Simple Fix To iPod Madness?

doce writes "After chunking my seemingly dead iPod off my balcony while reviewing a rubberized case, the darned thing started working again, though not quite perfectly. After taking it apart, I managed to fix it properly just by reseating the hard drive cable. Could this be the cause of all the click-of-death "sad iPod" failures users are seeing?"

Re:Maybe

[Omega Xi]

It's possible, but wouldn't it be better to do a little more research before suggesting that this is the case?

Re:Maybe

[Mr_Tulip]

Or maybe not.

Re:good to see...

[joe 155]

it is a general rule that if something doesn't work right away you should hit it as hard as you can, the whole balcony thing is just the logical conclusion of that same idea.

Re:First Law Of Electrical Engineering

[FidelCatsro]

We had an Idiot checklist in my old office, first on the list was "Is it plugged in".
It is amazing the amount of time wasted because of silly little things like this. I always found it was the more experienced employees who made mistakes like this

No

[Van Halen]

I've been through two different 3rd generation iPods with dying/dead hard drives. The second, a 40 GB, was acquired, used, to replace the drive in the first (a 30 GB). That means I popped them both opened and did a drive swap, being extra careful to make sure all connections were properly seated.

The first drive was still dead in its "new" enclosure. The second drive still worked -- but only for a few weeks. After that, it exhibited the same symptoms of clicking and slowly dying over time. No amount of reseating helped.

The hypothesis given in the article may very well apply in many cases, but it is not the cause of all the click-of-death "sad iPod" failures users are seeing.

Re:Similar iBook Problem

[MoneyT]

I explained exactly what was wrong and that I simply wanted them to take the time to take it apart and resecure the cable this time (because I just don't have the time or patience to do it again) and they quoted me 450 dollars to fix it.

Um, you didn't have the time or patience to do it, why would the tech have the time or patience for anything less that $450?

And if you weren't happy with that price, why didn't you take it to another computer shop since you knew what was wrong and what to do?

If you don't have the time or patience to do something, you should expect to pay someone to do it for you.

Re:Since when did Apple hardware start to suck?

[hawkbug]

"Apple users just perceive their products as premium items, and thus complain louder when they break. "

No, they don't just perceive them that way - Apple sells them that way, and charges accordingly. After I pay $300 for an iPod, I rightfully expect it to last more than a year.

Re:Maybe

[Pep Strebek]

Apparently not.