4th Gen iPod Users - are we all having the same problem?

Question

4th Gen iPod Users - are we all having the same problem?

It seems I am not the only one having this problem - that half of everyone with a 4th Gen Click Wheel seems to be having the same issues. All the sudden, our iPods froze out of nowhere, lost USB/Firewire support, stopped working, got the sad iPod icon or the folder, and generally wouldn't work. Well I found a thread where someone had the same problem and hit it on his desk and it worked. I thought it couldn't hurt to try since I had nothing to lose - but instead tried it on a softer carpeted floor. After about a minute of this - it magically turned on! All my music was still there!

But then I plugged it into my computer (MacBook Pro), wasn't recognized by iTunes or the Finder - but Disk Utility could recognize it. So I completely cleared it twice. But afterwards, nothing could recognize it still. So I took my software that I originally got with it and formatted it on my PC, strangely it worked. So I thought, "great!" However, it couldn't be recognized by any iPod Updater... So I plugged it into my MacBook again, and it was recognized by iTunes and the Finder, but not the Updater. At the moment I have 9-23-2004 on it, I believe, because I used the software I got with my iPod. I was able to load some music onto it, but at song 221, it stopped and froze iTunes and the Finder. So I restarted the computer, reset my iPod a couple of times, did a Hard Drive check in diagnostic mode, and then reset it again. The same thing happened - it froze on song 221. (By the way, I have a 20GB B&W screen).

Is this something that was caused by the 3-23-2006 Updater? It seems a lot of people are having the same problem. The thing is - if I can't fix it, I might as well buy a new iPod because it costs about 1/2 of what it would be to buy the same iPod again refurbished for them to just call and send it to Apple. I'd rather not buy a new one...I kind of wanted to wait for the AV or whatever will come out around the holidays this year.

Anyways, if any Mac genius has any other ideas that I could try, I'll do anything. I'm pretty computer/Mac-literate, but I'm just at the end of my rope here. Thanks,

Raleigh

4th Gen Click Wheel B&W, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Apr 14, 2006 9:50 PM

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Answer 1

Beto

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2006 10:11 AM in response to raleighhimself

Seems like you are describing almost exactly the problems I was having yesterday with my iPod, also 4G (same as yours- B&W, 20GB). I wonder if the latest Updater is up to blame, since on almost two years the iPod never gave me any problems - until now.

Not that I reccomend it or anything, but giving it the "drop in carpet" hack that is running around some posts of late out of sheer desperation seemed to put things back to normal somewhat. I say "somewhat" because now I'm noticing songs skipping at odd points and at random intervals, which I want to believe it's the updater's fault and nothing else. If more of us keep getting the same issues and get heard, Apple better puts some attention to this...

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Answer 2

Apr 15, 2006 1:38 PM in response to Beto

I called Apple today and talked to a rep. He wasn't a lot of help - I didn't want to pay $59 for tech support (how is that justifiable, by the way???) I'm going to try iPod Updater 2006-01-10 and trash iTunes 6.0.4 and just get iTunes 6.0 or 6.0.1. They Apple rep said he'd check into this as I told him that there seem to be other people with the same problem. Basically in order to update with a past updater, you must have the relative iTunes - anything newer will not update. (I just hope that Front Row works with iTunes 6.0.)

My last attempt with the 2006-03-23 updater resulted in success! But then I tried to load some songs on from iTunes, which was able to get 32 on there before it crashed again. iTunes froze up, the iPod froze up, and the Finder froze up until I ejected the iPod (without disconnecting it, because I couldn't, which further messed up the hard drive).

I'm not sure what else to do...

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Answer 3

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 15, 2006 6:21 PM in response to raleighhimself

Ok I understand your situation, I would like you to do the following and hope it works in your case as I did with my 60G Photo.

First - I do not agree that the latest iPod update caused the problem, I have also updated for more than 10 iPods for my friends and family members, none of them have the problem. But I agree with you that there are some problem occured during the update.

Make the long story short, the dropping have solved your iPod problem, but it have not dealt with the bad sectors on the HD of your iPod, thats why there are cases being reported about skipping songs and failure on songs updating after the dropping and tapping solutions
What I did for my 60G Photo, was to plug it with my Mac, open the Disk Utility, go to tab "ERASE" and click Erase with the security option of zero out data, which took 1-2 hours to complete. In between, I needed to switch around PC/Mac (connecting my iPod) in order to got my iPod recognized by my Mac and completed the process

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Answer 4

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 15, 2006 6:24 PM in response to Mitch 751

Do not expect too high on this solution, it can only improve the situation (may be getting 80-90% compare with a non-problem iPod) but not 100% recovered, unless you change the HD of your iPod

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Answer 5

Beto

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2006 8:58 PM in response to raleighhimself

After what I thought was a small victory, I still wanted to see how I could fix the song skipping issue. So I set to apply Mitch's suggestion - to erase the iPod's HD using Disk Utility, then restore the iPod settings via the latest updater. It just made sense to do so, right?

Well, I opened Disk Utility, set to erase the iPod's HD zeroing all data, walked away for half an hour or so... just to see Disk Utility hung up doing nothing.

Situation now is:

-OS X (sometimes) recognizes the iPod... as a hard disk.
-deinstalled itunes app and .pkg, downloaded and reinstalled again.
-On last reboot, it mounted as an iPod, then iTunes asked me to "update iPod software"? "Heck yeah, but do something - anything" I muttered. And do something it did - show me the dreadful folder icon on the iPod.
- So here I am now running the (latest) iPod updater for the umpeenth time trying to restore the iPod software, but at the time of this writing it just seems stuck on the "restoring iPod" phase... oh wait, it just gave up quitting or something. Out of desperation probably...

So, after the best part of a couple of flawless years, I suddenly don't have an iPod anymore - now I just have an expensive paperweight. Thank you Apple... (sorry, but a $300 gadget isn't among the items I consider "disposable"... my apologies, had to vent a little) 😟

iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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Answer 6

Apr 15, 2006 11:14 PM in response to Beto

I did the same - Disk Utility froze up. I made a post in the Tiger forum about Disk Utility because I thought I was just being impatient. But I wasn't because after 4 hours it still had not worked. I'm guessing there's a catch on the hard drive that makes it skip during anyt reading/writing - like a scratch on a CD. I was tempted to open the iPod and check the connections on the hard drive, but I didn't because I couldn't find a thin enough screwdriver... haha. Probably better..

At the moment, I'm reformating the disk on XP and then i'll try to install iPod updater on that.

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Answer 7

Apr 16, 2006 12:02 AM in response to raleighhimself

So I think I made some progress! I plugged my iPod into Windows XP. I restored it, and plugged it into the firewire adapter. After that, everything came up! No more folder with the exclamation mark!

However... the iPod didn't come up the first time on iTunes on XP and then I plugged it back into my Macbook where it was recognized right away. I ignored the requests to update the iPod and it came up on the Finder as well as on iTunes. But I can't load ANY music onto it. It just freezes up. And then I can't eject it without hurting the hard drive. On the verge of giving up and budgeting for a new one.

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Answer 8

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 16, 2006 1:24 AM in response to raleighhimself

Hi raleighhimself ,

You are one step closer to success,what you need is to do a Restore on your Mac. Hope it works, and do remember to let the iTunes do a syc with your iPod when it asks.

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Answer 9

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 16, 2006 1:27 AM in response to Beto

Hello Beto,

The key is you must do several attempts in order to fix your iPod problem.
If you get stuck on "ERASE", then go to the Tab "Partition" and try to do either a "delete" or "Partition", if neither one works, then go to do the Erase again.
In addition, you must try to plug your iPod with a PC, if you still cant solve the problem. I tell you that it was almost took me 5 hours, switched around PC and Mac, delete, partition, erase, format or restore. But it did work.

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Answer 10

Apr 16, 2006 10:16 AM in response to Mitch 751

I tried that, but everytime I get it to restore on Mac it freezes when I begin to load songs onto it. It used to load about 200, but it gradually decreased with each time and now it will freeze while loading a single song. I was able to load one album onto it last night, and I let it play all night on repeat to run out the battery, hoping that charging it with the wall adapter might make it more stable (I'm not sure if that's a reasonable theory or not).

If it won't let me restore it on my Mac should I erase it again or partition it, and then reformat it? Every time I try that it freezes, but maybe it would work after being recharged all night... who knows.

Thanks

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Answer 11

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 16, 2006 6:18 PM in response to raleighhimself

If it won't let me restore it on my Mac should I erase it again or partition it, and then reformat it? Every time I try that it freezes, but maybe it would work after being recharged all night... who knows.

Or as I suggested, try to plug it with a PC instead

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Answer 12

Apr 16, 2006 11:33 PM in response to Mitch 751

Right, I did. It restored just fine on XP, except wouldn't come up in iTunes on XP afterwards. It did, however, come up on iTunes as well as in the finder on my Mac. Then I started to load some more music on. Every 15-20 songs or so, it would get hung up where there were about 5 songs in a row that would take about 20-30 seconds each, but it went on. Then after about 120 songs, it just froze - my iPod, iTunes, and the Finder. Well the only way I found to unfreeze it is to either shut down the computer or just unplug or reset the iPod, which compromises the disk anyways. So now I'm back at the beginning again. And so the vicious circle goes...

I think that there's a problem with the hard drive. When loading songs onto it and it freezes up, it starts to beep. It'll beep about 5 times, spaced about 5 seconds apart, and then it'll unfreeze. But then when it freezes for good it beeps once every 20 seconds or so, over and over. Looks like I'll just suck it up and dish out the money for a new iPod.

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Answer 13

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Apr 17, 2006 1:00 AM in response to raleighhimself

OK this is you last resort, try to tap the right side of your iPod for few attempts.

Plug it your Mac, go to Tab "ERASE" and click ERASE with Security Option of zero out data, which will take around 1-2 hours to complete.

If it still cant solve, then send it for reparing

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Answer 14

gloups5

Level 1

0 points

Apr 17, 2006 1:23 AM in response to raleighhimself

Have the same problem with mine , any solution working, warranty is over and 265€ of repair is just robbing somebody.
Please appel help us release new soft or something...

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Answer 15

Nutella

Level 1

0 points

Apr 20, 2006 9:05 AM in response to gloups5

I have 2 weeks with my Ipod 30GB, it was working fine, but last night I plugged to charge it on my Lap top, and it wasn't anywhere, my lap didn't recognize it, nor Itunes nothing!, I change the USB port and nothing I restart the computer with the Ipod plugged and nothing, I tried to restart it and nothing, it is pluged and it doesn't charge the ipod is doing nothing! I´m very upset because is a very expensive device! and is not working!

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