My eBay iPod
simon — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 11:24
This week I found listed on eBay an iPod nano first generation (4gb) that the seller reported as broken. It was experiencing (can I use that word for an electrical device?) the famous infinite reset loop problem. This is when the iPod won't boot, asks to be reset in iTunes, and after being reset simply asks to go through the entire process again. I thought I'd have a go at fixing it, if I could get it for a good price.
Well I got the iPod for $50 and wen't straight to my wife's computer (Windows XP) to get it fixed. She didn't have iTunes installed so I got that, booted it up, plugged in the iPod and hit 'reset' to see what was going on. I can tell you right now that this infinite loop reset issue is a real pain! After scouring the 'net for a solution (there aren't any really - they all say to simply go through the process and make sure that you've got your firewall etc. turned off) I decided to install iTunes on my computer (Ubuntu Linux 8.04) to see if that would work - nope. My computer wouldn't mount the iPod. I performed a scan of connected USB devices to see if it was there, it was. It was, however, corrupted in the first sector of its memory (the iPod nano has flash based memory) so it wouldn't mount. Back to Windows XP for at least it recognised the iPod.
What I did next fixed it. I decided that after I'd initialised the reset I'd update my iTunes music library. This caused the iPod to accept the new firmware. Don't ask my why, I have no idea, it just worked.
I installed Rockbox on it after that, and not just so I can play Doom on the iPod, but so that I can play the majority of my music collection which is in .ogg format. The iPod's working great now, Rockbox is fantastic, and all for $50.
Trackback URL for this post:
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
Rockbox
nathan — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 12:44what is this Rockbox you speak of and how does it work? I have a few.ogg files that I've had trouble converting that I'd like to play on my iPod.
What is Rockbox?
simon — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 12:52Hey Nath.
Rockbox is an alternative firmware for the iPod and quite a few other media devices. It's like the operating system for your iPod. I placed a link to the Rockbox website in my post and there is a load of information there.
Other than playing different media formats Rockbox allows you to play games like Doom (bit hard to use though), simpler games like pong and snakes (much easier to control with your iPod wheel), play movies, and heaps more. The iPod nano doesn't play .ogg files, certainly doesn't offer many games, and doesn't play movies.
The best thing about Rockbox for the average user, however, is that it doesn't remove the original iPod firmware. You can still use the iPod's original firmware if you want to...and it's SO EASY to install - mine took about a minute.
Post new comment