Fixing an iPod's Click of Death

Other Chit-Chat
#1

Well, this afternoon my 4G iPod (20GB) went kaput on me. I tried to play a song, it locked up. I then attempted to reset it, at which point it gave me the folder with an exclamation point. I listened to it as well, and it seems to be afflicted with the Click of Death that usually indicates a hard drive failure.

Mine’s been out of warranty for about a year now, and a repair job from Apple is about $270, conveniently as much as a new 30GB iPod with my college student discount (or a refurbished 30GB model plus $70 in my bank account, your pick).

I can only assume that I’m not the only person to be in this situation. Has anyone tried third-party iPod repair companies? Is there any technique to fixing these that remains obscure (save for that episode of chucking an iPod from three stories up that reached the blogosphere a while back)? Any merit to selling off the 4G at this point? Do I just have a very nice paperweight?

#2

you have avery nice paperweight, a dead hard drive needs to be replaced and with iPODs they dont make them easy to get(tell me if you find a place that sells the HD) or replace so go get a new one since it will be easier than any other solution.

#3

I’m gonna go out on a limb here with the fact that all it is is a small IDE hard drive. I guess if you wanted to you could hook the one currently in your computer up to it, but they have to also have the smaller ones.

Some googling reveals
http://www.digg.com/apple/Replacing_a_hard_drive_in_a_4th_gen_iPod_:_Step_by_Step

It doesn’t seem to hard. Order replacement drive from Toshiba, connect, re-flash firmware.

#4

Well, if mine died, I may try upgrading it to a 60gb.

#5

You don’t even necessarily need a small (physically) drive. You could get a massive normal-sized disk for super cheap and have the worlds best music-playing project-box ever!

#6

I was thinking about that too, but I believe you would have to use a small HD, as I see no full-sized power connection in the Ipod.

You might be able to put a PC power supply in your music-box though…

#7

The same thing happened to me with mine. Thankfully it was under warranty or else I think I’d be out of luck. I haven’t heard of any companies repairing this and I think you’re better off just purchasing a new one (unfortunately).

#8

I thought this was interesting

That is not a broken IPOD… A Sad face will show you it is bad. i recently had that and the Hard Drive was clicking and what I did was put it on a computer that did not have ITUNES installed and used windows to format it like it was a regular hard drive. the when you plug it in just restore it and it should work.

And apparantly a lot of people are commenting that if you just give it a good smack it starts working again.

#9

My 6 gig Mini went out on me after less then a year. Luckily mine too was under apple warranty and also I purchased the extended warranty through Circuit City which should cover it if this new one goes. I haven’t heard of any companies fixing them besides apple though.

#10

I just turned back on the iPod. Now it’s the frowning iPod.

Apple Store, here I come!

#11

Did you wipe it clean? Have you restored the firmware?

#12

http://www.itsuseless.com/images/IPodHD_011a.jpg
Speaking of using a larger HD:)](http://www.itsuseless.com/images/IPodHD_011a.jpg)

#13

Its out of smack? Boy times sure have changed

I remember when electronics use to run out of wack.

#14

I had two iPods that did this. The first and original one, 11 months after I purchased it. The first replacement one 11 1/2 months after recieving it. Both under warranty. One was on it’s own. The second one was from my brother throwing it accross the room and it landed on the corner edge of the coffee table right on the clickwheel. Good bye HD. Luckily my mom works in the Warranty department at John Deere so she knows how to word things correctly because they most definitely wouldn’t have taken it back if I had simply told the truth. I think the conversation would have went something like this, “My brother threw… dial tone” Yup. So I’m on my third one. It has many scratches and dents. Even a gigantic scratch down the screen from a Long John Silver’s booth in Muscatine, IA, 7th from the door I believe.

But if it’s out of warranty, replace it. That’s your only hope that I know of. I did try taking the cover off of my mini but you need a special tool. Looks like special snap ring plyers but I’m not sure.

#15

Whats the failure rate on HD Ipods? If they only last a year or so thats a very expensive toy.

I have a 256MB MP3 player that I got from Walmart about 4 years ago, for $96 (RCA Lyra) - still works perfectly, never had an issue.

I cant see any way to put a HD in a device that is portable, with no shock or cushioning designed in, and expect it to survive in normal use.

#16

Well, I bought mine not too long before the 2004 Robot Rodeo. (I remember this because I had it rigged up to my car stereo on the ride down, and I was still worried about scratching it up.) That was in later October 2004, so mine’s gone right at two years (or one year, 11 months, if you want to get specific) without a failure.

#17

Not quite the same problem, but I’ve used www.iPodJuice.com to replace the battery in my just-barely-out-of-apple-care 3G 40GB iPod. So, $35 later and the battery life now is longer than when I got it new – now I’m just waiting on the dreaded click of death.

#18

Billfred, have no fear, your iPod has a chance at life. Mine has come back from near death more times than I’d like to count. Here are a few tips that I have that hopefully will give it life again. Chances are what happened is that all of your useage has shaken it around more that it could take easily, it probably just needs a tune up.

  • Open it up
  • Clean it out, get some canned air if possible
  • Disconnect and Reconnect your hard drive, the pins are sensitive and chances are they got knocked around from being carried around so much, so carefully disconnect and reconnect.
  • Reformat the harddrive if you really want to

Usually most iPod users go, Sign of Death Spaz, but if your nice to your ipod a small tune up will probably be all that it needs.

#19

If you feel like some reading, I have received some useful information on a variety of topics from other individuals at ilounge.com

Good Luck!

#20

Very low. iPod failure rate compared to other electronics is very good. I have only had one major glitch with the iPod i’ve had for 3 years. I only need a new battery now (thanks brandon!) and it’ll last me another 3.

The shuffle and nano are solid state, so none of these problems happen with them.