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b00tang · Jul 8, 2004, 01:07 AM

I have a 2nd gen 10 GB ipod with a problem. I left it charging over the weekend and when i tried to use it again and all it does i show the apple logo and spin the harddrive. reseting it just causes the logo to disappear and reappear. when i plug it in my computer does not recognize it so i can't reformat it.

so unless someone has a sweet idea i opened it up and want to plug the toshiba MK1003GAL 10GB harddrive thats inside the ipod into a computer and wipe it clean then start from scratch. but i take it out and look at the connector (apparently DMA/ATA100) and have no idea what i could ever plug it into. how do people hook these up to computers normally?
anything i can do?
something someone might have i could use?
anyhelp is sweet
-Paul

tooki · Jul 8, 2004, 01:09 AM

Does the iPod Software Updater (which also can be used to format an iPod) not see the iPod, either?

tooki

b00tang · Jul 8, 2004, 12:21 PM

nothing will, when i plug it in through the firewire connection i can't find anything that will acknowledge that it is plugged in. The updater just keeps saying no ipod is connected. Firewire under system profiler doesn't notice anything is connected either.
I also tried to put the ipod into disk mode by reseting it with the usual hold menu and play and then hitting forward and reverse.... no luck
its just that apple logo laughing at me.

itai195 · Jul 8, 2004, 09:12 PM

hmm, can't help ya. But you might want to change your sig

King_Rat · Jul 8, 2004, 11:01 PM

The 1.8" ATA Toshiba hard drives use the MCD-D50 connector (see http://www.ddkconnectors.com/mcdd50.htm ) Unfortunately, I can not find anything to adapt that to a normal ATA interface; if you manage to find an adapter that does please tell me as I would sure like one. Also, I am not sure that the hard drive is your problem. I think that the computer would at least pick up the ipod in apple system profiler even if it does not have a hard drive (I will check on this in a few days). If the computer does not pick up the ipod at all I would guess that the problem is with the main board

. You might be able to get another one off of ebay. BTW, if you give up on fixing the ipod I may be interested in buying it, but I can not pay as much as you could get on ebay.

b00tang · Jul 8, 2004, 11:39 PM

well thats a scary thought. I tried turning it on and plugging it into my computer without the harddrive and it still doesn't show up in system profiler. maybe it is the board. i don't really know enough about firewire to do the proper diagnostics... if i start touching stuff with a voltmeter in there anyone know what I should be trying to see?
i'm sure anyone else who has had something like this crap out on them before knows how hard it is to just give up and accept that its dead.

King_Rat · Jul 10, 2004, 01:08 AM

I used some broken 2nd gen ipods (yes, they did have a good main board) to check if they would register in the system profiler when they did not have a hard drive or had a bad hard drive. It looks to me like they will not show up on the computer unless they properly boot, so the hard drive has to be good for them to work. I guess that I was wrong about the ipod showing up without the hard drive. As such, it looks to me like the problem with yours is the hard drive. Bummer; those are the most expensive part to replace. I don't know if you would be able to fix it by reformatting the hard drive; can you find anything about it in Apple's documentation?
As far as the volt meter goes, I don't think that there will be much problem, but something could go wrong. The biggest problem to worry about would be crossing two wires that should not be crossed (such as VCC and ground...). However, I doubt that you will find out much with a volt meter unless you have a very very detailed troubleshooting guide for the ipod. If you decide to try and troubleshoot the board (an extremely difficult task) you probably would be better off with a digital logic probe instead of a volt meter anyway. Keep in mind that there is a reason that you almost never see anyone examine / repair a modern circuit board.
I know what you mean about not wanting to give up on the ipod; when something of mine breaks I generally don't to let it die (unless it is something that I did not like to start with). Good luck with your ipod.

b00tang · Jul 23, 2004, 10:45 PM

for anyone who might stumble across this thread with the same problem I had heres the follow up:
I had no luck ever finding a way to plug in the ipods harddrive to anything else.

I did however open my ipod up, unplug the battery, and forget about it.
About a week later when i put it back together i plugged the battery in, closed it up again and expected the apple logo to show up and not leave again.
instead. it worked. it just worked.
So after trying everything and having no luck if you are in the same situation i would recommend letting everything loose charge completely. Even if you are afraid to open it up and unplug the battery, try jsut leaving it for a week or two with no power.

good luck