Ipod won't go past Apple screen and reboots in disk mode after changing battery

[HigherGround]

This is a very weird problem, I have Rockbox installed on my iPod Photo 4G. Today I replaced the battery as the old one wasn't performing as well anymore, but now when I boot it, the ipod shows the folder icon (and once or twice the sad face icon), and when I try to put it in emergency disk mode and connect it to the computer, It'll go to the emergency disk mode screen for about 30 seconds then reboot. I tried putting in another spare hard drive I have with the same result, and putting the old battery back in with the same result. I've also booted into apple's diagnostic mode (pressing [<< and Select at the same time while its rebooting on the apple screen) and done various checks, SDRAM, etc, the only thing which seems amiss is that it's not reporting a model name for Hard drive info, and reporting a capacity of 8gb. I know both the hard drives are fine. What did I break and can I fix it?

This was supposed to be a gift for my sister bought the ipod from ebay and refurbished it and rockboxed it, it was working perfectly until i changed the battery! Any help is much appreciated,

Cheers,

Matt

[yapper]

Check the hard drive cable to make sure it isn't damaged.

[HigherGround]

It doesn't look damaged, any particular indication i should be looking for? If it's damaged, can replace the connector?

[yapper]

Look for it being cracked or displaced from the connectors. Check for any other connectors you may have dislodged while you were swapping the battery.

[HigherGround]

It doesn't look cracked, I disconnected it and reconnected it to make sure it was properly connected. I also can't see any other dislodged or abnormal connections. Could the logic board be damaged then? I've seen some on sale for 20 pounds, which isn't too bad a price.

[yapper]

If you have tried two drives and two batteries with the same results, then the logic board would be a good next guess.

[kvnknrd]

Iam having a similar result with my ipod video, you may want to take a look at my thread. My problem seems to have come out of nowhere... I may have cancelled a format or something but even then, is that enough to ruin the ipod for life?? Surely, it cant be. I need itunes to recognize my ipod for long enough bfore it restarts so I may restore it. Is it true that the hard drive zif cable may be the culprit?? They are only a few bucks from ebay so I don't see why it'd hurt to try...

Its also worth noting that in my diagnostic mode as well when i go to IO / HardDrive the only two options that I have are HDSpecs and HDSmartData... there is no other checks I may do and half the time these checks freeze my ipod.

[torne]

As far as we know, it is impossible to permanently break an iPod by doing anything in software. No amount of writing bad data to the hard drive should ever stop he emergency disk mode from working to restore from iTunes.

So, it's very safe to assume you have some kind of hardware problem. If the iPod shuts off immediately on entering disk mode, a likely cause is an old/broken battery which cannot provide enough power to spin up the drive. Even a newly purchased battery is not necessarily okay, since you probably don't know how long it sat on a shelf before you bought it; lithium ion batteries lose capacity constantly once they come off the production line, even if they are not used at all.

[kvnknrd]

It doesnt shut off immediately, when plugged in in disk mode-- at least for me-- the battery appears to be full. It seems the ipod restarts and goes back to the apple around the same time each time. This is a "newer" battery I bought from ebay within the past couple months. Could it be a lemon?

[HigherGround]

The issue is that it was actually working fine before I attempted to change the battery, getting about 5 - 6 hours worth, which isn't ideal as my sister does a lot of travelling and I was going to give this to her. That's why I changed the battery. For this reason I think I may have damaged the connector or the logic board when changing the battery. When I'm in diagnostic mode, with either hard drive, I don't get any information on HDSpec (the ipod freezes when choosing this option) and the HDRW test fails with message "HDD R/W fail". The first battery was still good, just not optimal.

[kvnknrd]

I just ordered a new hard drive cable + new hard drive + new battery.

[torne]

It doesnt shut off immediately, when plugged in in disk mode-- at least for me-- the battery appears to be full. It seems the ipod restarts and goes back to the apple around the same time each time. This is a "newer" battery I bought from ebay within the past couple months. Could it be a lemon?

If you hold it in your hand you can probably feel it start to spin up just as it resets. And yes, eBay is not a reliable source for *anything* which can have invisible defects... a lot of stores, online or in real life, have stocks of batteries for all kinds of consumer products and many of them will continue to sell them no matter how long they have been in the warehouse. Lipoly battery packs don't often have a manufacturing date printed on them anywhere, so it's hard to tell.

[HigherGround]

I think can confirm that its not the battery. If I disconnect the battery completely and plug the ipod in so that its powered purely from the mains, and It boots to the apple logo and then shows the folder error icon. How conclusive is this?

[torne]

Er, doesn't that prove it *is* the battery, just not for the reason I guessed? Can you get to emergency disk mode without the battery connected, and then restore with itunes? i.e. get it back to a functional state without the battery, and then see what happens if you reconnect the battery after that?

[kvnknrd]

Er, doesn't that prove it *is* the battery, just not for the reason I guessed? Can you get to emergency disk mode without the battery connected, and then restore with itunes? i.e. get it back to a functional state without the battery, and then see what happens if you reconnect the battery after that?

I will try this later tonight. If it doesn't end up being the hard drive, at least I'll have an upgraded 120 gb-- drive for years to come.. and bought a 1.8" zif enclosure for a few bucks for the 80gb drive so if it still works ill have a handy dandy little external drive.