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Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Damn.

Yesterday 4G 40gb started displaying the exclamation mark & folder icon after I accidentally and stupidly unplugged it without unmounting it first.

Then tried restoring it tonight with iPod Updater but this failed with an 'unexpected error' message and there's an ominous clicking sound coming from it.

It's past its warranty.

Options? Buy a new one? Get it serviced? That can also be quite pricy.
Opening it up and messing with it myself? :eek:
 
don't quote me on this one, but since it's a loss anyway, can't you try and reformat it with Disk Utility and then use the iPod util to reinstall the OS on it and start over?
 
Ugh. That happened to me once (Same iPod). It was under warranty though. And it happened while plugged into my Mac. It should be that easy to screw up an iPod.

I suggest finding a USB cable and try to restore it on a Windows machine, they tend to be more forgiving...
 
yellow said:
don't quote me on this one, but since it's a loss anyway, can't you try and reformat it with Disk Utility and then use the iPod util to reinstall the OS on it and start over?

When I start Disk Utility up with the iPod plugged in by FW, it just hangs with a sundial as it's 'Gathering disk information'. :(

I'll try rebooting the Mac.
 
Blue Velvet said:
When I start Disk Utility up with the iPod plugged in by FW, it just hangs with a sundial as it's 'Gathering disk information'.

And try plugging it in after you've opened Disk Utility, though you'll probably end up with a similar result. And I assume you've reset the iPod.
 
amacgenius said:
I'd recommend buying a replacement HD and servicing it yourself, it's VERY easy.

What kind of drive and any useful links on how to go about doing this, especially getting the iPod case open?

I've installed new fans and a new heatsink throughout my G4 in the past so am semi-OK with tinkering with this kind of stuff.

Thanks for all help so far.

Edit:
yellow said:
And try plugging it in after you've opened Disk Utility, though you'll probably end up with a similar result. And I assume you've reset the iPod.

OK, I've managed to get it mounted into Disk Utility. Still clicking but erasing... I'll try restoring it again but I don't have high hopes.
 
Keep trying the disk utility reformat. I had the exact same thing happen to my 40 GB 3G. It kept clicking away and about 4 disk reformats later it finally worked. Then I ran the iPod updater on it and it's been working since then. Good luck to you on this. Worst case scenario is that you have to either replace the HD yourself or have a tech repair put one in for you.
 
aricher said:
Keep trying the disk utility reformat. I had the exact same thing happen to my 40 GB 3G. It kept clicking away and about 4 disk reformats later it finally worked. Then I ran the iPod updater on it and it's been working since then. Good luck to you on this. Worst case scenario is that you have to either replace the HD yourself or have a tech repair put one in for you.

I finally got it mounted and reformatted in Disk Utility but then iPod updater started misbehaving so I'm just downloading the latest one now from Software Update... I'll keep trying as you suggest. Thanks for the encouragement.
 
puckhead193 said:
i'd say screw it, come on... i know you want the new video ipod ;)

Well, yes... but an 80gb one. Been waiting for a while.

May have to go back to using my 1gb Shuffle until an 80gb model is released.

Formatting the iPod now, zeroing all data. Will leave it running overnight and will try iPod updater tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
 
amacgenius said:
Here's an article on how to take the iPod apart (it's from the 3g, but it's still the same pretty much.)

http://www.2guysamacandawebsite.com/article.php?id=588

And here's some HDs:

http://electronics.search.ebay.com/...refZC12QQfromZR8QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ97927


Thanks for the links. :)

I'll see what the price of those drives in the UK is if I can find any and then compare it to Apple UK's servicing charge. If they're similar, then I'll get Apple to do it or replace it or whatever they do with them.
 
Blue Velvet said:
I'll see what the price of those drives in the UK is if I can find any and then compare it to Apple UK's servicing charge. If they're similar, then I'll get Apple to do it or replace it or whatever they do with them.

If you like, I could mug you on your way home from work, steal your broken iPod and you can claim a new shiny one from your insurance...

Joking!:p
 
Applespider said:
If you like, I could mug you on your way home from work, steal your broken iPod and you can claim a new shiny one from your insurance...

Joking!:p


Insurance? Um... :eek:

And Yellow? No, iPod is not well at all. Left it zero-formatting over night, woke up at 7am to find it stuck doing the partition map and clicking. :(

I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this stage. Have to admit it's had two falls onto hard floors in its short life of 6 months.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Have to admit it's had two falls onto hard floors in its short life of 6 months.

Ahh.. the Click of Death. Bummer. Perhaps Santa (ok.. Father Christmas :rolleyes: ) will bring you a new one if you've been a good BV this year?
 
Blue Velvet said:
I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this stage. Have to admit it's had two falls onto hard floors in its short life of 6 months.
Oh wait, isn't it still a 1 year warranty on those?
 
iMeowbot said:
Oh wait, isn't it still a 1 year warranty on those?

Not if you buy it from an Amazon reseller as new but with a one month warranty, I think. I'm a bit fed up with it now and am almost prepared to write it off as a bad buying decision.

It was only because I was so eager to get my hands on a hard-to-find 4G standard model instead of the photo models because of reported sound distortion problems.

I'll worry* about it till after Xmas...


*procrastinate
 
If you do need a hard drive and it's going to cost a lot to fix, it isn't hard to do it yourself. Me and my friend did it a while back, and getting the case open was harder than the hard drive. It's the first thing you come to and it just unplugs.

Me and Liam managed to break his iPod by replacing the battery, but that's right at the bottom, and involved taking a lot of stuff out, unplugging bits and squeezing stuff back. I'm not sure I'd do that again. But the hard drive is much easier.

If you do decide to do it - I'm more than happy to offer advice through IMs as you do it!
 
Blue Velvet said:
No, iPod is not well at all. Left it zero-formatting over night, woke up at 7am to find it stuck doing the partition map and clicking. :(

I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this stage. Have to admit it's had two falls onto hard floors in its short life of 6 months.

I've had a similar problem with one of my previous iPods. I had success in reviving it by re-writing the partition table with a Windows partition table (using "fdisk /mbr" on a windows machine). I then formated the iPod using FAT 32 before unmounting the iPod hooking it up to a Mac and letting the iPod updater reformat the thing with a Mac filesystem.

All this took a bit of time since it involves reformatting the thing a couple of times but at this stage you have nothing to loose.

Also, if you end up deciding to swap out the drive yourself one of the fake plastic credit cards that are sent out with credit card offers (or even an old unneeded card) is the perfect tool to pry open an ipod. Just use some sandpaper to sharpen up one of the sides of the card so it is easier to work it into the seams of the ipod.
 
Lau said:
If you do need a hard drive and it's going to cost a lot to fix, it isn't hard to do it yourself...

Thanks Lau. Have found a UK supplier of the 1.8" Toshiba drives -- may just spring for the 60gb one that apparently also fits inside the 4th gen models according to the links that amacgenius so kindly provided.

£135.19 + delivery... oo-er. Still £30 cheaper than what Apple want and who knows what I'd get back from them.

So maybe in the new year once I've paid for Xmas. :D
 
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