Flashing Apple Logo, 4th gen clickwheel

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Level 1

8 points

Flashing Apple Logo, 4th gen clickwheel

Dug out my old fourth-gen clickwheel iPod, A1059 is the model number, I think. I've thought about paying to get the iPod refurbished, but not if it means replacing every part of it but the case and the display (they're both pretty good).

I figured the battery would be shot, but I put it on the original FireWire charger for a few hours. It shows the Apple logo on the screen. I tried to do a reset as described in the support docs here online, but now the Apple logo will display for six to eight seconds, the screen will go blank for a second and then the Apple logo is displayed again. This cycle has continued for an hour or so.

I'm assuming that, since the Apple logo is displaying, there is something that has caused the iPod to be stuck in an endless loop of resetting. Would this more likely be the result of a bad hard drive or of a bad "motherboard"?

Thoughts?

4th-generation mono iPod

Posted on Aug 24, 2016 11:12 AM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Aug 25, 2016 12:31 PM in response to JonKerfoot

Hey there JonKerfoot!

Glad to hear that you were able to get the iPod out in an attempt to be able to use it again. That's definitely a good sign if it was allowing you to charge it but now we need to take a look and see why it seems to be in an endless loop with displaying the Apple logo and then restarting. When you did the reset in the support documents, was it trying to put it into disk mode? Having this information will allow us to determine if we can get it back working or if we'd need to look into service options for it. When you get a chance, take a look at this and see if it's the steps that you tried already. If not then go ahead and give them a shot in an attempt to get it back up and running.

How to put your iPod into disk mode

Cheers!

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Answer 2

JonKerfoot Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 25, 2016 12:31 PM in response to raina_b22

Thanks, becky_s22. I had not tried to put the iPod into disk mode. Amazing to me, when I followed the directions to put the iPod into disk mode, it seemed to work. I plugged the iPod into my Mac Pro (2009) via a Firewire800-to-400 adapter, and iTunes asked to restore the iPod. I told it to do that, which it seemed to do.

I then ejected the iPod in iTunes and plugged it into the original power supply with the Firewire cable, and the restore completed. I then plugged the iPod back into the Mac with the same adapter and Firewire cable, and it seems to be trying to sync music. I have 1800 songs, so maybe I should have only selected one or two as a test, but we shall see how it goes.

So far, I'm seeing success. I don't know if I'm ready to declare complete success, but things look hopeful.

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Answer 3

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Aug 25, 2016 12:54 PM in response to JonKerfoot

Sounds good so far! It might take a little while with that many songs but it should go through fine for you now. If something does happen and the situation changes, we're all here for you so reach out any time!

Happy listening and make it an awesome day!

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Answer 4

JonKerfoot Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2016 10:23 AM in response to raina_b22

Hm.

iTunes is throwing me a curveball, I think. Seems like a lot of my songs are corrupted. Have to do some more digging....

The few songs that are complete, though, play just fine.

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Answer 5

JonKerfoot Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2016 10:40 AM in response to JonKerfoot

Yeah, something is weird.

I can listen to a playlist in iTunes and it seems to be fine - first song plays, then second song and so on until the last song is finished. However, if I try to listen to the same playlist on the iPod, it's like a "preview feature" - I get a few seconds (or less) of each song. It isn't time-consistent, either - I might get zero seconds of a song or I may get six or seven seconds.

There are a few individual songs that are complete and do play fine, it seems.

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Answer 6

Aug 26, 2016 4:54 PM in response to JonKerfoot

As a test, try connecting the iPod to power. If it's connected to your computer, eject the iPod in iTunes but leave it connected. Alternately, you can also use a USB or FireWire power adapter. Does this problem still occur when playing songs, if the iPod is connected power (so it's not running off battery power)?

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Answer 7

JonKerfoot Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2016 4:59 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Hi, Kenichi,

It does not seem to matter whether the iPod is connected to power or not.

Concrete example: One of the albums on my iPod is a compilation that has 21 songs on it. When I choose the album and start the first song with the Select button, a second or so of the first song plays, then it skips to the second song (I see the 2 of 21 indicator in the upper left of the iPod screen), and so on up to the 15th song, which, as before, plays a second or so, then the Apple logo appears for a few seconds, the iPod screen clears and the main menu displays.

More and more this is feeling like a hard drive issue on the iPod. I'm wondering if it's worth trying to revive this thing....

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Answer 8

Aug 26, 2016 5:35 PM in response to JonKerfoot

A hard drive that is becoming unreliable (but has not completely failed) may do that... But it seems like you would also see a problem when doing a Restore followed by a complete sync. And you were able to successfully Restore and sync the iPod.

You can use Disk Utility to check the iPod's drive. Connect iPod and run Disk Utility, with iTunes not running. If the iPod does not appear in Disk Utility's sidebar, you may need to Enable disk use, or restart it into Disk Mode

How to put your iPod into disk mode - Apple Support

In Disk Utility, select iPod device in sidebar (not the volume indented below device). Click First Aid. Then, select the iPod's volume in sidebar, and click First Aid. See if any errors are reported.

NOTE: If your version of OS X is older, use the Repair Disk button on First Aid tab.

You can also try doing an Erase using Disk Utility to completely initialize the iPod's hard drive. Select iPod device (not the volume) in sidebar, and click Erase. You want to use these settings.

Name - (does not matter)

Format - OS X Extended (Journaled)

Scheme - Apple Partition Map

NOTE: If your version of OS X is older, please post back.

After the Erase completes, quit Disk Utility and run iTunes. Because the iPod's hard drive is completely erased, you must do a Restore using iTunes (whether you are prompted or not). After the Restore, sync iPod again. You may want to only sync a few dozen songs initially, as a test.

If the hard drive is shown to be faulty, you can consider replacing it with commonly available flash-based storage, such as compact flash or SD card. My old 4th gen iPod has a 64GB compact flash card (on an adapter).

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Answer 9

JonKerfoot Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 31, 2016 2:44 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Kenichi,

So far, so good! I had to format the hard drive on the iPod twice (the normal quick-erase didn't work), but now I have a functioning 4th-gen iPod. Just synced a couple of playlists on it as a test, so I'm going to have to put it back on the Mac and leave it for a while to sync everything, but I'm happy so far.

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Answer 10

Aug 31, 2016 7:47 PM in response to JonKerfoot

Glad to hear its working again. 4th gen iPod has great sound; you should keep using it as long as possible. 🙂 It works great with a compact flash (or SD) card on an adapter, if the hard drive does become faulty (which happens eventually to all hard drives).

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