My 20 gig 3rd gen ipod is around 6 months out of it’s 1 year warranty. One day I turned it on and it had dropped all my songs and playlists, it was completely empty.
When I tried to re-load them (roughly 12 gigs of music) the unit turned off mid-transfer, The PC had a pop up balloon saying the something like the drive was not ready, and when I turned the ipod on, it was empty again.
Since then I have wiped the ipod, reformatted it it, disk checked it, defragmented it, and re-installed itunes several times, and every time the ipod dies when transferring music and all data is lost.
The tech at the Apple store told me it sounds like “hard drive failure” which they don’t repair. My only option is to pay $259 for a replacement. I almost started this thread in the Pit, ‘cause I’m so freakin’ frustrated, but decided to stay civil.
Is there anything I can do to fix this thing? Any diagnostic software out there? Any contacts at Apple who can help me out? I paid $400 for this thing, and a year and a half later it’s a paperweight.
Not sure the exact nature of why this happened, but from experiance (my own and 2 friends) I know that you SHOULD be able to get a replacement IPOD under your warrenty. Harddrive malfunction may not be reparable, but when I took mine in with a similar problem the guy said “sorry this one is dead dude.” And promptly brought me out a new one from the back. I would say this might have been a fluke, but I have 2 friends who had similar experiances. Talk to apple directly via thier website if the guys in the store are giving you the run around. If it is lees than a year old you should have to buy a new one.
(btw whats up with everyones Ipod breaking down at the 6 month mark?)
Not sure the exact nature of why this happened, but from experiance (my own and 2 friends) I know that you SHOULD be able to get a replacement IPOD under your warrenty. Harddrive malfunction may not be reparable, but when I took mine in with a similar problem the guy said “sorry this one is dead dude.” And promptly brought me out a new one from the back. I would say this might have been a fluke, but I have 2 friends who had similar experiances. Talk to apple directly via thier website if the guys in the store are giving you the run around. If it is lees than a year old you should not have to buy a new one.
(btw whats up with everyones Ipod breaking down at the 6 month mark?)
Well then, never mind. Sorry dude its dead, is probably where the conversation ends. I wasn’t able to find anyone to fix mine when I had the problem (I really didn’t want to replace it). Good luck, and if someone does know how to fix it, post because I too would like to know the answer.
I got a little more out of the guy when this sort of thing happened to me. They’ve got certain tools to fix certain things. If they can’t even mount the iPod on the computer with the tools, it’s dead. Someone at the genius bar telling you it’s hard drive failure has a vanishingly small error rate. Apple cannot help you.
Now, some people out there say they can fix things Apple “won’t” fix. Some people also say they can square the circle and get you a human kidney cheap. Basically, you’d be sending off your iPod and your check into the dark unknown and will almost surely have to pay for the replacement on top of that. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Of course, there are other mp3 players available out there. Remember, the iPod is the worst personal music player, except for all the others.
In short, then: like today’s latest catch in New England, you’re scrod.
For $29, you can send it to iPodResq.com and get an estimate. They’ll even buy it from you if you don’t want to get it repaired after getting the estimate. Good luck!
