Ok, so after I finally received my first (and only, so far) iPod back in February, I came across the website ipodlounge.com. I was looking for some kind of silicone-type cover for it so that it wouldn't look too tacky, but still be protected from scratches/drops/other miscellaneous damage. Needless to say, I came across the website lajo.biz and hence my current selection of iPod covers. From the very beginning, I've loved this website. It's like a Consumer Reports for iPods. And we all know how I love (and swear by) CR.
Since then, the website has changed domains to ilounge.com, but it's premise remains the same - the be the best source of information for anything related to any kind of iPods.
Well, as of late, my 4G monochrome iPod has been on the fritz. I'd wonder why there would be some extremely short-lived skipping before songs were played. And then the bottom fell out. When I'd plug my iPod into my computer, it went unrecognized and said that the hard drive was corrupt (file error 1418, if anyone's checking). Whenever I'd go to start it up or restart or whatever, all that would show up on the screen was the file folder with an exclamation, with a link to Apple's support page for iPods. That site didn't get me far, only to tell me that it would cost $275 and change to send it in to get it repaired. I figured I might as well give up on that prospect and just get a new one for about $240, or whatever the 30 gig cost on Apple's website.
Then I remembered ilounge.com and found it bookmarked. Surely something was mentioned about my problem. After quickly browsing a few areas of the website and random forum topics, I didn't come up with much. Then I found something out about performing a disk scan, and since my hard drive was deemed "corrupt", this could work. Well, couldn't get that to work. So I searched that up on ilounge and stumbled upon this thread:
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=135673
C'mon, opening up the iPod and slapping the hard drive? Could that really work? Of course, I was skeptical as anything. But at this point, there was no return. Either my iPod was done for or I suddenly had a free, DIY repair.
After using this site for tips on how to safely open my iPod (which was flawless, BTW), I did what was mentioned in the thread and took the hard drive and tapped it a few times. While I had it open, I wanted to see if this really did work. So I started my iPod up and it was ok. The next step was to hook it up to my computer and do the real test. While the original message that my iPod was corrupted did pop up on screen again, I still chose to restore it. This time it worked like a charm! My iPod was recognized by my computer for the first time and something just worked!
It sounds ludicrous to actually open up a piece of machinery and just slap around the what-was-thought-to-be super-sensitive hard drive. But you know what, it works!
So if you ever come across this kind of behavior with your iPod or someone else's, this is the trick! Now hopefully this is a somewhat reliable fix that lasts for a few months. As to how long this remedy lasts is unknown. But it immediately saves you some cash on something that really shouldn't be such a problem. Who would've thought that something that seems like the be-all-end-all for your iPod could be repaired so easily? This is truly a blessing... at least in the short-run!
Huge props goes out to ilounge.com and everyone who's a part of the site!
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