[flatwound]

Hey gang:

I've got a first generation iPod that's long been out of service, and I want to start using it only for its hard drive capabilities. The battery - it's original - is almost toast but that doesn't matter for my purposes. My problem is simple: I've tried two different firewire cables, and while the unit charges, it is not recognized by the computer, either on the desktop, iTunes or in the system profiler.

I have enabled, via iTunes, firewire disc mode, and my 4G iPod shows up without a problem. Is there something I'm missing here? Is something fubar on the firewire port of my vintage iPod? I'm hooking up to a powermac 2X2 running 10.3.9. Everything else about the system works fine.

[Eriamjh]

1G and 2G iPods had a problem where the solder joints to the FW connector break inside at the PCB. Power and ground may still work (hence the charging), but if one of the data lines breaks it won't mount.

Here's a page with a FW port. You can probably find instructions on how to open the iPod and resolder it. This is why Apple switched to the dock connector. Lower stresses for insertion.

[flatwound]

Thanks a lot for the tip. The webpage and the problem it tackles seems very close to what I'm dealing with. I'll report back if this repair does the trick!