Good job guys, glad this worked.
On a related topic I've been having some trouble with my iPod giving me the 'sick iPod' symbol when I try and start it up. I found a repair guy who gave me some tips that really helped me to understand and repair the device on my own. I'd like to share this with you:
First things first, it's an iPod photo 4th Gen
Symptom: The drive would start to spin up, then fail, retry over and over. Almost like the harddrive went bad. It sounded like a repetitive 'Beyoo Beyoo' sound like a piece of spring steel being flicked repetitively. Typically in a computer this is really bad, and probably means if you can get the drive going at all you should backup your data and replace the drive.
So I did some reading and found a tutorial on how to address the 'sick iPod' issue before sending it into service.
Precautions:
Before you touch anything ground yourself out, touch (with both hands) an unpainted metal part of your computer (while it's plugged in). This will clear any static charge in your body, not a bad idea when touching any electronics.
Also, put on the 'hold' switch.
Then get two flathead jewelers screwdrivers and wedge one in the seam on the long edge of the device. Once you've sneaked one flathead in try and get the second in, and use each one to get the other a little closer to the corner of the long edge. Once you've gotten to about a half inch from the edge of the device sneak the second flathead into position 1/2 " from the corner on the other side. Use the flatheads as a lever and 'pop' the shell off.
Then pull the thing apart, there's three major parts.
1: The harddrive (the sealed metal thing with the mini-IDE ribbon plugged into it
2: the main circuit board
3: the battery (which you may need to replace someday)
Scalpel:
First unplug the battery typically a white jack with a red, white and X (usually black) wire going into it. If you unplug this while doing repairs this will address a few other issues, so may as well. Just make sure to plug it back in!
Second, unplug the IDE ribbon (wide and thin yellow/orange 'cable' made of many wires) from both the circuit board and the harddrive. Then gently reseat this ribbon both in the harddrive and circuit board. I'd recommend doing the circuit board first since it's the harder of the two. Needle nosed pliers help with this, but cover the teeth with something (paper?) to protect the cable from being damaged!
Third: Remember that power plug we unplugged in step one? Plug it back in!
Lastly put the shell back in place, but don't snap it shut! Take off the hold button and see if it works! If not, you may want to do steps one thru three one more time, just to be sure!
Best of luck to ya, this procedure has revived my iPod three times sofar, takes about 5 minutes (and gets easier with experience) and saved hundreds in either repair bills or a new iPod!
Cheers,
Rob
