iPod Classic

I was having issue with my ipod classic today, not sure which generation- purchased late 2008. 128GB. It's been acting up lately, pausing or skipping randomly, it will then pick up the song again for a few seconds before going to next on playlist. This has been random and intermittent. Today, it would not play at all. I could see the covers, titles, and navigate around in device, but no sound- and it would on it's own FF from song to song- no play time, just going from song to song in a matter of few seconds. I tried everything so I Google'd my problem and it led me to this blog. I followed your instructions and was able to find my stats. It appears that now after me doing this step- I am now able to play my music again. However, I thought I would post for any comments. My device is about 8 yrs old now, so it sounds like I've had awesome life from my device which has almost 11K songs on it. and over 77k start/stops.

Retracts 16

Realloc 0

Pending sector 0

Power on hours 2305

Start/Stops 77333

Temp current 33C

Temp min 1C

Temp max 54C

since it's been acting up I was thinking my HD is failing- which is probably is, however, I've definitely gotten the use from this beloved device. I've been shopping around, and see they no longer make a classic anymore- but have found on a few sites some "new" discontinued with 160GB storage. Any thoughts on ipod touch vs a discontinued classic (though new). I don't like change- and am attached to this device, but sounds like I will have to make a decision before too long as this device has lasted me twice as long and has had more than double the use of most of these devices stats I've seen on the blog.

Thanks.

Hello TuringTest2,

I am facing similar issue with my Ipod classic 160GB 6th gen. All of a sudden my ipod started showing "no music" and "0KB free" message. Even the Ipod is not showing up in itunes. I read your article and found followed the steps you mentioned. I am facing below problems -

1. In diagnostics mode - in the path you mentioned - Manual Test > IO > Hard drive > HDSMART , I am getting message "Error" ,select Menu to continue.

2. If I try to format ipod in windows 7, I am getting message "Windows was unable to complete the format".

3. In properties of ipod drive in windows explorer -> tools -> Error checking - I am getting message "The disk check could not be performed because Windows can't access the disk."

Could you please help me restoring my ipod further? Or is it that my ipod is not at all resuable now?

Regards,

Yayati Ekbote

Anyone here... Wpuld appreciate input. I also have an iPod Classic 160GB.

... I just did the smart check, and the stats on diagnostic are frightening...

Retracts: 13

Reallocs: 0

Pending: 0

Poweron hrs: 281

Start/stops: 24702

Temp current: 25c

Temp minimum: 62c [uhhh.... ***... 25 IS LOWER?!?!]

And... The scariest of all...

Temp max: 249c

Uh.... Is this thing needing retirement, before it blows up and turns my home into an flaming inferno??? Or... Would a DFU Restore fix this?

I appreciate the knowledgeable feedback, in advance!

Screwy temperatures like that are probably the result a crash on the device spewing out random data to the CMOS memory before it finally stopped working. As luck would have it running really hot is one possible cause so your device might have got too hot at some point (i.e. >50c) just not that hot. A DFU restore won't reset the values. Clearly it can never have got as hot as that without breaking down. The key numbers are the 0 pendings and reallocations. Unless you've used some specialist software to reset those values that would seem to suggest that the device is in good health. Are you having problems with it right now or were you just curious and then alarmed?

tt2

Thanks for the reply & info - you made a lot of sense to me.

It is problems... The problem is that I'm trying to sync more/new music, and the new stuff won't appear. Did some searching on Google... And it sounded like that is the beginning of the end for the iPod hard drive

And, that led me here...

I'm hoping it's not the end. The only mp3 player I had that I liked better, was my old Zune... It blacked out after 5yrs or so. Got an iPod, and it was replaced by warranted after a month or two... This one has lasted about 2-3yrs... So far

Hi so i have an iPod classic 5th gen 30gb (model-A1136) from 2006. I bought it used about a bout two years ago and it was working perfectly until i dropped it from about 3 feet on to hardwood floor. I think my computer (iMac late 2008, running Os x 10.11.6, and iTunes 12.6.1.25) used to recognize it but it currently does not recognize it at all. I read most of this thread and tried (mostly) everything you said. I think my situation is quite unique as no one I've seen has the same issues.

here are the stats:

first time- Retracts: 9 second time: Retracts: 9 third time: Retracts: 9

Reallocs: 9 Reallocs: 9 Reallocs: 9

Pending: 4 Pending: 4 Pending: 5

PowerOn hours: 2182 PowerOn hours: 2182 PowerOn hours: 2182

Start/Stops: 12,679 Start/Stops: 12,682 Start/Stops: 12,697

oh yeah and the temp stats were under HD info so here: Temp current: 25c Temp Min: 5c Temp Max: 54c

So when i plug my iPod classic in my mac with a genuine Apple iPod-Usb cable iTunes just spins its rainbow wheel for like 30secs and nothing happens. I even checked the disc utility thing and the iPod doesn't show up. Any suggestions? I don't want to just throw $60 away if it could be fixed. I just tried it on my other mac (mid-2007) and got the the same results. I even tried disc mode with nothing different happening.ss

Ok i just tried that DFU restore and it got worse the screen when blank for about a second then the apple logo showed and then back to "connect to iTunes to restore" so i tried again and this time it started making these loud scratching clanking noises and it showed the little iPod with a face and Xs for eyes with "ww.apple.com/support/ipod" thing. I think I killed it...

The fall may have partially dislodged the HD connector. See https://joshhighland.com/2006/03/29/fix-your-ipod-by-spanking-it/ or look at this Classic hard drive replacement guide for steps to open the device and reseat the components.

tt2

Thanks for the diagnosis, the spanking trick didn't work despite all the hopeful comments on it. I might try that hard drive replacement procedure but it looks quite tedious. I also tried spanking my dads old iPod 4 20gb (model-a1059) because it has the same problem (he dropped his too) but no use. Actually it was really weird because he dropped his many years ago. About the time I dropped mine I got his out and charged it and it worked fine. So I loaded an album on it just to make sure it worked and it worked perfectly. So I loaded 2000 songs on it and half way through the sync it crashed and died. Maybe i'll let the iPods undergo hard drive replacement but for now I think i'll save up to buy an even better one off of craigslist

According to what I read so far I’m pretty sure my drive is dead but I thought

it will be interesting to show how screwed my numbers are.

This iPod Classic 80GB is seven years old.

Check this out!

The stats don't look too serious. Try a DFU reset as described in this thread. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4439751

tt2

Stats don't look too bad. The problem may be with the source files... You should check the health of your hard drives. See also http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1210

tt2

See my post in Corrupt iPod classic, as long has you have recovered the media you can now try a DFU restore.

tt2

Try the DFU Restore method shown in Corrupt iPod classic.

tt2

Try the DFU restore method first, if that doesn't work try the "SuperFix". Details in the Corrupt iPod classic post.

tt2