What's wrong with my iPod?

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=54655

tylerc

21-02-2007 08:08:19

On Saturday, I was listening to my 30gb video iPod on my Bose speakers, and then I paused the song to go downstairs to grab some lunch. It froze up, so I held menu/middle button down to restart it, but when it began to restart, it just stayed at the screen with the black apple and the bar that shows when you reboot the iPod didn't show up. It sounded like the HD was trying to restart, but it kept making a slight clicking noise until finally the battery died a couple hours later after I let it sit. I tried charging it, but it still won't restart. Any idea what could be wrong? I got in in November 2005.

dmorris68

21-02-2007 10:18:10

The HDD clicking sounds like the typical iPod Death Rattle (tm). The HDD starts failing and clicking, corrupting data until it finally dies completely.

There are several posts and websites on the net regarding HDD trouble with iPods. Some can be fixed while others require a drive replacement. First try re-imaging the iPod to the factory image. Sometimes this will work, for awhile at least. If the drive is truly failing, it will continue to click and freeze later. Others have successfully "unstuck" a drive by bumping or dropping the iPod on a tabletop.

This happened with my 20GB 4G iPod. A replacement drive was like $80 at the time, but I didn't want to put $80 into a 4GB iPod when I was about to get my 80GB 5.5G, so it still sits on the shelf.

tylerc

21-02-2007 11:35:25

I put it on eBay as a broken iPod, they seem to be going for around $60-80 broken, so I'll put that towards a new iPod.

TFOAF

21-02-2007 11:52:32

I think I had this problem once, I'm not quite sure. Does it keep [i05da4804e2]trying[/i05da4804e2] to restart? Like, it shows the black/gray Apple logo/background and then it just shuts off and shows it again? (Therefore you hear the HDD clicking)?

tylerc

21-02-2007 14:02:43

Yep. Sold it on eBay for $80.

TFOAF

21-02-2007 15:10:19

Dude...exactly what I just described...the battery was dead, so you had to recharge it. Mine did that too...and then it took a while before it would recharge because it kept on dying...but eventually it was able to charge itself and it started working again.

Xplic1T

21-02-2007 16:25:57

lol

Tholek

21-02-2007 21:10:45

While dmorris is probably right here, the battery might have be run down to the point that it can't supply the drive enough power as well. Replacing it may have been a fix, but you might've just threw more money down the hole too. shrug

dmorris68

22-02-2007 09:29:24

Well, he did imply it was charged when it happened, so...

[quote6055cf6780="tylerc"]It sounded like the HD was trying to restart, but it kept making a slight clicking noise [b6055cf6780]until finally the battery died a couple hours later after I let it sit.[/b6055cf6780] I tried charging it, but it still won't restart. [/quote6055cf6780]

P

nobody2000

25-02-2007 23:20:28

Well, what Tylerc described also happened to me and my girlfriend.

When (on some firmwares, i'm not sure if newer firmwares do this anymore on the 5G) your battery runs out, you hear a click, a HD whine, and nothing, all while the Black apple is on teh screen fading in and out. IN MOST CASES (mine) it's a low charge problem, and charging it makes the difference.

On my girlfriend's, hers would not charge. All teh other symptoms were the same. She couldn't use it plugged in, or on it's own. The HD clicked, BUT it DID NOT click of death. It was the click of the head trying to access the drive and was not very repetitive. It was slight, and the click happened every 10 seconds until the battery was DRAINED. She took it to the genius bar, and they replaced it (under warranty).

This case was the battery, and historically, the ipod has been known to have some shoddy battery workmanship.