Successful iPod Repair

About a year and a half ago I was at the gym with my iPod. I dropped it onto the ground and it worked for about five seconds until it went crappy and displayed a broken folder icon on the screen. I spent a few days diagnosing the problem, and even took it to an Apple store to request assistance from a "Genius". Sadly, there seemed no hope for my iPod. Assumming it was a broken hard drive (and since I didn't have an extended warranty) I chalked it up to user stupidity and purchased a new iPod.

Replacing the hard drive would've cost almost as much as a new iPod, and since they were now offering larger storage and newer iPods, I just bought a new one. However, I held on to my old iPod as I was very attached to it. It was my first ever iPod, and well, I'm a geek who refuses to let a challenge get the better of him. I figured someday I'll crack it open and see what's inside.

About two months ago I did just that. I started examining my iPod for a way to open the case without damaging it. I spent the better part of my Saturday squeezing the case, looking for seams, trying to figure out how the damn thing was even put together in the first place. Eventually, I had the case opened.

The hard drive was easy enough to disconnect, and I found a replacement for less than $200. Last week the new hard drive was delievered to me and I hooked it up where the old drive was connected. Nothing changed. The broken folder icon was still displaying on the screen. The hard drive was not the problem.

As it turns out, the culprit of the defect was not the hard drive, but was the connecting ribbon between the hard drive and the circuit board. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that a small copper pin had broken off of the connector that sits between the hard drive and the circuit board. $10 later, I had ordered a replacement ribbon to see if that would alleviate the problem.

The culprit

Today the ribbon arrived. I took out the old ribbon, placed the new ribbon in its location, connected the original hard drive and attached the firewire cable to provide power (the battery has since been discharged to no power). The Apple logo appeared on the display and I was waiting for the broken folder icon. It never appeared. The iPod booted up, and mounted on my computer's desktop. iPod repair, score one!