iPod 4G iPod 20 GB Hard drive Reseating

[maxxscholten]

So I bought a 20GB iPod about 4-5 years ago (2004, I believe), 4th generation... and ever since a little less than two years ago it just stopped working and gave me the sad iPod icon, meaning that there is a hardware issue and is now a great paperweight. I moved on and bought an iPod nano, and then last year in November, I bought an 8 GB iPhone and I have been completely satisfied since.

Well today I found that old iPod and actually wanted to do something with it. After trying all reset options and attempting to boot it into disk mode, I eventually opened it up with a guitar pick and just tried reseating the hard drive with a firm push. Popped the casing back on and VOILA! it worked!

Now, the reason I wanted to get it to work so badly was to possibly uncover some of my music I had 5 years ago that I never successfully transfered over from my PC to my Mac back then.

Only to my dismay, it only had like 100 songs on it, and I still have all of those! What a bummer.

But, to everyone else with a 4th generation iPod that is giving you the sad iPod icon and the Apple site says that it is a hardware issue and probably dead... try reseating the hard drive... worked for me!

 

[locutisofbored]

"]So I bought a 20GB iPod about 4-5 years ago (2004, I believe), 4th generation... and ever since a little less than two years ago it just stopped working and gave me the sad iPod icon, meaning that there is a hardware issue and is now a great paperweight. I moved on and bought an iPod nano, and then last year in November, I bought an 8 GB iPhone and I have been completely satisfied since.

Well today I found that old iPod and actually wanted to do something with it. After trying all reset options and attempting to boot it into disk mode, I eventually opened it up with a guitar pick and just tried reseating the hard drive with a firm push. Popped the casing back on and VOILA! it worked!"

Care to give a little step by step for me? I believe I have the exact same iPod (no color screen, right?) and it still works great. I just want to make sure it continues to do so...

 

[Q-Dog]

This is a known issue for 4G iPods. It happened to mine about 2 years ago, just as I also noticed the battery was beginning to lose capacity. The problem is with one of the ribbon cable connectors from the hard drive to the main board. Apparently, the connector gets loose and needs to be reseated. I did this when I changed the battery in my 4G 40gig, and all is well.

I would suggest cleaning the ribbon cable ends carefully before reseating them ... I put them on a flat surface and rub them with a pencil eraser, them wipe them down before putting the whole thing back together.

 

[maxxscholten]

Care to give a little step by step for me? I believe I have the exact same iPod (no color screen, right?) and it still works great. I just want to make sure it continues to do so...

I spent a while researching in online and didn't find much, until I found some guys blog that explained how his also went dead -- it would turn on and you would hear a clicking sound a couple times and then it would show up with the sad ipod icon -- but he noticed that it worked again when he dropped it (after it wasn't working).

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93789/

That website showed how to open it up, pretty simple, just be careful. After opening it up you'll notice that the hard drive can be removed a little bit and is connected by two ribbons. All you have to do is make sure that the ribbons are connected well. The big ribbon that connects the HD to the motherboard was where I 'reseated' mine. I basically just gave the tape holding down the ribbon a firm push down on the board so it would correct any misconnections.

And that was about it!

 

[maxxscholten]

And yes, you should have the same iPod.. no color screen just the blue backlight..

 

[philbert1079]

Please Help

I'm in much need of some help. I've been getting the sad icon on my 20gb iPod Photo for months now. After many "percussive remedies", it's finally stopped working. I decided to purchase a new hard drive. I went ahead and upgraded to 30gb hard drive. Well, it arrived in the mail today and I placed it into the iPod. It didn't work. Then I tried to reseat the hard drive cable, still nothing. Is there anything else I can do? Your help is much appreciated.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The ribbon cable itself may be bad. Try getting one off of ebay (should be ~$5) and using that one. Or sell the new hard drive and get a new iPod. The classics are (more or less) very nice.

 

[maxxscholten]

The ribbon cable itself may be bad. Try getting one off of ebay (should be ~$5) and using that one. Or sell the new hard drive and get a new iPod. The classics are (more or less) very nice.

I can't really suggest anything that thejadedmonkey already did. How much did you pay for the new HD? Nowadays if your iPod is completely dead and doesn't have anything too important on it, it's just more convenient and efficient to get a new iPod.

 

[Q-Dog]

I spent a while researching in online and didn't find much, until I found some guys blog that explained how his also went dead -- it would turn on and you would hear a clicking sound a couple times and then it would show up with the sad ipod icon -- but he noticed that it worked again when he dropped it (after it wasn't working).

Do a Google search for "iPod Clicking" and there are lots of articles that talk about this problem and different solutions including tapping or hitting the iPod on a flat surface, as well as reseating the cables.

 

[zorinlynx]

My 4gen 20GB iPod occasionally locks up and the only way to recover is a reset. This is rare; I listen a couple hours daily and it happens maybe every 2-3 weeks.

I'm wondering if a loose ribbon cable could be the problem. Personally I'm waiting for a 16GB or 32GB Nano to come out to upgrade, but it'd be nice to have a perfectly stable iPod until then.

One thing I'm really going to miss is Firewire sync when I upgrade; I love using one less USB port!

 

[maxxscholten]

Do a Google search for "iPod Clicking" and there are lots of articles that talk about this problem and different solutions including tapping or hitting the iPod on a flat surface, as well as reseating the cables.

Q-Dog, did your 4G ever do this, or have you just known about the issue?

 

[philbert1079]

Well, the hard drive cost me about $46. Would have been nicer than buying a new one, but oh well. Thanks for the help.

 

[Q-Dog]

Q-Dog, did your 4G ever do this, or have you just known about the issue?

My 4G 40gig did this. I tried the tapping on the back thing, which worked for a few weeks. When it finally stopped working completely, I removed all of the cables and cleaned and reseated them. I also replaced the battery while I had it opened up. It has worked fine over a year and a half.

My girlfriend uses it now, as I am currently using an 80gig Video iPod.

 

[maxxscholten]

Well, the hard drive cost me about $46. Would have been nicer than buying a new one, but oh well. Thanks for the help.

Did you try cleaning the ribbons? Make sure there are no tears/creases in the ribbons as well.

 

[mayo*1]

So I bought a 20GB iPod about 4-5 years ago (2004, I believe), 4th generation... and ever since a little less than two years ago it just stopped working and gave me the sad iPod icon, meaning that there is a hardware issue and is now a great paperweight. I moved on and bought an iPod nano, and then last year in November, I bought an 8 GB iPhone and I have been completely satisfied since.

Well today I found that old iPod and actually wanted to do something with it. After trying all reset options and attempting to boot it into disk mode, I eventually opened it up with a guitar pick and just tried reseating the hard drive with a firm push. Popped the casing back on and VOILA! it worked!

Now, the reason I wanted to get it to work so badly was to possibly uncover some of my music I had 5 years ago that I never successfully transfered over from my PC to my Mac back then.

Only to my dismay, it only had like 100 songs on it, and I still have all of those! What a bummer.

But, to everyone else with a 4th generation iPod that is giving you the sad iPod icon and the Apple site says that it is a hardware issue and probably dead... try reseating the hard drive... worked for me!

i had the same experience, only i just banged in to get it to work.
i have one problem, though, i just bought a car stereo that can take the ipod, only when i hook this old ipod on to it, it says it needs to be updated, how do i do that?