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User profile for user: Ali ix
Ali ix Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Reseting/Restoring iPod: formatting failure, disk write error

Hi,
Here is a 2g iPod Shuffle (my friend's ipod), which i tried to restore to factory setting.

First time i tried restoring using iTunes (as explained in support article). iTunes crashed during stage one (loading bar) and now light status indicates firmware damaged when powering device on.(green-orange-orange for 10 seconds).

I have tried iPod Shuffle specific "reset utility" from support section. and it failed with error: Formatting failure, disk write error.
iTunes recognizes device randomly and suggests to restore it, which wont work and leads to iTunes crash.

Now, when i check properties on recognized device in My Computer, the file system shown as RAW! (i think it should be FAT or FAT32)
I couldn't use scan disk utility (to check if there is bad blocks) or format using disk manager. (under win xp)

The strange thing and actually why i was trying to restore the iPod, was the capacity shown in iTunes and My Computer! While this is 1GB iPod, displayed capacity was just 253MB! (less or more).

I wonder if the flash memory is broken or there is any firmware issues.

Thanks in advance for your help 🙂

iPod Shuffle second generation, Windows XP

Posted on Feb 12, 2008 11:53 PM

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5 replies
User profile for user: ab521
ab521
User level: Level 1
8 points

Apr 28, 2008 3:23 PM in response to Ali ix

I ran into a similar problem with a 1GB shuffle, iTunes said it was corrupt, restoring it as suggested came up with the cryptic 1418 error. Using the reset utility also did not work. I tried to format it via XP system utilities, that failed also. Connected the shuffle to a Vista machine, used system utilities to format and that worked! Then installed iTunes on that machine, it said I needed to restore the shuffle, did that with the latest version of firmware, worked ok. Then connected the shuffle back to the original XP machine, able to reload my music. Not sure, maybe Vista has slightly better mechanisms for dealing with whatever file system mess was on the shuffle.
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User profile for user: rryu0212
rryu0212
User level: Level 1
0 points

May 3, 2008 4:53 PM in response to ab521

I've been experiencing the same problem. I just got the iPod Shuffle (2g, Orange) and was so mad this was happening the day I opened the box! I have a Windows XP, but my friend has a Windows Vista laptop, so I plugged it into the laptop, and restored it there. It actually worked on the Vista laptop than on my XP desktop. I plugged it back into my desktop and it works! Thank you to whatever fixed it...!
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User profile for user: Soolie
Soolie
User level: Level 1
0 points

May 4, 2008 10:49 AM in response to rryu0212

Hi All,
I am experiencing a similar problem with an Ipod Shuffle bought in 2005. I never had issues with the device, although after I downloaded the latest Itunes version (7.9) I have been unable to use it. When I try to sync it, I receive a message saying that it cannot be sinced as the device cannot be detected. Same goes when I try to restore the original set up.
Unfortunately I cannot try the suggestion described in this thread as I do not have Vista installed in my home PC.
I also tried to disinstall the latest version and istall the one provided in the selling package, but it turned out that I cannot use Itunes at all as My library preferences have been set up with the latest version!
I am honestly very disappointed by the whole situation, although I do hope there is a way to solve it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Cheers
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Reseting/Restoring iPod: formatting failure, disk write error

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