Bought a faulty iPod off eBay

[DivideBYZero]

Had it working within 5 minutes of removing it from the packaging! Just dropped it from about 18 inches and viola! Working 40Gb 4th gen iPod!

Need to wipe the tragic music collection though...

Tonight I'm going to open it up properly and re-seat the drive cable, clean it up a bit and resell it.

WMK!

 

[boomhower]

I am a bit confused. Did you buy a broken one that you fixed and then dropped or bought a good one and dropped it?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Bought a busted one, dropped it to fix.

 

[Need4Speed]

my 40gb was the same way. had been working perfectly then one day I got the stupid sad face. I put my ear up to it and I could hear the drive try to spin up, but it sounded like the head was stuck...so I gave it a cold old slap a few times and she woke right back up. Kept working fine...eventually the battery stopped charging so I replaced it...

 

[DivideBYZero]

I've had this unit apart tonight and dismantled the drive assembly, pulled the cable from the drive and the logic board cleaned it up and put it all back together again. Unit is good as new and it looks like it holds a charge. $45 40Gb iPod.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Just done this again with a 60Gb iPod photo I picked up for $30

 

[Ksyder]

I bought a "broken" ipod off my sister, her friend gave it to her and all I had to do was hold the middle and top button down to reset it and take it apart and clean up the screen. The thing worked pretty good for me but I sold it to my dad so he could use it for his Bose ipod dock. Now I'm in the market for a used ipod myself. If someone has one for cheap PM me Maybe I can afford it...

 

[DivideBYZero]

Just seach ebay for 'ipod faulty', it's swimming with them and nearly all of them are just open/service/reset/restore jobs. if you have any trouble with it, sell it as faulty again!

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Just seach ebay for 'ipod faulty', it's swimming with them and nearly all of them are just open/service/reset/restore jobs. if you have any trouble with it, sell it as faulty again!

Any more info as far as following through with any of the above tasks?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Yeah. It's actually super easy:

- Buy some iPod case opening tools for ~$2
- Buy 'faulty' iPod'. I'm currently sticking with 4th Gen and Photo models for now.
- Open iPod
- disconnect hold switch and headphone connector
- disconnect hard drive cable from drive end
- disconnect drive cable from logic board end
- blow everything out, clean if necessary.
- refit all parts
- power up iPod. If good you should see the last guys tune which you can harvest with yamipod ( )
- do a reset (menu & select) and ensure iPod comes up OK again from cold. Check headphones and run iPod diagnostics if you feel the need (reboot, then reverse & select at apple logo)
- connect to iTunes and choose 'Restore' on the iPod sync menu
- Profit!