iPod Troubleshooting 2nd gen iPod (was "Opening up 1st/2nd gen iPod")

[ApolloBoy]

So recently I purchased a 10 GB second generation iPod, and soon after trying it out, the hard drive suddenly started making some weird buzzing noises and it died. Thankfully I purchased a 30 GB hard drive in such an event, but now I've hit a major road block. This iPod is pretty much impossible to pry open; none of my plastic pry tools can get enough leverage on the seam, and even trying a razor blade ended in failure. Does anyone have any tips for getting these original iPods open?

 

[ApolloBoy]

Managed to get it open and surprisingly someone else had been in there before me, the battery was replaced back in 2004. I used the iFixit Jimmy to pry it open, gonna be using this for my iPods from now on.

 

[Scoot65]

Good to hear that you managed to get the 'Pod open.
The second generation is my favourite model (the 5th gen being my second favourite). I've had my 2nd gen 20GB iPod 15 years now! It's had several third party batteries in that time and I replaced the hard drive in august 2016. Still works great!!.... playing music in my car.

 

[rgarjr]

A few of these will pry them open easily.

 

[ApolloBoy]

A few of these will pry them open easily.

Already took care of it though, wound up using an iFixit Jimmy to work around the case. I may have to replace the hard drive cable though as none of the replacement drives I had on hand worked.

 

[togruber]

Already took care of it though, wound up using an iFixit Jimmy to work around the case. I may have to replace the hard drive cable though as none of the replacement drives I had on hand worked.

Hi,
I guess your HDD-Cable is fine. The problem might be the used HDDs. Only the HDDs used in iPods 1st till 3rd gen. work! I would buy a defective used 3rd gen iPod with a bad battery and use this HDD. The max size for single platter drives is 20GB.

Regards
Torsten

 

[ApolloBoy]

Hi,
I guess your HDD-Cable is fine. The problem might be the used HDDs. Only the HDDs used in iPods 1st till 3rd gen. work! I would buy a defective used 3rd gen iPod with a bad battery and use this HDD. The max size for single platter drives is 20GB.

Regards
Torsten

Interesting, I had no idea that was the case. I'll have to give that a try then...

 

[ApolloBoy]

Alright, so I actually got a 10 GB drive which is the exact replacement for the original one and it's still not working. Every time I connect it, the hard drive spools up, makes a clicking noise, and then starts again. iTunes and Finder don't recognize the iPod but Disk Utility does. However, I can't erase or partition the drive in Disk Utility as it constantly comes up with a "timed out" error.

I've tried this on both my MBP using a Thunderbolt adapter and on my 12" PowerBook, and it does this with both computers. Really bummed out as I actually wanted to use this iPod and not just have it as a display piece.

 

[togruber]

Alright, so I actually got a 10 GB drive which is the exact replacement for the original one and it's still not working. Every time I connect it, the hard drive spools up, makes a clicking noise, and then starts again. iTunes and Finder don't recognize the iPod but Disk Utility does. However, I can't erase or partition the drive in Disk Utility as it constantly comes up with a "timed out" error.

I've tried this on both my MBP using a Thunderbolt adapter and on my 12" PowerBook, and it does this with both computers. Really bummed out as I actually wanted to use this iPod and not just have it as a display piece.

Hi,
are you sure the harddrive is OK? Do you have another iPod (till 4th gen) to test it or maybe an adapter to USB?

Regards
Torsten

 

[ApolloBoy]

Hi,
are you sure the harddrive is OK? Do you have another iPod (till 4th gen) to test it or maybe an adapter to USB?

Regards
Torsten

The hard drive works perfectly fine as does the 30 GB drive that I tried using earlier; in fact I'm actually (temporarily) using the 30 GB drive on my 4th gen HP iPod.

 

[togruber]

The hard drive works perfectly fine as does the 30 GB drive that I tried using earlier; in fact I'm actually (temporarily) using the 30 GB drive on my 4th gen HP iPod.

Hi,
have you already released the harddrive zif cable from the board and reconnected it? Try it. This is a common cause for an undetected harddrive in the 4th gen, maybe also in the 1st/2nd gen?!

Regards
Torsten

 

[ApolloBoy]

Hi,
have you already released the harddrive zif cable from the board and reconnected it? Try it. This is a common cause for an undetected harddrive in the 4th gen, maybe also in the 1st/2nd gen?!

Regards
Torsten

I did that several times including cleaning the contacts on the ribbon cable, still nothing.

 

[togruber]

I did that several times including cleaning the contacts on the ribbon cable, still nothing.

Hi,
I don't know another cause for the issue, I'm sorry. I've already changed the harddrive in 4 iPod of the old generation, but never had similar issues. Good luck! Write if you get it to work!

Regards
Torsten

 

[ApolloBoy]

I just got a first gen iPod recently and sure enough, it had the exact same problem as the second gen one I tried to fix earlier. This utterly confused me, so I decided to do some deep digging to find out what else could be causing these issues. I found that on both my first and second iPods, the FireWire port had partially broken loose from its solder joints on the logic board. So I resoldered the FW port on both iPods and tried to restore them. Aaaand....

No change! I'm beginning to wonder if the first and second gen models have issues with zeroed out drives since the new hard drives in both were wiped when I bought them. I just ordered a USB enclosure specifically for the 1.8" drives used in the first through fourth gen iPods, and I'm thinking if I repartition the drives by themselves, that might fix these issues. We'll see in a few days.

 

[OLDGUYWITHAHIFI]

Love these kind of threads. Feels like we are on the adventure with you. Keep us posted.

 

[ApolloBoy]

I seriously wish someone would develop an SSD solution for these, having to rely on old hard drives is such a pain and isn't a great long-term solution. Outmoded interface aside, the first and second gen iPods are still perfectly serviceable and deserve much better than this. Think of all the broken ones that could be saved by slapping an SD or CF card in them...

 

[ApolloBoy]

Formatting the hard drive outside of the iPod had zero effect. I'm pretty much lost in the weeds at this point, I've tried everything I can think of without swapping parts.

 

[ApolloBoy]

Bumping this because I'd like to get both these iPods figured out and I'm very surprised that there's very little information about troubleshooting these things.

 

[togruber]

Hi,
only der harddrives from the 1st till 3nd iPods work because the firmware. Does the board of the iPod get hot when it is connected to the Mac?

Regards
Torsten

 

[ApolloBoy]

Hi,
only der harddrives from the 1st till 3nd iPods work because the firmware. Does the board of the iPod get hot when it is connected to the Mac?

Regards
Torsten

Not really, at least not any hotter than my other iPods. That's odd about the firmware because I have a 10 gig drive which is an exact replacement for my 2nd gen, and it does the exact same thing as the 30 gig drives I'm trying.

If the firmware really is the thing that's the showstopper, I'm wondering if there's a way to reflash that somehow...

 

[togruber]

Not really, at least not any hotter than my other iPods. That's odd about the firmware because I have a 10 gig drive which is an exact replacement for my 2nd gen, and it does the exact same thing as the 30 gig drives I'm trying.

If the firmware really is the thing that's the showstopper, I'm wondering if there's a way to reflash that somehow...

Hi,
is the 30GB drive a thick double platter drive from the 3rd gen or a thin single platter drive from the iPod photo? The thin one won't work.

Regards
Torsten