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We have a winner to our How to Fix an iPod Contest!
If you recall, two of my iPods froze while playing two different U2 songs over the course of a few years. The first time it was under warranty so the Apple store replaced it. But the second time the warranty had expired and the Apple store had no clue how to fix it. They suggested I buy a new one.
Whelp, one of our readers out-foxed the guys at the Genius Bar by dropping this comment in my original post:
Posted by Reub
I have had the same problem with my 40g iPod. Actually I had the same problem four times (I remember because I was becoming so irritated that upon recieving my fourth iPod I named it iPod #4 which pops up to remind me every time I sync it to my PC) After trading it in three times previously my warrenty was out of date. I took a trip to Mexico where the iPod decided to give me the iPod face of death. With no Apple support to be found for hundreds of miles I became so frustrated that I did what anybody would do to fix a broken piece of electronics: I threw it on the ground. =) Low and behold the jolt from the impact jumpstarted my iPod haha. I’ve gotten the screen many times afterwards and now I just kind of hit it with the palm of my hand and put my ear to it to see if the hard drive is spinning on the inside. I haven’t had to replace my iPod since. Thank you random acts of anger!
I figured I had nothing to lose, so I, too, threw the thing on the floor and voila! she’s as good as new! Thanks Reub! I’ll be sending you a copy of my novel, Behind Everyman.
And congrats to Amanda who correctly identified the two songs (“Walk On” & “Where the Streets Have No Name”) and the cure: “Did you drop it?” We’ll be in touch about your trophy In the Beginning.
Comments (10)
Comment
Good ol’ percussive maintenance. :)
posted by MH on 4-17-2008 at 10:38 pm
I had this problem recently as well. I disassembled my ipod and found that the ribbon cable that hooked up to the hard drive was a bit loose. After unhooking it, and doing the classic nintendo cartridge clean-by-blowing-on-it method, I put it all back together and it’s worked fine ever since.
My guess is that by slamming it on the ground or whatever, you’re just reseating the cable. Hard drives tend to dislike slamming, so I’m not sure that’s a good long term solution but whatever makes you feel good right?
posted by Steve on 4-17-2008 at 11:27 pm
Yep, that also happened with my non-iPod MP3. Every once and a while, it will freeze (usually between songs), and I hear a “skipping” sound. A quick smack with a hand and it’s all good!!
Technology is amazing, isn’t it??
posted by Erin on 4-18-2008 at 12:15 am
Hi,
I’m a Mac Genius at an Apple Retail store here in the U.S. Between us? We do that in back sometimes. But you would be a little unnerved if we took your iPod in back, came out fifteen seconds later, and it was working… am I right?
Percussive maintenance is secretly a vital tool to our own older iPods.
A warning, though: DO NOT DO THIS WITH A TOUCH OR PHONE.
posted by AnonyGenius on 4-18-2008 at 12:51 am
Hahaha! It’s hilarious that something you would never do to an expensive piece of equipment on purpose actually fixes the darn thing. Glad I could help! Geez, misspelling words is pretty embarrassing when they’re put on the front page for everyone to see =) oh well.
posted by Reub wins a friggin book! on 4-18-2008 at 9:36 am
OMG. Seriously I was laughing at this post and telling my husband about it and he said “isn’t your 40G hosed?” It was sitting near us so I grabbed it and let it drop from about 2 ft. up in our kitchen (linoleum). As we joked about how that would never fix it, it BOOTED UP.
Thanks mental floss!! I love you guys!
posted by tulip on 4-18-2008 at 12:50 pm
Long ago, back when 5.25″ MFM and RLL drives were the cat’s meow :-), I was a PC Service Technician for an un-named company, and that was the tech-support approved solution from Seagate for a sticking spindle (which the drive platters rotate on). Repackage the drive in it’s original shipping containter, then drop from a height of about 2 feet. Worked like a charm, and allowed MANY customers to get their lost data back. Nice to know things really haven’t changed…
posted by Rich on 4-18-2008 at 2:13 pm
I have yet to see the “sad face of death” on my brand new nano, but I know the solution of I do!
Thanks, mental_floss! You guys rock!
posted by Amy on 4-19-2008 at 9:58 pm
Amazing. Worked for me as well!
posted by Jason on 4-19-2008 at 11:27 pm
I read this a couple of days ago. I was just in my room, and I saw my dead ipod. It’s been utterly dead since late 2006. I figured “why not?”, and I too, threw it on my floor. I plugged it in, and now it works.
You rule, Reub
posted by Kathe on 4-21-2008 at 8:19 pm