Ipod Woes...

[stunt_man]

... of the freakiest kind.

Ipod: 5th Generation Ipod Video
PC: Running Windows Vista
What happened: No clue

Symptoms: Well, first of all, when I turn it on, I get the normal black screen with the silver Ipod logo (so far, so good). Next it goes to a black and white screen (unlike the ipod software's normal white-and-blue theme) with a message that says "Connect to your computer - Use iTunes to restore" in like 5 different languages. No problem, right? I should just be able to do what it says and it should work, right? Well, wrong.

So, I connect the shit disturber to my PC, and it tells me 'Do not disconnect' (in the same black and white screen as before - this is not the same 'Do not disconnect' screen as I'm used to) and there's a little circle with arrows spinning around in the top left. It seems to be charging.

Here's where it gets whack. I've already opened iTunes, and it recognized my iPod. The problem is that it tells me it's corrupted and needs to be restored if I want to use it. 'Okay,' I think. 'What could be the harm in that? I have all my files backed up - it's cool.' So I hit the restore button in iTunes. I wait for a short time (seemingly too short). When the restore process is over, a message pops up in iTunes saying that my iPod will restart and then show up in the iTunes afterwards.

Now, here's where it gets real freaky-whack. The iPod shows up, but it gives me the same message as before - iTunes wants me to restore my iPod again. I did my homework, and I discovered that this little shit-fuck is called the 'iPod restore loop.' 'Great,' I figure, 'I'm not the only one with this problem.' Well, it turns out that even though this is a well-known problem, there is absolutely zero official support for it. The only people that ever got through this issue had to reformat the disk in Windows.

So, I go into 'My Computer,' right-click my iPod, and choose 'Format.' I selected the FAT32 option (iPod default) and hit 'Start.' I waited awhile - it seemed to be working. Then Windows told me I couldn't reformat it.

So, what the fuck?

Any iPod gurus in the house?

[Kornman00]

Then Windows told me I couldn't reformat it.
It seems to only speak Zune, not Poddounian :downs:

[0m3g4Muff1n987]

Umm... combining the ipod, an apple product that is already dysfunctional with windows computers, and Vista, a microsoft product that is dysfunctional with everything, wasn't such a good idea. :D

Get a Zune. :)

[Syuusuke]

Huh was my post deleted?...

If there is an alternative way to format your iPod, then you might as well use those methods...

[Rob Oplawar]

There is software you can download to format drives in ways that Windows refuses to. Can't remember what it's called tho... do a search for that and see if you turn up anything useful.

[klange]

Get yourself a GPartEd Live CD (http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/). It's a live Linux mini-distro with the Gnome Partition Editor. It should be able to format your iPod to FAT32 rather easily (Remember, it's a partition editor, make sure you have the right device selected or you could end up reformatting your harddrive)

[stunt_man]

Nice... I actually remember hearing something about this GPartEd business... I'll try this out and post back with an update tomorrow...

I just don't want to have to wait 'till 2009 when the Apple Store in my town opens up.

Oh, and I posted here to get a solution, 0m3g4Muff1n987, not to be heckled by a M$ fanboy. If I can help it, I'm not going to let this $300 MP3 player hit the can.

[stunt_man]

Right, so I tried the CD... I got it loaded up fine and everything, but my iPod didn't show up in the list. There was my 250GB HD and a 1MB unallocated, grey 'disk.' I don't know what that is, but it's not my iPod... I couldn't even do anything to it anyway - all the options were unavailable.

So, why isn't my iPod showing up? Is it something I did/didn't do?

[TeeKup]

Oh, and I posted here to get a solution, 0m3g4Muff1n987, not to be heckled by a M$ fanboy. If I can help it, I'm not going to let this $300 MP3 player hit the can.

Just from that single quote I can tell you are awesome good sir. Try what Bacon said.

EDIT:

Right, so I tried the CD... I got it loaded up fine and everything, but my iPod didn't show up in the list. There was my 250GB HD and a 1MB unallocated, grey 'disk.' I don't know what that is, but it's not my iPod... I couldn't even do anything to it anyway - all the options were unavailable.

So, why isn't my iPod showing up? Is it something I did/didn't do?

Um, try doing the same thing on a Mac? Thats the only advice I can give you. Due to my current financial crisis, I'm still stuck with a CD player.

[klange]

Right, so I tried the CD... I got it loaded up fine and everything, but my iPod didn't show up in the list. There was my 250GB HD and a 1MB unallocated, grey 'disk.' I don't know what that is, but it's not my iPod... I couldn't even do anything to it anyway - all the options were unavailable.

So, why isn't my iPod showing up? Is it something I did/didn't do?
Plug your Ipod in after it starts up, if you had it in to begin with.
Then, there should be a devices drop down list in the upper right of the partition editor, see if your Ipod is there (I don't know what it would show up as, but the partition it displays when selected will probably be of an unknown type if the Ipod is corrupt)
EDIT: A source tells me it should appear as 'sda', and I agree. Same source says make sure you fill the entire drive with a single FAT32 partition and to make sure you select "Complete" as opposed to "Quick" when the time comes. When the process is complete, you will still need to use the "Restore iPod" option in iTunes. Ignore any warning/error messages.

[kenney001]

Plug your Ipod in after it starts up, if you had it in to begin with.
Then, there should be a devices drop down list in the upper right of the partition editor, see if your Ipod is there (I don't know what it would show up as, but the partition it displays when selected will probably be of an unknown type if the Ipod is corrupt)
EDIT: A source tells me it should appear as 'sda', and I agree. Same source says make sure you fill the entire drive with a single FAT32 partition and to make sure you select "Complete" as opposed to "Quick" when the time comes. When the process is complete, you will still need to use the "Restore iPod" option in iTunes. Ignore any warning/error messages.

run a magnet over it. Its the quickest way to format it :)

[stunt_man]

Um, try doing the same thing on a Mac? Thats the only advice I can give you. Due to my current financial crisis, I'm still stuck with a CD player.

... then imagine you bought a $300, (supposedly) top-of-the-line mp3 player, only to have it shit on your chest :)

I feel your pain, brother.


Plug your Ipod in after it starts up, if you had it in to begin with.
Then, there should be a devices drop down list in the upper right of the partition editor, see if your Ipod is there (I don't know what it would show up as, but the partition it displays when selected will probably be of an unknown type if the Ipod is corrupt)
EDIT: A source tells me it should appear as 'sda', and I agree. Same source says make sure you fill the entire drive with a single FAT32 partition and to make sure you select "Complete" as opposed to "Quick" when the time comes. When the process is complete, you will still need to use the "Restore iPod" option in iTunes. Ignore any warning/error messages.

Will do, I'll post back in a bit.


run a magnet over it. Its the quickest way to format it :)

Would that actually work? My friend said the same thing lmao

[I_Am_Error117]

Try the middle button and menu button reset trick maybe?

[stunt_man]

That just reboots it... It doesn't reformat it... I've tried that, as well as disk mode and diagnostic mode... No luck.


Anyway, I just gave GPartEd another shot. I got it to recognize my iPod, but I still can't do anything to it. Plus, it's marked that there's only 6.99GB on it. I believe there was about that much free space left on it before it broke... Maybe (for some reason), the used space somehow became isolated from the rest of the HD? There is no trace of it anywhere. I tried making a new partition on it anyway, so I selected 'New Disk Label,' as instructed by the program, and when I hit 'Create,' nothing happened. The window closed and I was back in the GPartEd menu (the screen with the buttons/options at the top).

[I_Am_Error117]

Wonder what taking the hd out and pluging it ont to your pc to format it would do? :confused2:

[stunt_man]

We'll never find out, it's not the same connection.

[Terin]

Ow. That sucks. I've reformatted a Nano to hack it many, many times, and there were never any problems. That was in XP, though. If you have an XP machine, try formatting it with it. Vista is failing to format a 256 MB flash drive I have. I don't trust it with formatting.

[stunt_man]

That... is something to try... My parents are asleep, though, and that machine is in the room with them. I'll try tomorrow.

However, I'll add that the formatting utility on XP looks identical to the one found on Vista.

[Kybo_Ren]

Boot to linux, dd -if=/dev/null -of=/dev/usb1/

[demonmaster3k]

get a Zune, or a Sansa (i've never had a problem with my e260 sandisk is pretty good)
alternate solutions:
buy OSX Leopard and put it on your computer (course expect to have little or no gaming material cos OSX doesn't get as many games as windows)

or look for drive formatting programs like other ppls said.

or (if you have a 1 yr warranty) call up apple, tell them your ipod doesn't work and they'll send you a new one. it's called an RMA

[Zeph]

There's this thing called DOS that you should use to fix it.

[I_Am_Error117]

We'll never find out, it's not the same connection.

Dont the videos use a laptop ata connection/

[stunt_man]

@Kybo_Ren: I'm gonna boot up a storm pretty soon. What does that mean? I am genuinely sorry for the rudeness.

@demonmaster3k: Enough with the goddamn heckling! Fuck buying new shit, I'm through with buying new shit - I just want the shit I have to work like it's supposed to. Unless I'm mistaken, I already have a drive-formatting program, called GPartEd Live CD. Are there better options?

As for the whole dealing-with-Apple business - I'm going to put that off for as long as I can. Plus, I kind of want to learn how to fix problems like this so I can prevent this shit-ass situation in the future.

@Zeph: DOS? What is this? Fucking fifteen years ago?

JK

But could you please elaborate?

I really don't know much as far as command lines and whatnot... I did hear of a solution involving this, but GPartEd looked more promising and much seemed much simpler.

Thanks in advance!