Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

waffffffle · Jan 11, 2003, 12:53 AM

I've got a broken 5 GB iPod that's out of warrantee. It plays music but no Mac will connect to it. The iPod still charges off FireWire but cannot make a connection to any computer. Upon plugging the iPod into a computer it just reboots itself. I don't know what to do with the thing. I would like a new, functional iPod, so selling this broken iPod for some money would be ideal so I could use that money towards a new iPod. However I don't want to sell it because my address book and calendar information is on there (and I can't get it off since it can't connect to a computer).

So what can I do with the thing? Should I bust it apart and try and sell the parts on ebay? How about the hard drive itself. How can I connect it to a computer to wipe it clean? Is it possible that I could take the hard drive out, connect it to a computer through an IDE interface and update the songs that way? I don't really use the iPod anywhere but my car so if I need to mutilate the case that's probably ok if it will let me sync again. I know there are FireWire-IDE bridges out there, but will any of them work with the 1.8" hard drive in the iPod? What kind of IDE connector is on the drive?

Thanks for anyone who knows what to do about this thing.

waffffffle · Jan 11, 2003, 01:16 AM

I actually just pried the thing apart, and I've got the hard drive in my hand right now. It's a pretty tiny thing. However I have no idea where to get an IDE connector to plug this thing into my Mac. Any ideas?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 11, 2003, 02:21 AM

Can you make an aquarium out of them?

scaught · 10:13 AM

wafffffle, look at your firewire connection. i remember hearing stories about peoples firewire connection going bad and some minor soldering fixing the problem. you already did the hard part (ripping the thing open

)

edit: check out this article. http://www.ipoding.com/modules.php?o...thread&order=0

waffffffle · Jan 11, 2003, 12:59 PM

Originally posted by scaught:
wafffffle, look at your firewire connection. i remember hearing stories about peoples firewire connection going bad and some minor soldering fixing the problem. you already did the hard part (ripping the thing open )

edit: check out this article. http://www.ipoding.com/modules.php?o...thread&order=0

Thanks for finding that. However I can't figure out how to get to the board off the inside of the front of the case. Where do you get a torx screwdriver that small?

scaught · Jan 11, 2003, 01:09 PM

Originally posted by waffffffle:
Thanks for finding that. However I can't figure out how to get to the board off the inside of the front of the case. Where do you get a torx screwdriver that small?

err. got a radio shack or something electonics-y near you?

BkueKanoodle · Jan 11, 2003, 08:55 PM

Sears is the best place to get torx screwdrivers. Also look around onine, you can find an adapter for about $7 to connect to a desktop IDE cable, or you could get an external firewire case for the book and use it as just a portable hard drive.

snct · Jan 11, 2003, 09:09 PM

You probably want to get your information off of there, so I would try installing the drive in a FireWire case and seeing if it will be recognized as an iPod from there. You can find a case at ComputerGeeks.com for about $40US:

www.computergeeks.com

I have not seen a 1.8mm HD first hand, but there shouldn't be much difference in the connector than for a 2.0mm drive (like the ones found in laptops). My $0.02 anyways

.

waffffffle · Jan 12, 2003, 12:18 AM

the interface is much smaller than that of a 2.5" HD. I don't know wher eto find an IDE cable to connect this thing to anything.

elzinat · Jan 12, 2003, 01:23 AM

the drive was originally designed for a PC Card interface

waffffffle · Jan 12, 2003, 10:24 AM

toshiba sells it as a PC card but I don't see how the hell I could get that to work in my mac. i don't know how to write drivers for it, unless it's mass storage compliant. also toshiba doesn't sell the PC card interface by itself. I tried sliding the hard drive into the PC card slot on my pismo and it got stuck in there cause its too short. I doubt that the pins line up exactly anyways.

scaught · Jan 12, 2003, 10:56 AM

waffffffffffffffffffle, did you get a chance to look at the firewire connections?

waffffffle · Jan 12, 2003, 11:16 AM

as i said before, i can't get to the firewire connection because the board is still attached to the front of the iPod. I ordered some torx screwdrivers bits online. I think I'm probably going to need to go with an electrical engineer down to the lab to try and fix this thing.