what should I do to recover my ipod shuffle 512 from water damage. all I can get out of it is the fact that in the System Pofiler it shows up but nothing else. also, when I do plug it in the battery dies and refuses to charge. so far all I can get when I let it sit for 15 min, is a faint green light above the buttons. the battery indicator on the back says it has a full charge but nothing happens. I ONLY got it to play once, and that was it. am I SOL and need to get a new one or what?
I had my 1 gig go through the washing machine and after it function very strange. so I filled out a service/repair from Apple and within 5 days I got a replacement. I didn't mention what I did. here is the link...
Just to clear up any possible confusion — damage resulting from putting the Shuffle through the wash, or running over it with your Hummer, or any other form of abuse, is not ... not ... covered by the warranty.
You should get points for helping, and also for the honesty in advising OP not to actually tell the whole story (or the truth, in shorthand) when talking to Apple. I guess you realized that that wouldn't get the desired results.
Congratulations on getting away with it, I suppose. I wouldn't have shared your eagerness to publicly announce that I'd done so, but there you are.
You'll read of others who've recovered from water damage, and still others who've managed to run a game and get them replaced. Assuming you want to try the former, here's what I'd do in your situation:
a. It's already considered to be ruined and unuseable, so have little hesitation about trying seemingly extreme measures.
b. If the water was saline or other than clean fresh water the likelihood of recovery goes down. Keep that in mind.
c. The plan is to re-soak the Shuffle and then give it a good drying cycle. The best possible way to do this would be to totally disassemble the Shuffle which, if you take your time and are pretty careful, is a simple enough task. I think you'll get just about full results without going to that extreme, though, so for this try I'd just remove the power (slide) switch and leave it at that.
d. Remove the switch by, first, sliding it to OFF (all the way up). Now, with the tip of a very sharp knife blade, or even a fingernail for that matter, you just pop the switch off. It comes off easily. Note the position of the exposed switch; you'll want to ensure it's still in that position when you replace the switch cover. It won't move unless you move it, but it's nice to know what it should look like.
e. I would re-soak the Shuffle in two stages: 1st stage would be a basin of barely lukewarm, fresh water with a small amount of detergent (I'd probably use dishwasher rather than laundry types) in it. Give it some time, maybe 10-15 minutes, swishing a bit every now and then.
f. Change to a second bin of the same water but absent any detergent. Give it a few swishes, soak it a bit more, then remove.
g. Turn it over and over, gently shaking, tilting, etc., letting as much of the water run out. You don't have to be all that gentle in doing this, I think. Repeat f. and g. until you feel it's about as rinsed as it's going to get.
h. Dry in any warm (not hot) dry environment, something like the oven with the light on, etc. Block it up to allow air to circulate and water to drain, if needed, and give it enough time (measured in hours, not minutes) to totally dry.
i. Remove from oven and replace the slide switch; position the cover over the switch assy. and just press down gently to seat it.
Only after you have let it dry for at least 3 days and tried to charge and use it and it still does not work, would I recommend you doing anything.
Under no circumstances should you ever, ever, use ANY type of detergent.
Use distilled water, NOT tap water.
Don't ever put it in the oven.
Place it in a dry, airy place for a minimum of 3 days. Don't put it in direct sunlight or the oven or a heater vent. Don't try to speed up drying it with a hair drier.
give it enough time (measured in hours, not minutes) to totally dry. Actually , you mean measured in days, not hours.
Good points, Chris, and I don't want to start any "I say tomato ... " thing here but, that said ...
a. I'm assuming it's already dried by the time he's writing; it's obviously not going to work well with the water still sloshing about inside.
b. Detergent recommendation is based on direct personal experience in cleaning out a sea-water soaked autopilot. Several rinsing, drying episodes over days didn't get the job done, using the cleanest water available onboard. Once I repeated with the detergent solution (which was probably Dawn or Joy or another of those bottled ones) and subsequent rinsing and drying, it powered back up again. I know, correlation doesn't equal causation, etc., but still .... it didn't work until I did that.
c. Distilled water? Sure, if you have it. The numerous reported episodes of Shuffles going through the laundry and then working again after a drying-out certainly didn't involve that, but it's not a horrible idea.
d. Why not in the oven? You rise bread in it when configured like that, you don't bake it. Temps with the light on probably hold at right about 80 or so, at the most, which is hardly enough to melt anything. Agree about the direct sunlight and hair dryers, of course.
e. Days? Maybe, if you leave it out in moist, cool air. I'll stick the oven and a good draining first, the combination of which should do the job in well less than a day.
I have the same problem. My shuffle accidentally went through the spin cycle in the washing machine. Thankfully, it was in my pants pocket. The only part that doesn't work is the volume down button, but now it's accidentally so loud that it would only work on an airplane.
Should I follow the aformentioned steps just to fix the down volume, or is there any easier way?
My recommendations are based on the lowest common denominator. The user (not this one specifically) but all of them in general.
Suggest putting it in the oven and someone will turn it on. Or forget about it & cook a pizza. Guaranteed.
Distilled water is simply a trip to the grocery store and $1.49. The water is bad for electronic circuits because of the impurities in it.
Thanks for all the help ladies and gentlemen, I was successfully able to get it to work this morning, how ever, I am leary of the battery it self. I am afraid that it will explode, leak, die faster then normal, or just not run the Shuffle at all. but it does play. sometimes the buttons stick, but that's ususally fixed with a tap.
