ok, so apparently $300 is only good for about 13 months of service from my particular ipod. the nice people at apple were nice enough to offer technical support... $49.99 for 5 DAYS!!!! are they kidding? so i can call up pay my money and get them to tell me, oh yea, sounds bad to me for 4.2 million dollars we'd be glad to take a look at it and give you an estimate on what needs to be fixed! ok, rant over

the ipod is a 20 gig, last model before the color screen.

ok, so here's what's going on. i've taken VERY good care of my ipod. always in a case, never gotten wet. got cold in a car ONCE, but i let it come up to ambient tempurature inside to at least 12 hours before using again. on a car trip friday it froze for the first time ever. listening to a cd i just put on. i did the suggested restart (toggle hold, then hold menu and center for 6-10 seconds) it reset and worked fine. we listened to the same cd (from the beggining) all the way through, listened to some other stuff, and then there was a request for one of the songs, when i went back to it the ipod froze again. i hit the reset and it turned off and brought up the apple on the screen. and that's all i have really seen since. if i put it up to my ear and listed i can hear the drive starting to spin, then a clicking sound, then the drive stops and the process starts over. if i reset it stops and then starts the same thing over. it won't stop till the battery dies. if i plug it in, the apple stays (occasionally blinking same as if it were unplugged) the large battery bat will appear when it is low, but will not "fill" it just stays frozen on the first quarter. any ideas other than, "it's broken for sure" would be great. even though i fear that's the case.

 

Sounds exactly like what happens when a hard drive fails.

While typing that last sentence I thought to myself "there has to be a way to replace the hard drive in these things on your own. Google gave me the answer:

http://www.notpopular.com/blog/comments.php?blogID=63

This is just one of the many how-to's I found.

If you are handy with tech stuff, and it's broke (which it is) you sure can't hurt anything. I bet you can even put a larger hard drive in and have more storage than before.

 

I always kept mine in my truck in all temps from 120 down to -40. It still works and I have a 3rd gen 15 GB (pic in my gallery). The battery doesn't last long, so I just bought a new one to put in for 20.00 incl shipping.
I don't know about replacing the hard drive, but I'm going to check out the link that I Pass Gas put up. I always said that if this ipod dies, I am going to satellite radio.

 

My iPizzle didn't like the cold weather last night...

WOULD NOT BOOT!

So I brought it in the house tonight to keep warm, while my poor truck freezes!

 

I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!! after reading the links and the replies, i thought, why not, 5 people said smacking thier ipod worked, might as well try it... well, IT WOTKED!!!! i just waited till i could hear the drive spinning, flipper it over and gave it a firm slap on the back, turned it over and the backlight came on screen light up, then the menu and it swapped over to the "do not disconnect screen" THANK YOU FOR THE LINK!

 

yeah...I have smacked mine a fair bit.

 

awsome.. glad to see its working. i had one do the same thing.. i just traded it in on another ipod. but now i know! wish i would have thought of that before hand.

 

My 4th gen iPod (AKA the Photo ipod) had one of its buttons crap out. The MENU button doesn't work anymore. Out of warranty too so I get to rip it apart and try to fix it.

 

Took it apart and re-assembled, didn't see anything amiss. The menu button still doesn't work. Time to buy a new front case

 

I received the battery today, and replaced it. It is definitely lasting longer than the old one. Listening to George Strait right now...

 

I have a $3.00 off coupon code if anyone wants it. Just PM me.
It's for www.ipodbatterydepot.com

 

That is hillarious!!!!!!

As I was reading the first posts of this thread I was saying to myself, "Self....? If I had an I-Pod and it quit working, I'd give it a good thump, swear at it a little and hope for the best!" Just like I would any other broken appliance

I should quit my job and become an IT Guru.



Anyone else need advice on elctronic repair??

I have a small 4lb sledge under the seat of the truck, great for the small jobs..

Should try it on my Ecodrive watch that quit working.......

 

As you have that thing apart now, why not try spraying some contact cleaner on the button contacts? That, and see if that one button has something out of whack compared to the rest of them.

 

Tried some contact cleaner on my cellphone the other day. It didn't like that very much.

 

I wish I could. The 4th gen ipod has the buttons integrated into the front case. I can't get them out with out tearing it apart. I don't feel like breaking it any more than it already is. I am going to order a new front panel for it soon though.