[Stone Of Love]

Anybody know anything about this device? Ever heard of this device?? Believe that this device does in fact exist???

My 40gig gray screen iPod went on the fritz Wed while trying to dump some content and add new content. Got to the point where I could not disconnect from my PB. So I pulled the plug so to speak, and on the next connection it told me that I did a bad thing and my only option was to reset it to factory specs wiping out all my music. Not really all that big a deal, I've got it all on a drive, just the time to re-load is all, so I go ahead. While about 30-ish songs into the re-load the problems start again. I did a verify disc with disc utility, and it came up ok, so I started over with the reset via iTunes. Took 5 tries for iTunes to see the iPod again. Disc Utility still tells me the drive is ok, so I try loading some songs again. Take three on my problems.

I figure I've lost the drive no matter what I'm being told at this point and make an appointment at my local Genius Bar to verify the death of my iPod.

So imagine my surprise when he takes a quick look at it, says I'll be right back, I want to reset it with the machine in the back and see what happens. And less than 5 minutes later I've got a happy iPod!

I ask the guy what he did, and can I do it at home if this problem comes up again. And he says "No, we have an iPod resetting machine. Not really sure what it does, but it fixes a lot of problems like this"

An iPod Resetting Machine??? Anybody? Is this for real? Or did he just do me a huge favor and put a new HD in my iPod? I gotta figure that putting a new HD in an iPod would take more than a couple of minutes tho, so I'm at a loss to explain why some unknown machine could do more than what could be done with a normal computer.

I'm happy as hell I don't have to buy a new iPod, but really curious about what happened on Thursday to me. If anybody can shed a little light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated!

[Stone Of Love]

I'm bringing up this thread again, cuz I found a bad mp3 on my iPod two days ago and after deleting it, my iPod is again on the fritz!

Can't do anything with it.

It is making the same kind of clicking sounds it made last time, so I'm hopeful that when I get home on Wed I can take it in and get it reset again. Nothing I've done has helped....

My question this time, does anybody think that a corrupt MP3 file can corrupt the whole drive?

I tried "restoring" from iTunes, and at this point disc utility doesn't see the iPod so its of no help.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Stone Of Love My question this time, does anybody think that a corrupt MP3 file can corrupt the whole drive?

No. Your case sounds like physical, irreparable damage.

[Mac+]

Just out of curiosity - have you seen this page?
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/

Maybe the "resetting machine" is simply a reset which you can perform yourself. (Note that this is not initiated from within iTunes.)

I doubt that a corrupt mp3 would hose your whole drive. (Well, I'd certainly hope that it wouldn't.)

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Stone Of Love I tried "restoring" from iTunes, and at this point disc utility doesn't see the iPod so its of no help.

Regarding Disk Utility, make sure Disk Mode is on in iTunes.

[ghoti]

It's teh 1P0D V1RUSSSSS!!!

But seriously, the iPod's drive does make clicking noises (mine does, anyway, and has for years), perhaps you're just noticing them when something is wrong and you're paying close attention to them. So perhaps it's just another software problem that can be solved by a Genius or using Apple's instructions. At least since you have all the music on your computer, you have nothing to lose.

[Stone Of Love]

Originally Posted by Mac+ Just out of curiosity - have you seen this page? http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/ Maybe the "resetting machine" is simply a reset which you can perform yourself. (Note that this is not initiated from within iTunes.) I doubt that a corrupt mp3 would hose your whole drive. (Well, I'd certainly hope that it wouldn't.)

Seen it. Didn't get me anywhere. And the guy at the store told me it was something we could not do at home FWIW.

Originally Posted by ghoti It's teh 1P0D V1RUSSSSS!!! But seriously, the iPod's drive does make clicking noises (mine does, anyway, and has for years), perhaps you're just noticing them when something is wrong and you're paying close attention to them. So perhaps it's just another software problem that can be solved by a Genius or using Apple's instructions. At least since you have all the music on your computer, you have nothing to lose.

I am counting on the noises being normal! Since I noticed them last time and all ended well, I'm hoping I still have a chance at saving this iPod!

I do find it curious that both times it crapped out came after deleting mp3's from the iPod tho.

[World Leader Pretend]

Mine was making clicking noises a while ago and I eventually just hit it pretty sharply on a table after getting to the point that it wouldn't even respond. I was sure it was dead, but then I tried the reset command one last time and it spun up like new! I was amazed.

Maybe they have a special hammer in the back that they smack the iPods with.

[Stone Of Love]

WLP, your the second person to say a good "whack" has "fixed" things to me!!

I may give it a "shot"!

[World Leader Pretend]

I wouldn't try it if I knew that I could get it fixed at an Apple store.

In my case I thought it was truly dead, and I didn't want to pay to get a new HD.

While it might work, it might also ruin it for good.

[Stone Of Love]

I don't have to whack it!

Just did three "restores" from iTunes. Each time it told me it was complete and restarting the iPod. After each restart iTunes told me I had a corrupt HD.

I then used disk utility to erase the disk and then did another restore with iTunes. Got the same message after the restart I got the previous three times, but read a bit further and saw that it also said to try disconnecting and re-connecting the iPod. After disconnecting, I had to reset the iPod. It then asked me to plug it into the wall. I don't travel with my wall charger, so I plugged it back into my PB.

I now, once again, have a happy iPod!!??!!

WTF??

Wish I knew what was corrupting my HD so I could stop it from happening.

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by World Leader Pretend Mine was making clicking noises a while ago and I eventually just hit it pretty sharply on a table after getting to the point that it wouldn't even respond. I was sure it was dead, but then I tried the reset command one last time and it spun up like new! I was amazed.

"Shaking up" a drive used to be common technique to get a harddrive to respond one last time when the read/write heads had gotten stuck to the disk. After copying off the data, the disk was almost guaranteed to be dead. Glad to hear that this worked out for you, though

[Stone Of Love]

I jumped the gun.

Loaded about 300megs worth of songs that are still on my PB, and while it was looking good, as soon as I tried to play a song off of the iPod, it started the whole deal over again!

I'll post again once I get to the store on Wed and see what they got to say....

Is it possible my iTunes is the problem?? Version 7.3.1 OSX 10.3.9

[Mac+]

Originally Posted by Stone Of Love Seen it. Didn't get me anywhere. And the guy at the store told me it was something we could not do at home FWIW.

Yeah, I took his comment to be tongue in cheek though. For all we know the iPod resetting machine could make use of a special FBH.

Also, you never mentioned whether or not you had tried a hard reset yourself, so that's why I posted the link.

It will be interesting to find out what is causing your HD to play up though.

[curiousuburb]

Perhaps they have a near field RDF generator that tricks your iPod back into Cupertino-lovin' mode.

(The sync issue that required a switch to Cupertino time was odd enough when I heard about it, but did seem to fix my 80 GB syncing.)

[Stone Of Love]

just got back from the genius bar. He got it to restore. says that the fact that the system folder has been corrupted twice in the last 6 weeks could indicate HD failure. Not sure why he got it to restore when I couldn't. This will bug me to no end. But I am also finding the fact that the battery dead curious. My iPod hasn't been on "long enough" to drain fully. Yet the battery is almost dead. It spends most of its time plugged in to a power source, my car stereo, so I'm wondering if that is causing stress on the battery and killing it.

Haven't any idea why that would cause corruption on the system folder, but never say never and all.

Probably just a flaky HD, and I'm trying to add all the other little problems up to explain whats going on when the fact is they are just a coincidence.

Charging the thing right now, will add songs to see if it works later tonight....

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by Stone Of Love But I am also finding the fact that the battery dead curious. My iPod hasn't been on "long enough" to drain fully. Yet the battery is almost dead. It spends most of its time plugged in to a power source, my car stereo, so I'm wondering if that is causing stress on the battery and killing it.

Despite what people like to claim about lithium ion batteries, having iPods plugged in all the time is a bad idea. You need to run the battery down regularly, and also stop charging when the thing is not in use. Constantly charging without using a battery will kill it. You can recondition a battery by charging it up, running it down until the iPod turns itself off, charging again, etc. a few times. I did that with a PowerBook I use at work that wasn't used for about half a year when it was new, and where the battery was also half-dead. After ten cycles or so, battery life was back to normal.

I've had my iPod for two years now and the battery still lasts eight hours or so (continuous play), which is close to what it did when it was new. So my method apparently does work for these kinds of batteries.

[Stone Of Love]

I'm kinda in a catch 22 with this tho since I mostly use the iPod with my car stereo. I've got an Alpine that takes a feed from the iPod thru the data connection as opposed to the headphone jack. Powers the iPod and lets the Alpine control the iPod as well as display song info on the Alpine.

I'm no so concerned about the battery life as I am about the lack of battery life affecting the rest of the iPod. I pull the iPod out of the car most of the time its not in use, but when the weather is moderate, and I feel safe where my car is parked, the iPod will stay put.

Anyway, I'm about to start loading songs again, wish me luck.

[alcimedes]

I'd be tempted to do a surface scan of your computer's HD. That iPod behavior sounds very similar to what was happening to me when I was copying over corrupted songs due to bad surface areas on my laptop's HD.

My laptop passed every test known to man until I did the surface scan. Found 1.3 million bad sectors.

[Stone Of Love]

Haven't a clue what a surface scan is or how to do it. But I'll try anything at this point! But, all my music is on an external HD. Not my laptop. I connect the HD via FW to my laptop, and then the iPod to the port on the back of the HD.

I'm also trying to figure what they could have or be doing different at the genius bar that I have or am doing. I'm pretty sure all he did today was a "restore" from iTunes using a 12" iBook. I've got a 12" PB, so that leaves the differences to version of OSX and the cable that connected the iPod to each laptop.

I could have a bad cable. Maybe I should run out and get a new one? I just put about 32gigs of music back on my iPod, and all seems well. It is very frustrating that they can get the thing to work when I can't and it seems that they are doing just what I have and failed with.

I mean really, how hard is it to click the restore button??!!

off to figure out surface scan....

[Stone Of Love]

Here we go again.

I thought I had an idea what was going on, but as I started this post I am also playing with my iPod. And it seems to have come back again. I am at a loss.

Last Monday while driving to the airport I came across another bad file. An Allman Brothers song, that was "playing" but had no sound. Hit next and continued my drive. when I got to work the next day, I deleted that song, checked the rest of the songs on that album, and loaded a new album I had bought before leaving town. I then left the iPod plugged into my laptop and played the new album, and a few others while working. (Tuesday of last week) I put the iPod away, and didn't touch it again until I got off the plane tonight and went to plug it into the car stereo.

I got the system folder error again. All three times now I have had problems, it has followed the deleting of files from the iPod. I'm not trying to suggest a virus, but WTF?

It has also been suggested that low battery level could be the problem. Well, I plugged the iPod into my laptop tonight just to check the battery level, and iTunes saw the iPod, played one song, battery level looked "full" but when I went to play a second song, it failed again.

But this time I just quit iTunes while the "wheel" was spinning, instead of waiting to see what happened. I then ejected the iPod, thinking I would have to shut down the laptop to be able to unplug it. But to my surprise the iPod ejected right away. I then did a reset from the iPod just because, and it came back up and seems to now be happy!!??!!

I have the headphones on, am playing the third song now from the third different band, and all seems well!!??!!

Somebody please tell me WTF is going on!! This can't all be coincidence. I must say at this point I have to think its the iPods HD, but I wouldn't put any money on it. I like being able to put new music on this thing, and that means I'll have to take something off at some point but I'd like to not worry about this anymore.

If anybody has any idea's I'd like to hear'em.....

[Stone Of Love]

Died again on my while driving this morning. Said F it, went to the Apple store, got the 10% for turning in the old iPod, got myself an 80gig classic.

Funny thing tho, did a reset of the old one, one last time while in line to buy the 80gig, you know it came right back to life!! LOL