
Have you plugged it into the wall charger yet, or just the computer? I'd next suggest doing that, and giving it a good long time--plug it in and watch a movie or something.
 
Thirteenva said:
The problem with that is the apple store is over an hour away and my iPod is out of warranty. So I'd like to solve the issue myself if i could.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if it's out of warranty, the people at the Genius Bar will still help you. Too bad it's an hour away, maybe you can drive there as a last result. You can also check out http://www.ipodresq.com

Good Luck
 
I left the ipod plugged in for an hour. It is blazing hot. I tried resetting by holding play and menu buttons, did this three times for ten seconds each. Does not do anything. Ipod will not boot, I have a blank screen.
 
Another update. When i put my ear up to it i hear a high pitched whistle followed by a tick tick tick tick while pressing the menu/play button to reset.

When i pressed the forward and back buttons simultaneously i heard a tick tick and hten it stopped. Did not mount the disk on the desktop.
 
Try charging the iPod through the wall power for 3 hours, unplug it, and leave it unplugged for 24 hours.

EDIT: Uh-oh... sounds like hardware damage that my above suggestion won't fix.
 
NOT menu & play

I said menu and select. That's what worked for me. Ask for the clicking thing....no clue what that is.

But try menu and select. iPods don't just break from being left alone for a couple weeks.
 
that "tick...tick...tick" is the hard drive reader moving, but not reading the drive. it probably got bumped pretty hard, and the arm/magnet is not working properly. my 10gb 2g drive failed just like that. took it apart and everything, still couldn't get the magnet/arm mechanism working again.
 
ipodresq not such a good deal

noel4r said:
It doesn't matter if it's out of warranty, the people at the Genius Bar will still help you. Too bad it's an hour away, maybe you can drive there as a last result. You can also check out http://www.ipodresq.com

Good Luck
Click to expand...

My brother just used ipodresq and it did not seem to be a good deal. He was forced to pay for overnight shipping and with a replacement hard drive (his was toasted from a one foot drop) it ended up costing him about $200 to get it repaired. That seems too close to a new 4G for my liking. If you choose not to get it repaired they will give you some cash (I think $75, but double check) for parts which makes the 4G even more attractive. Of course this is all assuming that you have 200-300 bucks lying around. Good luck!

fr0
 
Sounds bad. iPods shouldn't die from just sitting, but maybe something happened while it was in the bag? I haven't heard of "nothing" happening before. No display, no lights, no nothing. The sounds you described sound like broken hard drive type noises. Still, I don't know why you don't get a display.

You might want to try a slightly more specialized forum like ipodlounge.com.

Did you need to go to the Apple Store or surrouding area for anything? The Genius Bar can make the final determination if it's dead or not.
 
Horrortaxi said:
Sounds bad. iPods shouldn't die from just sitting, but maybe something happened while it was in the bag? I haven't heard of "nothing" happening before. No display, no lights, no nothing. The sounds you described sound like broken hard drive type noises. Still, I don't know why you don't get a display.

You might want to try a slightly more specialized forum like ipodlounge.com.

Did you need to go to the Apple Store or surrouding area for anything? The Genius Bar can make the final determination if it's dead or not.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's odd. It's been in my computer bag with my laptop. I'm not sure what the heck could have gone wrong. I'll have to try to get to the apple store and see what's wrong.

I may also try ipod lounge. Thank you for your help.
 
I was not able to get the ipod working :(

I'm trying to get the ipod open now, so i can disconnect and reconnect the battery but I'm having trouble opening the case.

I read to stick a small screwdriver in there and pry it open but i'm unsuccessful. I have a tiny screw driver but I'm not able to pry it open. I'm using the instructions found at 'ipodbattery.com'
 
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