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Level 1

12 points

Diagnostics Test: Please plug FW?

Ok, so I had been having some problems with my iPod in that when I tried to connect it to my computer, iTunes would freeze, "My Computer" wouldn't see it, etc. So one of the things I tried to do to solve this problem was see if there was something wrong with the iPod itself. I currently have the 80GB silver iPod classic. I reset the iPod using the menu and action buttons, and then put it into diagnostic boot with << and action button. I first selected the auto test, passed the quickscan, passed the keypad test, passed the wheel test, then the hold switch test comes on. I turn the hold switch on, then off, and test detects it with the 0 and 1, then hit menu to continue. Then the HP detect test, I plugged in the headphones until it said 1, and then uplugged them. Pretty much, all you do to go through these tests is do what it says so that it can read that the function is there, and then read that you removed that function, such as the HP (headphones). However, now I get to the Accessorize test. Plug in the USB cord to a power source (computer or wall outlet works) and USB_DETECT=1, and then to 0. But then it asks me to please plug FW. Which I'm assuming is FireWire. But isn't that usually used for older models? I don't have and never have had a FireWire cable for this iPod. How to pass this test? All other forums I've looked up concerning this message, most people were not trying to do the diagnostics test and had no clue what it was and what to do with it. Am I supposed to go buy a FireWire adaptor just to do this diagnostics?

Studio 1500, Windows Vista

Posted on Feb 13, 2011 8:15 PM

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

276,659 points

Posted on Mar 21, 2011 11:58 AM

You can select which tests to run manually, however this is probably the one that really matters...

*Check your iPod with Diagnostics Mode*
It's possible that your iPod's hard drive has started to fail. Take your iPod and place your right thumb on the centre SELECT button and your left on the top MENU button. Press down both thumbs for about 6 seconds until your iPod reboots. Immediately move your left thumb around to the rewind button |<< on the left and hold this down together with SELECT for a further 6 seconds. Your iPod should now switch into Diagnostic Boot mode. Press MENU for *Manual Test*, then select *IO > HardDrive > HDSMARTData* to reveal your stats. For comparison here are mine for my 2 year old 6th Generation Classic:

Retracts: 889
Reallocs: 12
Pending Sectors: 0
PowerOn Hours: 2202
Start/Stops: 894
Temp: Current 24c
Temp: Min 10c
Temp: Max 50c

Take a note of your results. When finished press *SELECT & MENU* for 6 seconds to reset the iPod again.

With modern disc drives sectors are no longer marked bad by a disc scan, if the SMART firmware detects a sector it has trouble accessing it will attempt to invisibly reallocate it to a spare area of the disc.

Note that I've only 12 remapped sectors and none pending. To help explain what the numbers mean here is an extract from the Wikipedia S.M.A.R.T. article:

*Reallocated Sectors Count*
Count of reallocated sectors. When the hard drive finds a read/write/verification error, it marks this sector as "reallocated" and transfers data to a special reserved area (spare area). This process is also known as remapping, and "reallocated" sectors are called remaps. This is why, on modern hard disks, "bad blocks" cannot be found while testing the surface – all bad blocks are hidden in reallocated sectors. However, as the number of reallocated sectors increases, the read/write speed tends to decrease. The raw value normally represents a count of the number of bad sectors that have been found and remapped. Thus, the higher the attribute value, the more sectors the drive has had to reallocate.

*Pending sector count*
Number of "unstable" sectors (waiting to be remapped, because of read errors). If an unstable sector is subsequently written or read successfully, this value is decreased and the sector is not remapped. Read errors on a sector will not remap the sector (since it might be readable later); instead, the drive firmware remembers that the sector needs to be remapped, and remaps it the next time it's written.

Large numbers of Reallocs or Pending Sectors would suggest your drive is failing and that you may need to repair or replace your iPod. Check your stats after another attempt to update your iPod. If the numbers increase that again points to hard drive failure. While it won't be good news at least you'll know it isn't some random software problem and you can decide what to do next.

tt2

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Sep 30, 2016 10:04 AM in response to Manfred34

Which (originally) 160GB iPod classic do you have? As noted on iFlash web site, "6.5g" thick version has a 128GB limitation. I supposed it's the last thin version, since you initially got it to work properly.

When you used Disk Utility to reformat (erase) it, using the default erase settings for a Mac does not use the correct Scheme for an iPod. That's something you may want to try again. The following describes how to do it, if you're using Disk Utility from El Capitan or Sierra (if using older Disk Utility, let me know). Connect iPod and run Disk Utility. iTunes should not be running. In Disk Utility's sidebar, select the iPod device, NOT the volume indented below device. Click Erase button, and set up erase pane like this

Name: [does not matter]

Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Scheme: Apple Partition Map <- Not default GUID

After confirming iPod is selected in sidebar, click Erase button. When it completes, quit Disk Utility and run iTunes. Do a Restore to reinstall iPod's onboard software. Try your usual sync.

Oct 1, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

I am pretty sure it is a Late-2009 iPod Classic, in other words, the last model they made... And as you said, the adapter did work initially, no problem. I had bought another one off of eBay that also had a defective HDD, put in the same adapter and it worked as well, so I have no doubt about the adapter working properly with this model.

Now, as far as Disk Utility, I was pretty sure that GUID was the correct scheme when reformatting this thing, I even looked it up to confirm. I know I had also done it with the Apple Partition Map, but thought that was not the correct scheme, since it did not seem to work correctly with that scheme either. Now, trying to connect it to my MBP and prevent iTunes from opening so that I can retry with Disk Utility and nothing is cooperating. I check the box in iTunes to prevent it from syncing, put the iPod in Disk Mode and the dame thing keeps opening iTunes.... and then immediately disconnects! Sooooooo frustrating.... Gonna go get my wife's computer and try it there.

Oct 1, 2016 9:24 AM in response to Manfred34

SO, connected it to my wife's computer and formatted it. Only way I could do it was either Fat32 or NTFS. I chose NTFS. Connected it back to MBP, opened Disk Utility and Erased, using Apple Partition Map. It reformatted it, BUT still in NTFS?? The indented volume is in Apple Partition Map, but the main volume in NTFS. Don't get that, but that is above my level of understanding. Anyways, opened iTunes, restored it, started to sync it, and of course it disconnects, gives me error messages about how it can't be found, yet looking at the iPod screen itself, still connected, but can't find anywhere on my MBP where it shows connected; not in iTunes, not in Disk Utility and not in Finder. Maddening...simply maddening.

Oct 2, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Yep, that's what I did, that's what I wrote. I put the iPod into Disk Mode, checked the box to prevent any devices from syncing automatically with iTunes and it still would open iTunes... Today, when I connect my iPod, it shows "Connected Eject Before Disconnecting" and the 30-pin connector, and then it almost instantaneously ejects. 😮

Yeah, I know Fat32 is the correct format for Windows, just chose NTFS for the heck of it...

I wonder if your theory about a Fat32 format working better with the adapter has some traction there. I am going to try to do that, reformat in Fat32, Master Boot Record and then try to use it with my Mac. Question though: You said you used VMware Fusion to do the last restore, but did you also reformat it using that? Just curious, because I run Oracle's Virtual Machine on my MBP with Windows XP as well. Just wondering if I might be able to do it that way....

Oct 2, 2016 11:01 AM in response to Manfred34

Ok, so I reformatted in Fat32, Master Boot Record. Restores in iTunes on Windows. Connected to MBP, tried to sync and it disconnects according to iTunes, but still shows connected on iPod screen. Again, can't find it connected anywhere else, not in Finder, not in Disk Utility. Like I said before, this is absolutely maddening that I can not get this thing to work. And just how it behaves is so frustrating, it's unreal. Right now, I cannot get it to stay connected in any fashion, not after doing DFU restore, in Disk Mode or anything. Just keeps disconnecting....

Oct 2, 2016 1:55 PM in response to Manfred34

I put the iPod into Disk Mode, checked the box to prevent any devices from syncing automatically with iTunes and it still would open iTunes...

What happens if you quit iTunes after it opens automatically? If you then run Disk Utility, does the iPod still appear in Disk Utility's sidebar?

You said you used VMware Fusion to do the last restore, but did you also reformat it using that?

"Manual" reformatting is not necessary, if doing a Restore using iTunes works. In this case, I ran iTunes for Windows in the Window XP virtual machine, and did a normal Restore. Because it's Windows XP, the version of iTunes is older.

Oct 2, 2016 2:14 PM in response to Manfred34

This is the reply to your last post... I did not realize there was another post when I replied to your previous post.

Earlier, you said

I had bought another one off of eBay that also had a defective HDD, put in the same adapter and it worked as well

Do you still have that other iPod?

Does your Mac have a built-in SD card slot? Or, do you have a USB card reader? Sometimes, it's useful to work on the SDXC card apart from the iPod. I reformat the SDXC (and compact flash) cards that I use with my iPods connected directly to my Mac first, using the appropriate Erase settings. And then I put it in the iPod. So, you may want to remove the SDXC card from iPod and reformat it (using Erase in Disk Utility as previously specified). Then, put it back in iPod and do a Restore in iTunes.

While you have the iPod open, if you happen to have a working compatible 1.8-inch hard drive, you can try using iPod with it instead. The actual problem may be a hardware issue on the iPod, not its storage.

Oct 3, 2016 6:59 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Well, I can quit iTunes, but the iPod has already disconnected before I get that far... That is one of the problems that I am encountering. And there is no rhyme or reason to it... I could restore the iPod a dozen times and it might happen only a quarter of the time or it might happen 3/4s of the time- it's completely unpredictable and I don't understand why.

I do have an SD reader on my MBP. I had used it to check the validity of the SD card and see if there were any errors. I did format it, as far as I recall after I checked it for errors. Just don't remember now under what scheme... I will try to do that again. I don't have any working HDD, I only have "bricked" ones unfortunately. That had been my plan now, to refurbish iPods with non-working HDDs with the adapter and flash memory...

Did not realize that I did not need to format the iPod in Disk Mode and only needed to do a restore using iTunes.... Sometimes when I connect it though, a message will come up saying that the disk cannot be read and whether or not I would like to initialize it and I believe it then takes me to Disk Utility to do that....

I installed iTunes in virtual box, but I can't figure out how to get the USB port recognized in the virtual machine. I see the settings for it, and it appears to be enabled, but the iPod does not show up there....

As far as the 'other' iPod I had, i sold that one on eBay, so whether it is still working or not I will probably never know. I believe that the buyer was just going to resell it... Did not seem like it was someone that bought it for their own personal use and I have not heard anything from anyone about it.

Oct 11, 2016 7:44 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thank you so much for this information. I thought at first Apple had just abandoned the ipod with the Sierra release. All my stuff got erased and first aid wouldn't fix. Your instructions allowed me to reset, erase and re-add all my stuff. Thank you so much!

royvella

Level 1

8 points

Jan 7, 2013 2:36 PM in response to turingtest2

No worries. Disk Utility popped up unexpectedly... couldn't reformat it as I had hoped but extracted more info.

Will see what the Genius has to say.

Thank you again.

turingtest2

Level 10

276,659 points

Jul 31, 2012 4:35 PM in response to Adt192

It's not ideal, but it might be worth trying the low-level format method at least once. Scroll down this post to the "super-fix" section and give it a go.

tt2