Stories about iPod repairs, how to fix iPods, iPod repair service in Midvale, Utah, iPod repair service in Broomall, Pennsylvania, iPod repair service in Oakland, California - Recent Fixes - i Sick Bay

Eric Rasmussen sent in his daughter Haley's iPod Nano 2nd Gen from Midvale, Utah. It had suffered water exposure in the past but seemed stabilized. As with a lot of water immersion cases the battery would not hold a charge. He sent it in with a check for $70 which was $15 for the battery and $55 for the labor. The battery replacement in a Nano 2nd Gen is a big process, so it's one of two cases where the labor is more than $40 (the other the iPhone battery replacement... for the same reasons).

When it got here, I noticed the backlight on the LCD wouldn't light and called Eric. Basically if the LCD didn't work well there was no good reason to go forward with the repair. I took it apart and tried to get it working, there wouldn't be a good way to use it portably if you can't see the screen well. The data was "painting" to a grey screen which could be seen in moderately bright light.

Eric said if plug into a wall adapter long enough the backlight would come on which is why he thought a battery would fix it.

I plugged it into a wall adapter for several hours and the backlight never came on. Since the data on the device could be updated and the music was being held in memory even when there was no power, I let Eric know this device was an excellent candidate for a remote controller. He could use a wireless controller *or* this could be used as the basis of a car stereo music source in something like the Monster iCruze where the iPod replaces the CD deck.

He agreed there no good reason to move forward with the repair. I sent it back to him with a refund check for the full $70

James Woolston sent his iPod Mini 1st Generation

in from Broomall, Pennsylvania to have the scroll wheel replaced. He is a remarkably patient fellow. When his iPod arrived I had just sent the last 1st Gen scroll that I had out in a repair.

He waited many weeks for a cadaver donor to arrive. He actually started his wait on May 26th of 2007. I was able to finally repair and send his iPod back on January 5th of 2008.

I didn't give up and neither did he. The scroll wheel was $10 and labor was $40 so he got iPod back working for $50... and all of songs were still on it.

You can tell it's a Mini 1st generation because there is no box on the back telling you the size of the hard drive inside.

Fixed - Total cost $50.

Edy Horwood sent me a message by email from Oakland, California

discussing her iPod and it needing an LCD screen. It was identified as a 4th Gen model but I got the impression it was a Black and White model so I quoted $40 labor and $10 for the LCD.

When it arrived I found it was a 4th Gen Photo iPod. The first part of things was to determine if (even if I replaced the LCD) we had a working hard drive. If the drive didn't work there was really no reason to continue with the LCD replacement. The drive worked, now I notified Edy we had a working device but needed $22 more for the correct LCD. She used PayPal, I installed the replacement and it was sent back the next day.

Fixed - Total cost..$72.

I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country.

If you live nearby, are traveling through or live in the San Francisco Bay Area bring your iPod to me and I can do the work while you wait or go wine tasting for a while. Send me an email just to make sure I have on hand whatever parts your repair will require.

Call or email me with questions or to set up a repair. You can also call, I am here most days from 8am to 8pm
Toll Free 1-877-IPOD-PRO (1 - 877 - 476-3776)

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