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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: mushupork on Wed, 20 March 2013, 21:08:16
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Had an iPod video (Gen 5?) in a drawer from a Woot deal years ago. Bought a larger hard drive to upgrade the 30GB base one. I swapped out the drive but the battery was dead and I cannot boot it to "drive mode" to let iTunes "recover" it. I have been charging it for days and it never holds a charge. Bought a new battery thinking the old one might have been bad. Swapped in the new battery and I get the same behavior.
I think it is not charging because iTunes does not see the iPod because it is a bare drive without the iPod software on it. The iPod flashes periodically while connected to the PC but as soon as I disconnect it it says I have very low charge. Sometimes I get a frowny face but I can never get it into Disk Mode to start the restore.
Suggestions? :D
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Apple can be EXTREMELY fickle regarding parts.
A while back, simply changing the drive to an "unsupported" one in your Imac would make Final Cut stop working. Everything else worked, except that. My bet is that the firmware doesn't see the drive and is not allowing it to boot. You can change the drive, but you will need to find one that the system understands. Yours may be too large, or simply blacklisted.
Try putting the old drive back in and see what happens before you go any further, just to make sure it wasn't something you did.
Apple isn't the only one doing this sort of behavior, HP, Dell, and Lenovo/IBM also did and still do engage in it to this day. While HP and Lenovo are real jerks about wireless cards, Dell, took the cake with proprietary power pack connectors (that broke), to non-standard atx parts (they fit, but were wired different) to using non standards compliant memory (replacement memory burned up after one year).
Edit:
Oh and frowny face with a dead battery can be a pain to get out of, at least it was with my Ipod Photo.
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I would suggest checking the battery connection first - it can be problematic to get it to stay in the correct position while snapping the case back together. It sometimes takes a couple of tries and make sure the retainer clip is properly seated. Using a wall charger can help diagnose battery issues as well since it won't be disrupted trying to sync with iTunes.
I've done several iPod video 5th gen and 5.5 gen repairs including headphone jack, hdd replacements, face place, and scroll wheel replacements. Even successfully installed a CF card interface in one.
They're finicky as to which CF card are supported. You end up with a permanent frowny face if it isn't compatible. Maybe the same is true for an unsupported hdd. You might try to google around for issues with the compatibility of the hdd to the specific iPod model. I always just used a 30 or 60gb Toshiba with a model number like MKxxxxGAL.
I hope this helps.
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I need to get some time this weekend to take another crack at this - that is why I have not yet responded.
Hard drive:
Putting the original drive back in is something I thought of but since all the connections, particularly the zif, are fiddly and fragile I have been a bit reluctant. That said, good suggestion and one I will try.
The hard drive I bought is a Toshiba MK2431GAH which I believe is on the good list and one of the largest drives (largest?) you can get for this model.
Battery:
I have disconnected and reconnected the original and replacement batteries a few times. I can certainly try again. It is just sliding the one cable into the slot connector in the corner of the iPod.
I have not snapped the case back together yet. Like a PC, I won't reassemble the iPod until it all works. That way if it doesn't I can tell if it was something that got messed up during assembly. Since it has not worked it has been "open" with the cables connected for weeks :D
Thank you both.
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It sounds like you're on the right track and very wise not to zip it back up without verifying it works. The slot that holds the battery does have that clip that needs to slide up slightly and back down to lock the cable in.
[attachimg=1]
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.... so I flipped up the brown tab and there was movement. Too much movement. The whole connector came of the main board. I connected the battery cable to the lose connector, locked the brown tab down and then slide the while connector over the pins that were raised. It slid right over. I am not sure this will work. I also don't know if I broke the connection somewhere along the way or if this was a cold solder and the connection was therefore weak.
It has been sitting in a drawer for years - so while I will be disappointed if this doesn't work it won't break my heart.