A few months back the headphone jack on my iPod went bad. It only worked if you pushed the headphone plug one way or the other against the inside of the jack. Not wanting to spend the money to replace the unit, I looked into repairing it and found a website that sells Apple parts and includes step by step directions (with photos) on how to do it yourself.
I’m not usually very good at fixing things myself. Usually I end up causing more harm than good. But since a new headphone jack was only about $25, and the ‘how to’ photos looked easy enough to follow, I went ahead and took a stab at it. Didnt’ think I had much to lose since the iPod wasn’t working anyway.
The hardest steps were just getting the iPod open (they sell a tool to do this for only a couple of bucks, but it still took several tries) and then handling the teeny-tiny screws about the size of a broken tip of a sharp pencil) that hold the jack in place. Also, they use ribbon wires that are fragile and I was scared to death of tearing one.
It took about 45 minutes and at one point looked rather scary w/ wires and parts scattered about my desk, but I managed to get the part replaced and the unit back together and now it works like brand new.
Anyway, I just had to brag. I don’t want to post the link to the company that I got the parts for, since I don’t know the rules on posting links to businesses, but if anyone wants to know just send me a PM (or just Google around a bit, shouldn’tbe hard to find.)
Anyone else here have experience w/ repairing your own iPod or other such device?
My son’s iPod had the exact same problem. We googled it up and found the fix and considered doing it ourselves, but were worried about causing more damage. So we took it to the iPod repair place (usually it is done by mail, but the place happens to be just a few miles away from us so we surprised them with a walk-in, they mailed it back). It cost us the same $25 that we would have spent for parts and I guess the drive out there, but the parts and repair came with a warranty.
I’ve replaced the keyboard, inner lcd screen, and outer screen of our cellphones a few times now, and the lcd screen of a laptop. All were easier than expected.
When I replaced the battery in an iPod last week, I tore one of those tiny ribbon cables.
So, I then had to invent a way to fix that.
I’m proud to say that I was able to do it, and it only required a microscope, sharp exacto knife, kapton tape, self-stick copper foil, wire glue, and cyanoacrylate!
I took off my backpack on the bus today, and it yanked on the earphones cord and pulled one of the buds out of my ear. I lost the little soft plastic ‘nib’ that keeps it in my ears better than the stock ear-buds. The bus was crowded, and I couldn’t see the nib on the floor. I figured it was lost, and I’d have to use one of the other sizes that came with the 'phones.
When I took my shirt off when I got home, the nib was in my shirt pocket.
iPods are fun to fix. (I like to fix electronics in general of course.) A few years ago one of my kids gave me two broken iPods as a Christmas gift. (I raised the kid right!) Fixed them up, gave one to Mrs. FtG, who is now an iPod freak. So the kid gave her a docking player the next year. And so it goes.
It is greatly satisfying being able to do the Frankenstein bit after getting something broken to work again. “It’s alive! It’s alive! …”
Yep, congrats! A lot of things are more daunting until you actually try, then it’s not so bad. Fear of the unknown.
Just like a lot of people could work on their PC to replace a power supply or DVD drive if they just tried. There really isn’t a lot you can do to ruin your PC except physically damaging the circuit boards or wires. The various types of plugs are unique and mostly fool-proof.
We replaced a fuser in a color laser printer here at work a month or two ago, and after all the screws and wires were put back in place, it’s been working great. $80 for a fuser is a lot better than $400+ for a new printer.
Mine needed a new battery. I found that plastic tool they sell worse than useless – piece of it kept chipping off and sticking in the crack in the case. I could NOT get that sucker apart. I asked a colleague who is braver than I where electronics are concerned if he’d take a stab at it. I told him if he screwed it up, I was no worse off than I am now, since it’s not working. He opened the case and replaced the battery, but he evidently broke a couple of the little clips, because he couldn’t get the case back together. I told him to just Super Glue the thing. He did, and it’s working great. As long as I don’t have to replace the battery again, I’m good.
