[methodshop]

I need a little "professional" help here. I'm one of the Webmasters at MethodShop.com. We have a page on the site where we offer free iPod tech support. But today I got an email which I can't answer. Here it is:

"I live at 3,300 meters above sea level in Huaraz Peru. Ipod works fine at this elevation. I work at a mine at 4,300 meters above sea level. Ipod plays for a while and then rapidly cycles through all songs on an album, playing nothing. Sometimes it lost in a mode and gets hot. Can the machine not work at this elevation? Or is this some type of file corruption problem?"

Does anyone know what the iPod's elevation limits are above sea level? I've used my iPod several times on a commercial airliner with no problem. But that's pressurized. I also searched Apple's documentation and didn't find anything. Anyone have any ideas about this? [FYI: 4,300 meters is roughly 2.7 miles.]

[zl9600]

I have had my iPod for one year and a half at 9,600' above sea level in Colorado (FYI, Denver, about 2.5 million people, is a mile high above sea level).

No problems, until today. I think my iPod died (and that's why I'm here). But i'm doubtful i'ts the elevation.

UPDATE: Reset the iPod and voila, it's back to normal. So, at 9,758' (where i am right now), it has worked great, other than a crash...

[CatOne]

Originally posted by methodshop:
I need a little "professional" help here. I'm one of the Webmasters at MethodShop.com. We have a page on the site where we offer free iPod tech support. But today I got an email which I can't answer. Here it is:

"I live at 3,300 meters above sea level in Huaraz Peru. Ipod works fine at this elevation. I work at a mine at 4,300 meters above sea level. Ipod plays for a while and then rapidly cycles through all songs on an album, playing nothing. Sometimes it lost in a mode and gets hot. Can the machine not work at this elevation? Or is this some type of file corruption problem?"

Does anyone know what the iPod's elevation limits are above sea level? I've used my iPod several times on a commercial airliner with no problem. But that's pressurized. I also searched Apple's documentation and didn't find anything. Anyone have any ideas about this? [FYI: 4,300 meters is roughly 2.7 miles.]

From the Technical Specifications page:

http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

Environmental requirements

Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Non operating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

So 4300 meters is about 13,500 feet -- above the maximum operating altitude. This doesn't mean it SHOULDN'T work above 10,000 feet, but rather it's neither tested nor guaranteed to. It's pretty rare for a consumer device to actually be tested/certified for "outlying" conditions (such as working at a mine high in the Andes ;-)

At any rate, I guess the message could be "sorry," because the web page itself has a limit about 1000 meters below it's being used at.

[tooki]

iPod is a hard drive-based device. Hard drives require air molecules to work. Operating a hard drive in areas with low air pressure (=high altitude) means that there aren't enough air molecules to maintain the drive heads' "fly height", and the heads crash. Not only could it cause the iPod to freeze, it could cause catastrophic damage to the hard drive. (In a head crash, physical damage to the disk occurs, which can cause debris to float around in the drive, which then disrupts the airflow, causing more head crashes...)

Special pressurized high-altitude hard drives do exist, by the way.

tooki

P.S. You're not the first person to encounter this: http://www.rds.com/doug/weblogs/2003/10/31.html

[veryniceguy2002]

Originally posted by tooki:
iPod is a hard drive-based device. Hard drives require air molecules to work. Operating a hard drive in areas with low air pressure (=high altitude) means that there aren't enough air molecules to maintain the drive heads' "fly height", and the heads crash.

Are you certain about this, tooki?

I thought that the actual disk area is air-tight (otherwise, the disk can get moisture or mould damage easily, especially in tropical area), so that humidity and pressure remain relatively stable.

With higher attitude, the air becomes thinner, and that affects the iPod's ability to radidate heat. As a result, it makes iPod to overheat rather easily.

[cSurfr]

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
Are you certain about this, tooki?

I thought that the actual disk area is air-tight (otherwise, the disk can get moisture or mould damage easily, especially in tropical area), so that humidity and pressure remain relatively stable.

With higher attitude, the air becomes thinner, and that affects the iPod's ability to radidate heat. As a result, it makes iPod to overheat rather easily.

If you look closely on a drive, there will be a tiny hole that says "do not cover"

[Diggory Laycock]

My First Gen iPod worked brilliantly while I was skiing recently (except I broke the remote in a headplant.)



48m to spare...

[brapper]

i had that rapid cycling problem.
i just reset it and now it works.

[tooki]

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
Are you certain about this, tooki?

I thought that the actual disk area is air-tight (otherwise, the disk can get moisture or mould damage easily, especially in tropical area), so that humidity and pressure remain relatively stable.

With higher attitude, the air becomes thinner, and that affects the iPod's ability to radidate heat. As a result, it makes iPod to overheat rather easily.

I am quite certain. See http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/pack_Air.htm (and the links off that page) for an explanation.

tooki

[veryniceguy2002]

Originally posted by zl9600:
I have had my iPod for one year and a half at 9,600' above sea level in Colorado (FYI, Denver, about 2.5 million people, is a mile high above sea level).

Bit of a side topic here.

If Apple spec states iPod maximum attitude is only 10000 feet, and if people buy it from an Apple dealer in Denver (tell me there is an Apple dealer located in Denver ), does that mean Apple might need to replace the iPod for free or refund it because it is not designed to work at the place you buy it? Does US consumer laws give that sort of protection?

[zl9600]

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
Bit of a side topic here.

If Apple spec states iPod maximum attitude is only 10000 feet, and if people buy it from an Apple dealer in Denver (tell me there is an Apple dealer located in Denver ), does that mean Apple might need to replace the iPod for free or refund it because it is not designed to work at the place you buy it? Does US consumer laws give that sort of protection?

after misreading (or just bad metric converting) the original elevation of the poster who is at 4300 METERS (13,500), i sort of shut up. because while i have had my ipod at 14000' here in colorado, it was just on a hike and not for more than a few hours. however, i regularly use my ipod at higher than 10,000'. never have had any problems, nor at my house where i'm at 9751.

denver's only at 5280', one mile, not 2.7 like the original poster. i think it's well within the altitude limits.... but i would assume they'd be in trouble for selling a product somewhere where it wouldn't work. i wouldn't look for an apple store in the himalayas anytime soon

[Eriamjh]

It's kind of like saying an air-hockey table won't work above 10,000 feet. It needs air.

[tooki]

Yup. There are all sorts of things that rely on air density (a correlary to air pressure) that don't work well in high altitudes: boiling water (it boils at much too low a temperature, so your food doesn't cook!), airplane engines (they have to work a lot harder at altitude than at sea level), humans (take a human too high up and you suffocate).

Of course, there are also things that benefit from low pressure, such as certain candy recipes. So it's not all bad!

tooki