iPod 5.5g Disaster

[The Monkey]

So last night I tried to replace both the LCD and the battery to my iPod 5.5g. I probably should have done one at a time to minimize troubleshooting, but hell, I'm an optimist.

So after reconnecting everything, I try to turn it on. No joy. But I can hear the HD whirring, so I think it's getting juice. Black screen, though. So obviously it could be a bad LCD that I received. But I also get strange errors when trying to connect to iTunes. It tells me the iPod needs to be restored, but then claims the iPod is busy when it attempts to do so. And that's bullshit.

I've tried resetting the damn thing every way I know how to no avail. My next troubleshooting step will be to try to restore it using my PC laptop. After that, I'll probably put in the old LCD. After that the old battery. And after that, I'll piss all over it and smash it to tiny pieces and sell it on HF.

Any other suggestions, by the way? I'm all ears.

[grawk]

Video tape it and put it on youtube

[The Monkey]

What--the pissing on the pieces?

[grawk]

yup

[mypasswordis]

[jinp6301]

Make sure that all your ribbon wires are properly seated. Its hard to make sure they're all working.

[thrice]

Maybe you already know about this, but iFixit has great guides for opening and replacing Mac products:

iPod 5th Generation (Video - iFixit)

[n_maher]

how much does a 5.5g cost on ebay?

~$100

APPLE iPod Video 5.5 30GB MP3 Black with USB + Earbuds - eBay (item 190355062532 end time Dec-08-09 18:25:11 PST)

[guzziguy]

The video was good, but he should have used a bigger hammer!

[The Monkey]

What about the weird restore problem. Anyone ever encounter that?

[jinp6301]

I still think its due to one of the ribbon cables not being fully inserted or something. I had a similar problem where the ipod gave me weird lines on the LCD, and when I reseated the cable, it was fine.

[drp]

What about the weird restore problem. Anyone ever encounter that?

The girlfriend's son had the habit of running his classic till the battery was completely dead, and after a while, would not boot up or charge using iTunes. I plugged into wall and kept hard resetting; eventually started to charge. Would then get recognized by Tunes. Write this suspecting that the battery was fully empty when you got it; would start by sub'ng in old battery.

[The Monkey]

Tried re-seating everything. All was going well until...there's a little fucking brown clip that holds the battery cable in place. Said clip is extremely delicate and easy to break. I broke it of course. And it is damn near impossible to get that cable to sit in there with tape or anything else. Nightmare. Plus, I suspect that this iPod could have multiple issues. At this point, I'll either get a cheap working one on ebay or maybe another broken one to try to make a frankenpod, but I'm getting sick of this shit.

Apple can kiss my ass.

[The Monkey]

So I'll try to pick one up cheap on ebay. In the meantime, does anyone know if their are online dealers with NOS 5Gs? Other than ALO...

[The Monkey]

I bought one that seems in decent condition on ebay for around 96 bucks.

Now I'll try to buy a really cheap broken one to fix the other one and then I'll find another broken one to fix that one and....

[mypasswordis]

Why the interest in bringing dead iPods back to life? And what are you planning on getting a 5G for, are you going to imod it yourself?

[The Monkey]

It has something to do with the road to hell and good intentions. I bought an iMod service at the NYC Meet's Not So Silent Auction. I didn't care much about the mod but figured it was a good way to give money for the Meet. My original 5.5G's screen was on the blink (literally), so I decided to try to fix it on my own instead of paying Vinnie 50 bucks for the part and labor (which of course I should have done). I also figured I should throw in a new battery while I was at it. Obviously, that plan went down in flames.

So damage control is to get a cheap used one in decent condition to send to Vinnie, and then get a broken one for parts for the other one (I suspect more than one bad component in the now broken one). Basically, I would like the satisfaction of having fixed the original, but I also want the instant gratification of sending something in to Vinnie.

In other words, it's all a bunch of nonsense.

[jinp6301]

You should get a kitty

[The Monkey]

We actually just agreed to be my sister-in-law's cats' guardians should anything happen to her (she's single and pretty attached to her cats). They're pretty awesome cats actually, and I'm not exactly a cat lover.

[grawk]

I'll have a scuffed up 30gb one I'll sell cheap, once christmas comes along, and I upgrade my daughter's to a touch...

[Dusty Chalk]

You should get a kitty

Kitties are win. They make the above post make sense.

[shellylh]

Dinny, sorry to hear that you DIY project didn't go so well. A few years ago, I also unsuccessfully installed a new battery on an ipod mini.

[The Monkey]

It's a PITA, Shelly. But in some ways worth it. I like learning how these things work. And as someone with limited DIY skills, I'll take small victories where I can get them.