iPod woes - won't work after reset - please help

Factual Questions
1

[Possibly] necessary information:
3rd Gen 20GB iPod
Windows XP (SP2 not installed)
iTunes 4.7.0.42

I’ve had my iPod since July with nary a problem. I quite enjoy it, in fact. Today I was carrying a lot of stuff in my arms and trying to change tracks on the iPod at the same time. I dropped it (as well as everything else) like the idiot that I am.

I picked it up and tried to continue my listening experience. Instead of playing the song, though, it would just scroll through the songs as if I had pressed the Next/FF button rapidly. I didn’t get any audio. I could go to the menu and select different things from there, but it always returned to the weird scrolly thing. I couldn’t get it to pause or play. The backlight would randomly turn on and off.

So I reset it. I held the Menu and Play/Pause buttons at the same time until I saw the little Apple logo. Then it kept switching between that and an icon with a folder and exclamation point (telling me that I need to transfer all my files again, I assume). I couldn’t get the iPod to turn off–it just kept flashing those icons.

When I got home later, I plugged it in to the power outlet to recharge it (the screen was blank so I assumed the battery had died). It charged up just fine, but the status bar informed me that it was in “Disk Mode”. I tried to connect it to my computer to transfer the files. iTunes didn’t recognize my iPod–I didn’t get the little icon that shows you that it’s connected. However, Windows must have recognized my iPod because it was listed in the “Safely Remove Hardware” thingy. The iPod itself had the “Do not disconnect” screen. No files were being transferred.

After a few minutes, iTunes froze. I closed it, and re-opened it to try again. I safely removed my iPod, and then plugged it back in to the computer. At this point, my computer shut down completely without asking me if it was okay to do that. There was a brief blue screen with a lot of grey text in between the “working fine” stage and the “restarting on a whim” stage; it lasted for a fraction of a second so I had no idea what it said. I removed my iPod, started iTunes, connected my iPod, and it restarted again.

My iPod screen is frozen on “OK to disconnect”. It’s still in “Disk Mode”.

This isn’t covered by the warranty since my iPod has “damage caused by accident.” I don’t have the AppleCare Protection Plan. The User’s Guide leaves much to be desired.

So am I basically SOL? I’m really hoping there’s something I can do, since I’ve only had this for 6 months. I really don’t want the $400 I spent to go to waste.

2

P.S. My Hold button is not on.

3

Take it to an NBA game and throw it at a player. Hopefully you will start a riot and if you recover the iPod you could then sell it on eBay for a profit. :smiley:

4

Have you checked ipodlounge.com or ipodhacks.com for any help there? I’ll check for you in a second, I just have to do some other stuff first. If it’s definitely a hardware problem, though, I doubt there’s much you can do. You can always try Apple and pass it off as something non-accidental; I’ll let you judge the ethics on that one.
Out of curiosity, how did a 20gig 3rd generation model cost $400? I just got an iPod, and it’s 20gig and 4th generation and it only cost $300 (actually 10% less because of a student discount).

5

Well, after a cursory glance at ipodlounge.com, it seems like most of the stuff they have to fix problems requires you to be able to access your iPod on your computer. Can you open it up as a disk drive on your computer even if iTunes won’t recognize it? Have you tried the restore function of the iPod updater software?

6

I dropped my nine month old iPod and had the same problem. I did send it back. It dropped about 2 feet, in the case, and it broke the damn thing. So I felt that it was basically a defective product.

Anyway, Apple didn’t give me any shit. Once requesting a return, you get the box within two or three days and get a new iPod about 5 days after sending it back.

7

That sounds like a problem I have not encountered with my beloved iPod (my main bitch is the damn battery).

However, try iPod Resq for a cheap repair.

8

I have noooo idea. I just looked in my checkbook and I spent $392. 06 at Apple.com. I haven’t bought anything else from there. I thought I only spent $300 but I looked in my checkbook just to make sure. $400 does sound like a lot though. When did you get your 4th gen? Are they having some sort of holiday sale?

edwino: Did you have to pay the $100 diagnostic fee + shipping/handling + service fee? Or was it covered under the warranty? If the latter, what did you tell them?

I downloaded iPod Update and I’m going to run that in a bit (I’m working on something right now and I can’t restart my computer just yet).

Thanks for the advice, audiobottle!

9

Whoops, I had the reply window open for a milennium and a half, forgot to refresh, and didn’t see buttonjockey’s post. Thanks for the heads-up!

10

No, no holiday sale that I know of. The 4th generation was released in mid-July so if anything, I would have expected the price of a 3rd gen model to have been lowered when you bought it in July.
From what I’ve heard of Apple, they’re pretty cool with replacing broken iPods. I say just send it in and enjoy the new one.
All this is making me think I should purchase the 2 year plan now.

11

I downloaded and ran the Nov. 11th Update, and it froze on me twice. Then I ran the April 28th Update for the hell of it, and that froze too.

How can I find it as a disk drive? (I’m a little daft.) I opened up “My Computer” and all I see are the C: and D: drives.

Looks like I’ll probably be sending in for a new iPod, eh?

12

To see it as a disk drive you had to enable it to work as a disk drive first. To do that, you had to go to iTunes and click on the iPod options. In there was an option to use the iPod as a storage drive. If you checked that, then your iPod would show up as a separate drive under My Computer. It sounds like you either never checked it or it’s broken enough that it’s not showing. I’m guessing either way you might be getting a brand spankin’ new iPod. I think you deserve it. These suckers cost a lot! And it seems like you practically paid for two already!

13

It was covered under the warranty. They didn’t ask questions – I did the online form and reported it. I paid nothing and got a new iPod within two weeks.

I’ll be damned if I am throwing away $400 after a 2 foot drop without a fight.

14

Thanks for the help, everyone! I filled out the online form, the box arrived at my house (there was some issue where they couldn’t send it to a dorm, or something). My dad’s going to bring it when he visits this weekend. Then hopefully I’ll have my iPod by Xmas!

(I thought it was a little interesting that they could return a non-engraved iPod within 5 days, but it takes 2 weeks or so to return an engraved iPod. Or at least that’s what I remember from their website. Oh well, I can last a few weeks without my iPod–or can I?)

15

The reason that your 4th gen 20 gig ipod was only $300 is because it didn’t come with the accessories that the 3rd gen model has. People that bought the 3rd gen model also got a dock, remote and carrying case. As of September, Amazon was still selling the 4th gen ipod cheaper than the older model because of this.

16

If you’re lucky enough to live in a city with an Apple Store take it in to the Genius Bar. They’ll look at for free and fix it if its simple.

17

There are definitely Apple stores back home (Chicago area), but I won’t be home for a couple of weeks, so I figure I might as well just ship it off.

Omega Glory: thanks for the info! That was bugging me, wondering why I paid so much. Thank you for putting my mind at ease!