How to fix an iPod
March 12th, 2007
Well, it is my last blog post ever. I am graduating in a week, but I am leaving UCLAradio.com in the capable hands of GM-elect Laura Katz, a team of brilliant managers, and an extraordinary staff of DJs, newsies, sports nuts and others. In other words, don’t worry.
People have been asking me a lot lately, “What are you going to do after you graduate?” My main answer has been “I’m not quite sure yet,” though I’ve had some ideas and I know a few things I definitely do not want to do (eg, move back to the OC). But yesterday I finally realized my future profession.
A couple months ago, my iPod stopped working. I would try to start it up, sometimes it would turn on, but I could hear the hard drive whirring, clicking, and spinning down, and it would quickly fail. It was useless. I stopped using it.
Fast forward to yesterday – I get this in my MySpace bulletin box:
Subject: iPod sad face?
Body: Hey everyone. Last week my iPod started up and came up with the “frowny face” icon. i read on a message board that if you give the ipod a good whack on it’s bottom (where you connect the dock) against a table or hard surface, it’ll start working.with all other options exhausted, i tried it, and IT WORKED. so if you ever get the frowny face, try it!
Indeed, all my options were exhausted, so I took my iPod to the kitchen counter and prepared to whack it. First I turned it on – why not? – and then I hit it at about 80% of maximum possible force on the granite countertop. It flashed the sad iPod logo, restarted itself, and worked fine. It has been 24 hours. I’ve been using it non-stop since then. I am confident in saying I fixed it by smacking it really hard against a granite countertop.
Impressed with my method, fellow UCLAradio.com programmer (and blogger) Carman offered me his iPod to “fix.” It had been broken for a year, and would never go past the startup screen. I whacked it, pretty much the same velocity, same granite countertop, and got the same result – it flashed the sad screen, started up, and has worked fine all day.
So now I know what I’m going to do when I graduate: Start an iPod fixing business.
- Greg Katz
General Manager, Feb 06 – Mar 07
Assistant GM, Oct 05 – Feb 06
Marketing Director, Oct 04 – Oct 05
Programmer, Jan 04 – Mar 07
APPENDIX: This method has subsequently worked on three out of three iPods which were brought to me with similar problems. Bizarre.
Posted by Greg
24 Comments »
March 15th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Adios amigo. May your iPods be trouble free, and your camera phones have many pixels.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:20 am
`when i try it out, ill let you know what happened..
good thing i saw you today, otherwise i wouldnt have heard of this technique!
-betty
March 19th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Amazing… I just did it to my iPod that’s been sitting dead in a drawer for a year… It Works!
March 19th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
congratulations on a career well-blogged.
March 19th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Oh wow… I saw this and though… psh no way, but i may as well give it a shot! Sure enough… totally fixed my iPod photo. Who know for how long though..
March 28th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I’ve given my iPod a good solid wack before, but never on the dock connector area (always hit it on its back)….seems like you’ve revived my 4th gen 20gb! Wonder if its a lose connector inside? Who cares – I’m jammin again! WOOT!
March 29th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
hey
my ipod has been trouble free for almost 3 years until this frowny face shit started happening a week ago. i hesitantly took your advice, reset it to the start up screen, and slammed 3 times on my desk. when i plugged it back it in, it instantly powered up as if nothing was wrong. whoever found this method out is a genius or a caveman. thank you
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Desperate for a way to fix my iPod–after I’d contacted AppleCare and was informed that any files I didn’t already have backed up would be lost for good–I found this post.
With nothing to lose, I gave your advice a try. I didn’t hit it that hard–just tossed it against a linoleum floor. I’d been trying to get it to start for a good three hours with no results. After dropping it on the floor, the gears inside clunked a little–I can definitely tell there’s something loose in the hardware–but it turned on perfectly fine!
At this point, I don’t care if the iPod actually works anymore–I’ve got enough juice to recover my 8000 songs and videos and I owe you entirely for that.
So thanks! And best of luck in that iPod repair business… I’ll offer all the free word-of-mouth advertising you could possibly need.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I had given up all hope and was sitting here depressed when I found your post and I’d just like you to know that if you were within reach right now I’d have to kiss you!! It worked. You are my god.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Wow, I have been pressing random buttons on my ipod to try to get it to work. After just hitting it like you said, it flashed and turned on. It was amazing. Thank you.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
“discovered” the same insane hint a few months back and has been successfull on three separate units, weird but wonderful
August 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
My iPod did this again on Friday, but after ten bangs, it now works perfectly.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
WOW it works, my ipod has been giving me the frowny face for a year. i did all that apple told me to and nothing worked, when i saw your website and it said that i thought it was a joke, but i worked. thx alot
September 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I have tried this several times for the last 10 minutes… I have got nothing so far. maybe I should be hitting it harder? It just doesn’t seem right, but then again, it’s already “broken” so I guess I shouldn’t worry. I have nothing to lose. I’ll let you know if it works later.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I just tried this out and it worked perfectly! Thank you!
February 9th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I did this about 3-6 months after I thought my iPod Photo was dead for good and it worked! But then it broke the same way about two months later. And I did it again and it worked! And then it broke again about 6 months later. And I did it again and it didn’t work. So I did it again a few days later and it worked!
The problem has just gotten worse and worse and the manner in which I have to hit it just gets trickier and trickier.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Ahahaha…I cant believe it…I decided to drop it on the floor instead of wacking it (Im a little too attached to the ipod..). It made a sad face again and then the apple logo lit up! It started working! Awesome… Heheh….Lets hope it lasts a little longer…Its a wicked old ipod (2003 which is like ancient) and I love it dearly…
and now it works! Yay! Thanks
March 15th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Hey, i found an ipod video (5th gen) awhile ago, while hanging out with my friends. so i brought it home, i replaced the screen cause it was broken. it occasionally flashed on and off, but that was before i replaced the screen so i couldn’t make out what was flashing. so far i’ve replaced the lcd screen and the battery. But nothing still, now it doesn’t even flash on, i can still hear something that sounds like gears turning. Do you or anyone have any idea whats wrong with it?
November 27th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I just did it to my ipod photo 60g and it work,I cant believe it… It Works! THANK YOU!!
February 17th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
It is pretty amazing….. It worked for me just now! Thanks a million.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I cannot believe that just worked. Thank you. . .IT’S ALIVE!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I did it on my daughter’s iPod & it worked too. (Stagehand in NYC without an iPod; she was going crazy)
June 19th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
that doesn’t work… i think you are liing…
September 1st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
holy crap! this really worked! the apple website said $200 to fix..