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KaeSun Author

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

274,788 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

View in context

115 replies

TechCare

Level 1

0 points

Jan 7, 2013 10:52 AM in response to KaeSun

Hi,

I have 2 ipods, with 1 I can't even get into diagnostics mode, and when I try to format or even open in My computer, my computer freezes "everything does".

now for ipod 2

Retracts: 340 (what is this by the way?)

Reallocs: 182

Pending Sectors: 50

PowerOn Hours: 405

Start/Stops: 8778

Temp: Current 19c

Temp: Min 7c

Temp: Max 54c

both ipods show that they have 0 songs 0 videos etc. but when I go to settings/about ipod 1 shows 68GB used, ipod 2 used to show that it was full, but since I tried to format it with windows and windows was NOT successful it shows 0KB used 0KB full.

any help would b egreatlly appreciated.

Thanks

royvella

Level 1

8 points

Jan 7, 2013 1:34 PM in response to turingtest2

Probably hotter as it couldn't turn off... it just kept cycling and not letting me kill it since the "off" command wasn't being read. I should have just let the battery die...

Regardless, tried it on another machine and got precisely the same error. Was still able to get the Smart Data and just added one to the Retracts apparently at 59. Any other "backdoor" tricks that I might try? I'm thinking I'll head to the Genius Bar and see what they have to say.

Thanks!

Jan 8, 2014 10:16 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi there,

sorry to revive an old thread. I'm having the '1434 error' when i try to restore my iPod.

I've eventually managed to get my HD SMART Data of the device. The first 3 times it just returned [Device Opened] followed by Error... I then managed to get it to show the following data. Everytime I've tried it since getting the data i just get Error again.

Here's what I got...

Retracts: 11

Reallocs: 880

Pending Sectors: 8

PowerOn Hours: 45

Start/Stops: 4428

Temp: Current 28c

Temp: Min 2c

Temp: Max 53c

I am unable to format using disk utility either.

Game over?

Thanks,

Alex

suts22

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2014 9:18 AM in response to KaeSun

Hello,

my problem with my ipod classic 30GB is that it doesn't appear on my computer nor on itunes. It works fine, it plays music and does everything. Only the battery is a little bit old, doesn't go so long anymore. I already tried to put it in disk mode for 100 times but this doesn't help to find it on itunes or on my computer. I tried to do the DFU -restore but this didn't help either. Then i did the diagnostic mode and checked everything, everything was okay. The stats for the harddrive:

Retracts: 63

Reallocs: 0

Pending Sectors: 0

PowerOn Hours: 196

Start/Stops: 24546

model number: MK3008GAL

HDSN: 764J9869W

Total LBA: 58605120

Total size: 27GB

Temp: Current 21

Temp: Min 3c

Temp: Max 46c

I tried different USB-cables, i tried different ports, i cleaned the connectors (no fluff). I updated my computer, i updated itunes, i restarted my computer,...

I'm really out of ideas, maybe i'm still missing something?

Thanks in advance!

turingtest2

Level 10

274,788 points

Jan 17, 2014 9:23 AM in response to suts22

Stats look fine. Have you tried a known-good cable on someone else's computer? Possibilities are a driver issue on yours, though it should connect in disk mode regardless, or that the I/O port is damaged.

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,788 points

Jan 17, 2014 11:47 AM in response to suts22

The dock connector at the bottom of the iPod that you plug the cable into. I can't say for certain, but that would be my guess. Perhaps a single crucial contact is damaged, or else something deeper is wrong internally. I've swapped out batteries and the headphone jack/hold switch assembly on a couple but I don't know if there are any other components that can be easily replaced.

tt2

suts22

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2014 12:02 PM in response to KaeSun

Oh ok. So it's possible that the ipod still charges, but the connector is still broken in some place? And the connector is soldered to the logic board if i'm correct? Wouldn't be my favourite part to repaire =\. Thank you for your help!

Apr 24, 2014 12:30 AM in response to KaeSun

ive been trying to figure my ipod classic out for a good while now so some help woud be awesome. i have a 120gb and when i hook it up it'll see my ipod and upload music to it but itll stop after a few songs. ive restored it and formatted it. here is my SMART data
retracts:51
reallocs:6992
pending sectors:32
poweron hours:1936
start/stops:40379
temp: current 34c
temp: min 68c

temp: max 254c
any help at all from tts would be amazing . if any possilbe repairs can be done please let me know. would love to still use my ipod or give it to my son as a birthday gift. please any help will do thank you so much

Apr 24, 2014 12:31 AM in response to turingtest2

Apr 28, 2014 4:59 PM in response to turingtest2

i was afraid so but thank you for the help. i did find hard drive to repalce it.. im sure its not that hard. this ipod has been to war with me and back. so i hold this thing close to me. again thank you for the help. now i know what to do and how to repair it.. keep helping people 🙂

May 1, 2014 6:23 PM in response to turingtest2

tt2,

Here is my data. Could you let me know if there is something wrong from these diagnostics? I just got my ipod classic about 6 months ago, and it is randomly removing all music and other media. Itunes says the ipod is corrupted.

Retracts: 2

Reallocs: 2008

Pending Sectors: 0

powerOn Hours: 85

Start/Stops: 7743

Temp: Current 31c

Temp: Min 2c

Temp: Max 53

Jul 2, 2014 5:51 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi, I've just been having problems with my ipod classic. it freezes itunes but otherwise works perfectly. I did some googling and found this forum.. I ran the test and my results are

Retracts- 6

Reallocs- 0

Pending Sectors- 8

Poweron Hours- 3390

Start/Stops- 27114

Temp- Current 29c

Temp- Min 11c

Temp- Max 56c

Are you able to let me know if something is up with these diagnostics? Much appreciated 😀

Thanks

Jul 6, 2014 6:04 AM in response to turingtest2

Hello TT2

I have read the posts above and have my own problem yet I'm not sure what it means.

I have tried running diagnostics on my iPod and it isn't clear what the problem is from this. Whenever I try and sync iTunes to iPod it shall sync fine until a certain point usually 750 songs into the sync then a notification shall come up saying that iTunes could not fully sync iTunes. I have gone through the diagnostics and went Sysccfg and it came up as

q22250129zu

404a7d0

82024372

130200

2.0.4

ce0416p05326

mc297

i also ran the diagnostic on the hard rive and unlike others my hard rive come up with information so i assume it is working

please help!!

Sep 19, 2014 8:35 AM in response to KaeSun

Hey, turingtest2,

Noticed this is quite an old thread, so my apologies, but you seem to be quite knowledgeable in this subject.

I recently found my old 30gb Ipod (which I've had since late 2006), and plugged it into my computer. My computer recognizes it, but Itunes doesn't, so I ran the HDSMARTData test and got these results:

Retracts: 33

Reallocs: 2

Pending Sectors: 8

PowerOn Hours: 964

Start/Stops: 9534

I don't have any of the temperature data available to me, not sure why...

Also, my iPod sometimes clicks and whirs randomly (audible from 5 or so feet away), so no idea what that's about.

Any help?

Apr 23, 2015 10:06 AM in response to KaeSun

My ipod is working, but if I sync more than like... 4 gb it start`s having problems, like... not syncing and stuff... can you help me? thanks

retracts:11

reallocs:5232

pending sectors:168

poweron hours:1519

start/stops:20522

temp: current 38c

temp: min 14c

temp: max 53c

Diagnostics Test: Please plug FW?