Treb
New Reader
3/30/09 8:18 p.m.
I've got a few ipods kicking around the house now -- 3g, 4g, and 2 2g minis.
The 3g has a bad HD; the 4g showed signs of a bad hd until I opened the case and re-seated the HD cable. One of the minis is a little squirrely, but nothing shows up in the diagnostics.
So, does anyone here play around with fixing ipods? Is there a site out there with GRM-level gurus of ipod fixing? The only ipod hacker site I ever found that was worth a damn was geektechnique.org -- RIP, Mark.
My one contribution: the perfect tool to open a 3G/4G ipod (I assume this would work for a 1G or 2G; 5G+ are a little different) is a guitar pick. Maybe two. No marring, cheap, available pretty much anywhere.
Matt
http://woodblock.com/diversions/ipod/index.html
http://ecorenovator.org/bad-ipod-hard-drive-replace/
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Browse/iPod
They are for the most part standard laptop hard drives. You just have to get the right type of drive to replace the old one. Backup the old drive using iTunes, replace the drive, then restore the drive using iTunes.
pricewatch.com and newegg.com are great places to look for computer components.
Good luck!
Treb
New Reader
3/30/09 9:36 p.m.
The last flash card I bought was from Newegg -- really pleased with them. (The next one I buy is going into an iPod -- plug-and-play in a mini.)
I was nervous about iPods until I opened one up and started playing. (I actually bought the 3G as a dead ipod to practice on; it now looks like the only thing wrong with it is the drive -- which is also the only component that is generic and upgradeable.) But yeah, fairly simple inside, really. Helped conquer my fear of electronics.
So now I've built circuits for ipod inputs into three of my cars -- including the OEM mono AM radio in my wife's Fiat.
She's convinced that the Rolling Stones were meant to be heard in mono. It is pretty awesome.
I recently upgraded my g/f's Mini using the geektech site:
http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/753/how-to-turn-your-ipod-mini-into-a-flash-based-ipod
I've got 16GB of Flash and RockBox running. Been workin' great! And it was really simple.
She's convinced that the Rolling Stones were meant to be heard in mono. It is pretty awesome.
Up to 1970 or so, she's right. It was engineered and recorded for mono, and they do sound better.
I have RockBox running on my Sansa, it is grest.
