iPod Help me troubleshoot my iPod. It's fun!

[subcons]

So this is my second iPod (4G 40GB), a refurb that Apple replaced my original unit with back it November of '05. As of last night, this one is having the same exact problems as the one that it replaced, but the HDD checks out through the diagnostic menu. So I'm hoping worst case scenario, it's the Logic Board which is only like $50.

Here's the problem I have now: At some point, my iBook stopped recognizing the iPod all together. So, as a last resort, I used Disk Utility to erase it. I didn't Zero Out Data which is what I think I should've done...? Now when I mount it (in Disk Mode BTW), iTunes opens up immediately yet the iPod doesn't show up in iTunes. Then, when I try to use the Updater, I get an error telling me that it can't unmount the drive because files are in use, I would assume by iTunes. I can't even unmount the thing manualy from the finder. Closing iTunes doesn't do the trick and I get the same message when trying to use Disk Utility on it now. I was going to try and Zero Out Data, but can't even do that now.

Any tricks? Thanks in advance.

 

[rendezvouscp]

Reset it with the iPod software updater and see if that works. In the future, do not use Disk Utility for erasing the iPod's hard disk. I believe that it can render the iPod "unrecognizable" and just a hard disk, but that's here-say.
-Chasen

 

[mduser63]

Reset it with the iPod software updater and see if that works. In the future, do not use Disk Utility for erasing the iPod's hard disk. I believe that it can render the iPod "unrecognizable" and just a hard disk, but that's here-say.
-Chasen

He already said the updater won't run because it says "files are in use."

I'd try disabling iTunes, zip it up and delete the original, or even just uninstall it. That way iTunes won't open when you connect the iPod, and hopefully the updater will work.

 

[rendezvouscp]

Ah, sorry, that should have been "reset the iPod and then use the software updater" so that whatever app that was using it would become disconnected from the iPod.

subcons, what icon does the iPod have in the Finder?
-Chasen

 

[subcons]

I know to use the iPod updater, but that stopped working yesterday when I was trying to fix it. My iBook wouldn't recognize the iPod at all when hooked up to it, I would just get an error message saying it couldn't read the drive. Using disk utility on it was a last resort, but I had seen people claim to have success with it and figured I had nothing to lose by trying.

I tried disabling iTunes to no avail. I get all the same messages. No other programs are open, so does that mean that OSX is maybe using those files? Did I make it into a system disk or something by accident?

It shows up as a generic removable drive on my Finder. It shows no files on the drive, but ~34MB are occupied. Hidden files? If so, how do I view them?

 

[subcons]

Nobody?

 

[Mechcozmo]

Restart the computer.
Plug in the iPod (If Disk Utility sees it, that is a good sign)
Don't let iTunes go through the whole steps that it would like to. Kill it as soon as it opens.
Open the iPod Updater and run it