iPod iPod Classic no longer powering on with car ignition

[alingham]

Recently (in the last 6 months), my iPod classic Video (30GB) has stopped powering up when I start my car.

I leave the iPod plugged in via USB and this has been working fine, turning on and playing my tunes with the car stereo. 6 months ago this stopped happening. Instead, I have to now lean over to the glovebox and press the home button to turn it on in order for it to start playing.



I have tried a different iPod cable - same result.

The unit still charges, still powers on, still works. It turns on straight away after pressing the home button.

I changed the battery just in case. Still no luck.



I'm not sure what happened 6 months ago to cause this to change. Any ideas?

There hasn't been any firmware changes so I'm at a loss as to what has caused it, and how to fix it.



Thanks in advance.



Al.

 

[bopajuice]

Just a guess, but in my experience cheap USB chargers can cause issues.

 

[alingham]

Just a guess, but in my experience cheap USB chargers can cause issues.

Thanks, but I have tried it with a genuine Apple cable installed into the USB from the headunit and the same results.

 

[bopajuice]

Thanks, but I have tried it with a genuine Apple cable installed into the USB from the headunit and the same results.

What I meant was I had a phone issue that I suspect was caused by using an Amazon USB adapter for the car. I suspect it damaged the hardware and caused premature battery wear to my phone over time. Just a theory.

 

[an-other]

I can think of a couple potential areas for failure:

• Check your ipod volume. Sometimes the issue is everything is working, and you're ipod just is set to low to hear.
• Bad cable. I know you checked it with an Apple one. Do one more test with a second cable. It may sound silly to do this redundant check. I've learnt the hard way it's a good idea to check more than one cable
• Check another ipod.
• Car fuse. It may not be as obvious as you think. For example, Honda's have two accessory fuses.
• Bad battery. Often times you need a minimum charge in the battery for things to work If your battery is dead, you can replace it. iPod Battery replacements can be done, but they're much easier when you've done one before!
• Wonky ipod port. Over time these cam become unsoldered from the circuit board with tough use. A car is a hard use. (wide range of temperatures/pulling on it when driving, etc.)
• Damaged module on car stereo or ipod. Be sure to cycle through all your car stereo input options. Also, check to see if your car stereo has a reset button.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[alingham]

Thanks for this
I can go through and eliminate some of these. I will try the others to try and figure out the problem.

• Check your ipod volume. Sometimes the issue is everything is working, and you're ipod just is set to low to hear.
  This isn't the issue, as when I hit the home button on the iPod, it powers up and starts playing.
  
  
• Bad cable. I know you checked it with an Apple one. Do one more test with a second cable. It may sound silly to do this redundant check. I've learnt the hard way it's a good idea to check more than one cable
  Done. Still the same problem
  
  
• Check another ipod.
  To-do list
  
• Car fuse. It may not be as obvious as you think. For example, Honda's have two accessory fuses.
  I have a Toyota Altezza. The headunit powers on fine, and powers the iPod through USB just fine. I doubt it'll be a fuse issue.
  
• Bad battery. Often times you need a minimum charge in the battery for things to work If your battery is dead, you can replace it. iPod Battery replacements can be done, but they're much easier when you've done one before!
  I was hoping that this was the issue, and have replaced the iPod battery. Still does the same issue. That's when I posted on here...

• Wonky ipod port. Over time these cam become unsoldered from the circuit board with tough use. A car is a hard use. (wide range of temperatures/pulling on it when driving, etc.)
  USB continues to power, charge, and play audio through it. But I'll open it up and check it.

• Damaged module on car stereo or ipod. Be sure to cycle through all your car stereo input options. Also, check to see if your car stereo has a reset button.
  I have replaced my stereo headunit in the hope that this fixed the issue (and to have rear-view camera display!) but unfortunately it is still causing this issue. That's why I think it's the iPod...

[doublepost=1492309824][/doublepost]I can confirm the following:

Trying the system (current headunit, and cable) with a different iPod (iPod Nano) has no problems. The iPod was on sleep mode, and upon turning on the ignition, the headunit powered up the iPod and it began playing through USB.

So something must be up with the iPod then...

 

[an-other]

Another thought, and yes I'm grasping at straws: are you sure your classic worked previously? I know you said it worked previously. The reason I'm noting this is ipods went through a big change. I'm pretty sure it's when they added video. Not all ipods 30 pin connectors are the same. It may be helpful to just check your head unit's instruction manual for compatible ipods.

My logic here is your nano is working. Your video ipod isn't. It seems everything from the cord to the speakersis working.

Another check: does your video ipod connect to itunes on your computer? Have you reset your ipod?

FWIW: I have an old iPod touch i swore worked with one car. Turns out it was never supported.

 

[BrettApple]

Holy crap, mine started doing the exact same thing about a month ago. It's been in the truck since December 2015 and I do unplug it to sync from time to time or to use as an iPod on the go like it should be as the battery is still great. But mostly it gets used in my truck (2016 Toyota Tacoma - Entune premium HU).

It used to just turn on with the truck and start playing where I left off but then suddenly it won't turn on with the truck. I have to hit a key, be it the center button, menu, play, what have you, and it'll come on and work fine then. But it no longer comes on via USB power.

I can still charge it, still sync via iTunes on my mac, etc. Everything else works fine but it won't wake up when plugged in. Checked it on my mac and it is the same way there. Tried an apple USB cable, same thing. But the 30pin that has been in use is an Amazon Basics one that has been there since 2015. Are those known to cause damage?

It's a 2006 80GB iPod Video (5.5G). I do still have my practically new 160GB Classic I bought at the end of 2014 right before they discontinued them (had no idea, just wanted one at the time) and it works fine other than the first time you tap a song to play via the head unit it won't play the right one. Thus why my iPod video is in there. Seems to work better, till now since I have to wake it up then start the truck.

 

[an-other]

What do you see on the video screen? Have you tried resetting it whilst connected? (on mine, "Eclipse" displays when connected. Every so often things go out of sync, and it just shows a normal "ipod" display. (holding two buttons down) puts things back in order.