sad iPod

[GregDunn]

During a move, my 10G iPod was stored (fully charged) in its box for several months. When I pulled it out and plugged it back into my Mac, I got the Apple logo, the disk icon, and finally the sad iPod icon. Forcing a reboot and then a complete hard reset of the unit doesn't change things at all. It won't mount either as a pod or as a disk drive, even after a prolonged charging session. It won't reset, whether plugged into the Mac or the charging adapter.

Is it likely that the battery is dead/defective, or did the internal drive croak? I'm willing to pop the case open and replace the battery, but if it's actually a hardware defect... is it even worth repairing when I can get a bigger pod for half the price this one cost?

[GregDunn]

I took the pod into an Apple store yesterday. The tech was very helpful, but after trying every trick he knew, it still refused to come up. He said the battery may have been damaged by several months of inactivity, which I find a bit dodgy. At any rate, he finally pronounced it officially DOA and handed it back to me.

I was pretty annoyed last night at the departure of the pod, so I figured "what the heck - can't hurt it" and pried the case open and disconnected the battery. A new one is only $25, so I'm not that much worse off if it doesn't help. I measured the battery voltage and found it low, as expected. I didn't get around to exploring further till this afternoon, when it occurred to me that I should be measuring the battery voltage in-circuit while trying to charge.

You can see where this is going. I re-connected the battery, plugged in the Firewire cable, and the pod rebooted and mounted on the desktop. One software update later, it's running fine and the battery is charging as I write. I didn't even lose any songs (not that it matters), even though I tried the restore/reformat several times before yesterday. Obviously, the battery was so low that it inhibited proper reboot of the pod, and disconnecting it overnight allowed the hardware to reset to a known state. I have no idea if the battery will charge/discharge normally now, so I'm going to replace it anyway.

[CAlvarez]

It is possible for a Li-Ion battery to discharge to the point where the charge controls will not let it charge again. This is a safety feature. There is a chance that your battery has suffered permanent damage by being fully discharged, and further use can cause it to leak or explode (literally, bad Li-Ions do explode). Personally I'd just change it out, since as you said, it's only $25. If it leaks, you won't know it until the caustic paste has eaten the insides of your iPod.

[mac_man_luke]

maybe you battery had become slightly disconnected?

[GregDunn]

I left the battery connected (with the back off, so I could detect any signs of overheating) long enough to be sure that it wasn't going to charge, then removed it. No idea whether the battery was loose internally or not... but it's toast now. :(

The pod works fine when connected to the AC adapter without the battery attached, but with it plugged back in I get flaky behavior and seemingly random reboots from the pod. My new replacement battery is on its way...

[MBHockey]

Just out of curiosity, how long did this battery last you?

[GregDunn]

:) It didn't, really. Long story, but after initially testing it to make sure it worked, it went back in the box fully charged and I only picked it up again a few weeks ago. It has virtually zero play time, and probably 1 charge/discharge cycle. If I'd known that it would fail like this, I would have tried to charge it periodically instead of leaving it packed away.

[mac_man_luke]

Why would you buy one and then pack it away?

[GregDunn]

Like I said, long story. It was a gift, I wasn't really ready to start using it due to a bunch of other involvements, and I couldn't use it anyway until I could find a program to replace iTunes for retrieving the data from the net. That didn't all come together till a few weeks ago.

Makes me wonder... if I hadn't opened it at all till recently, would it have been DOA? ;)

[funkycfunkydo]

is ti really that easy to replace the battery? After about a year of heavy use, my iPod's battery life is less than perfect to put it nicely :p . I don't think I'm a confident enough handyman to pry the back off my beloved iPod and stick in a new battery. I would do it, however, if the alternative is paying a mac expert $150 to do it for me. Any other advise on prosedure or where to get a battery would be much appreciated.

p.s. is the improved battery life in the new pods from a different battery or more efficiant hardware?

[CAlvarez]

It is very easy to replace the battery yourself.

And as has been learned in this thread, don't leave Li-Ion batteries sitting in a device for long periods of time without charging.

[GregDunn]

It's not difficult. macsales.com sends a toolkit with their batteries, and it'll take about a minute to gently lever the back off. The most delicate part is making sure you don't rip the hard drive loose from its connector and possibly damage the board when removing the battery from its double-sided tape; I had no problem, but don't just grab and yank. Err on the side of damaging the battery, though, since it's being replaced anyway. ;)

The new 3G and 4G pods can't hold as large a battery as the 1G pods. They are more efficient, but their batteries are actually lower capacity. I haven't seen a good aftermarket battery for them yet (that improves battery life dramatically, that is).