Dave Winters Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 Anybody use The Geek Squad for iPod repair? Or recommend anyone else? I'm getting the frowny face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 whats the symtoms? i have mine apart on my desk here. its not that hard to pop open. if its a bad disk or battery you can buy them on ebay. john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 you ever replace a broken screen? what tools/skills needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Winters Posted March 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 I'm getting the unhappy face icon, and you can hear a repeating, whirring sound every 1 second or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschurman Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 Run iPod diagnostics ExtremeiPod, August, 2004 by Scott Knaster To enter the diagnostic mode on the iPod, first of all reset it. When you see the Apple logo, hold down Next, Previous, and Select. When the Apple logo goes away, release the buttons. You'll see the coolest thing ever: a backwards Apple logo, as if you were inside the iPod looking out. If it's a 3G, you'll hear the iPod emit a little squeal, like you were pinching it. Diagnostic mode contains stuff used by engineers, technicians, and factory folks to test out the iPod. The iPod mini is slightly different. For this model, again reset the iPod. When you see the Apple logo, hold down Select and Back. When the Apple logo goes away, release the buttons to see the famous backward Apple and get into diagnostic mode. When you enter diagnostic mode, you get an ugly, non-iPod-looking screen with a list of eight diagnostic tests. Each test is marked with a letter, A through H. You might expect to use the wheel to select the tests, but it doesn't work. Instead, use the Next and Previous buttons to move up and down the list. Press Select to run the highlighted test. While a test is running, press Play to return to the menu. If you scroll down past test H (or up past test A), you'll see a second screen, items I through P. iPod Diagnostics Advertisement Test letter and name Description A. 5 IN 1 This runs several tests in a row: LCM, RTC, SDRAM, FLASH/CHECKSUM, and FIREWIRE/FW ID. (See below to find out what they do. Note that you have to press Play twice to get through LCM.) But the real cool stuff comes after the tests finish. On a 3G iPod, you can press buttons to make noises come out of the built-in speaker. Press Previous to hear the wheel's clicking sound, Menu and Select to get two different long beeps, and Next for an effect that sounds a little like a Star Wars blaster. You can have a lot of fun walking around with your iPod, pressing buttons and staring intently at the screen as if you were doing something serious. The clicking sound makes a great fake radiation detector. Press Play to return to the Diagnostics menu. B. RESET This resets the iPod, just like pressing Menu and Play together, but slightly easier on your fingers. C. KEY This test is actually sort of a video game. You have to press all 5 buttons on the iPod within about 5 seconds. As you press each one, its name appears on the screen. If you get them all in time, you see KEY PASS. If you're too slow, you're humiliated with KEY FAIL. D. AUDIO When you run this test on a 3G iPod, you'll hear a Pac Man-like drumming noise if you have an external speaker connected. On an older iPod, the screen will display AUDIO 0X00000001 DONE. E. REMOTE This one tests the iPod remote. It's another game: you get a few seconds to press all the buttons on the remote. As you press each button, a rectangle appears on the screen in a position that corresponds to the location of the button you pressed. If you don't press them all in time, or you don't have a remote connected, you'll see RMT FAIL. F. FIREWIRE/FW ID This test checks out the iPod's FireWire port to make sure it's working OK. If it is, you get the comforting FW PASS message. G. SLEEP When you run this test, your iPod drops off to sleep. When you try to wake it, you might see the low battery icon, and the iPod might refuse to come back to life. If this happens, try resetting the iPod or connecting it to power. That should jolt it awake. H. A2D This one checks out the iPod's analog to digital components. The test lists sometimes-cryptic names and results for several parts, which vary depending on the particular iPod model. I. OTPO CNT Run this test to play with the scroll wheel. "OTPO" is engineering-ese for the wheel – it was supposed to be "opto", but the misspelling is charming, so why fix it now? When you run this test, move the wheel and you'll see the iPod react by changing the big hexadecimal number on the screen. J. LCM This tests the iPod's display. LCM probably stands for "liquid crystal monitor". Run the test, then press Select to see a gradient pattern on the screen. Press Select again to see a giant plus sign. This plus sign refers to the positive effect the iPod has had on Apple's bottom line. K. RTC/CHG STUS On older iPods, RTC tests something related to the iPod's real-time clock, the one that knows the time of day. The value sometimes changes a little, but is always small. Is it related to the clock "drift", as described in "Scary Time" in this chapter? I don't know. It's one of those iPod mysteries. This test is replaced by CHG STUS (charge status) on 3G iPods. CHG STUS displays values indicating whether there's anything connected via USB, FireWire, or the headphone port. It also appears to show if charging power is available. L. SDRAM/USB DISK SDRAM tests the iPod's synchronous dynamic RAM. That's the magic ingredient that fights skip protection and prolongs battery life: music is pre-loaded into RAM and the disk drive spins down. USB DISK tests something unknown and reboots the iPod into disk mode. M. FLASH/CHK SUM The FLASH test, called CHK SUM (checksum) on 3G iPods, examines the iPod's flash ROM. The test finishes by displaying a hexadecimal number, probably a checksum to verify the ROM. N. OPTO/CONTRAST The OPTO test, on older iPods only, doesn't seem to do anything at all. CONTRAST lets you fine-tune the screen contrast with the wheel, but any changes you make go away when you leave diagnostic mode. Advertisement O. HDD SCAN This item runs the hard drive test, without the cool animation you get for a disk scan, as described in the section "Use Button Combinations". Scanning the disk takes many minutes. When the scan is done, you'll see either HDD PASS or HDD FAIL. HDD means "hard disk drive". "FAIL" means "Go get it fixed". P. RUN IN This last item runs a series of tests over and over, until you press and hold Play. It seems designed to make sure the iPod is ready to go after it's manufactured or repaired. Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeiPod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 I'm getting the unhappy face icon, and you can hear a repeating, whirring sound every 1 second or so. sounds like a bad drive. what happened prior to the unhappy face? did it play fine and just die? tex, i will look at mine and see how to replace the screen. what model do you have? john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Winters Posted March 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 Yeah, it was playing just fine and then.. FUBAR. Any recommendations for repair, or is it worth it? It's a 20gig.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 if you can do what you do with wood, you can fix this. i have a 20 gig as well. same thing, bad drive. you can buy them on ebay. with a new drive in hand i think you could have this fixed in at most 20 minutes. pop open the case carefully with a jewelers flat blad screwdriver. the rest is obvious. i would go through the diags ben posted just to be sure. you have re-installed the os by using the "Updater" from apple right? john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 sounds like a bad drive. what happened prior to the unhappy face? did it play fine and just die?tex, i will look at mine and see how to replace the screen. what model do you have? john 4th gen. 20gb - I'm buying a replacement screen on ebay today. says it comes with instructions. If it's less complicated than adjusting the cants on OS2's, I'll be fine :) amazing how the cost of these things comes down - I tried to get it fixed last summer and was quoted $175 from apple. If the replacement screen works,great...if not it's only like $15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 yeah, and they are breaking so much the replacement drives are selling like crazy. dave, if you are so inclined you can order a 40 g drive to replace your 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 will the 40g drive fit in the 20g (4th gen)? I haven't started it up since the screen broks and don't want to lose all the music on there...but if the hard drive is dead and the replacement drive is cheap enough, it may be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 will the 40g drive fit in the 20g (4th gen)? i havent done it. both drives are the same type of drive, only difference is the storage size, not physical size. same connection. the ipod firmware doesnt seem to care what size drive you connect. i thought about doing it but the way i use mine now (i got an airport) doesnt warrent having all my music on the device. you shouldnt need the screen to get the music off, right? just connect it to your computer and back it up, or am i missing something? it probably doesnt boot up at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 it still works when I connect it to the computer - or did last I checked. problem I have is that I ripped a bunch of cds and loaded them on the ipod then erased from my computer hard drive to save memory space. so I have the music there and can play it off my computer, but if I wanted to use the ipod on its own, I can't see the screen so I don't know what menu I am in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 it still works when I connect it to the computer - or did last I checked. problem I have is that I ripped a bunch of cds and loaded them on the ipod then erased from my computer hard drive to save memory space. so I have the music there and can play it off my computer, but if I wanted to use the ipod on its own, I can't see the screen so I don't know what menu I am in. oh, ok, when you were talking about replacing the drive i thought you couldnt get to the music you had on your ipod now at all. if you go in to itunes, can you drag songs from your ipod to your library? that way you can put them back on your computer, replace the drive and then recopy to your ipod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 I don't think that works - you can move from the library into the ipod but I don't think it works in the other direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 I don't think that works - you can move from the library into the ipod but I don't think it works in the other direction. i am pretty sure you are right on this. i think i tried it once and it didnt work. so how do you get songs back on your computer in the situation you have? anybody? i know you could access the actual files and back that up on your computer via drag and drop. seems kind of dirty though. when i read this thread title i keep thinking it says "Dear Ipod" ha ha... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschurman Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 i am pretty sure you are right on this. i think i tried it once and it didnt work.so how do you get songs back on your computer in the situation you have? anybody? i know you could access the actual files and back that up on your computer via drag and drop. seems kind of dirty though. when i read this thread title i keep thinking it says "Dear Ipod" ha ha... On my Mac I use a program called Podworks to get music off an iPod and imported into my music library. But I guess there is this program available for windows that does the same thing. It's called Music Rescue. I have never used it but I think it will do what you need it to do. http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/ ->Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 sweet - I won the screen for $4.99...$10 and change shipped...not bad compared to the $$$$$ the apple guys wanted...now as long as I don't F*** it up too much I'll be happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Winters Posted March 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 Hadn't thought about even trying to fix it myself. I'm a pretty handy guy but electronics is not part of my limited skill set. Is it just plugging it in or do you have to solder or?? Where would you buy the hard drive.. ebay or? Thanks for all the responses. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschurman Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 Hadn't thought about even trying to fix it myself. I'm a pretty handy guy but electronics is not part of my limited skill set. Is it just plugging it in or do you have to solder or?? Where would you buy the hard drive.. ebay or?Thanks for all the responses. Dave Nothing complicated like soldering. You just pop it open carefully and carefully remove the cable from the old drive and put the cable on the new drive and pop it back together. While you have it open you should replace the battery but that's up to you. You can even get special tools to pull the case apart. http://www.ipodmods.com/shop/1050-safe-open-case-tool.html Replacing the hard drive: http://www.notpopular.com/blog/comments.php?blogID=63 Replacing the battery: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1835131,00.asp ->Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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