Stories about iPod repairs, how to fix iPods, iPod repair service in Cooperstown, New York, iPod repair service in Pomona, California, iPod repair service in Riverside, California - Recent Fixes - i Sick Bay

and found out about me through his step-mother Pati who has been a client for a couple of years now. He called and we stepped through what was going with his iPod. The 5th Gen video when turned would deliver the initial black screen with the faint white apple outline but never move from that. In my experience that has always been a failed drive. What is happening in that case is the drive performing incessant seeks looking for the operating system to load. That is always the result of a failed hard drive.

So he sent the iPod in with funds to cover a new battery and drive.

As it turns out... the problem was with the logic board and it's polling the drive. The logic board was not acknowledging the back the steps through to the drive through the boot phase. The drive was good.

So I called him told him about the logic board and he sent the added funds.

Juan Buenrostro called to confer about his 6th Gen 80GB video iPod from Pomona, California.

As the discussion progressed it began to sound more and more like he had a failed drive. I decided to wait until it was here to be certain. It arrived a few days later and it was the drive.

I gave him the alternatives,

1) replace the original 80 GB hard drive with a 30GB drive (more than enough space really). The drive is $60 and the labor $40

2) replace the original 80 GB hard drive with a 80GB drive . The drive is $100 and the labor $40

3) replace the original 80 GB hard drive with a 120GB drive. The drive is $120 and the labor $40

4) not repairing it is a possibility, I can close it up after checking it out and refund $20 of the $40 you sent. You can trade it in at an Apple store for 10% off of a new one ($25)

If this were my decision to make, I would go with the 30GB. The larger sizes are rarely needed since the battery fully charged in this iPod will be able to play just 1/25 of the songs if it were fully filled... that's on a 30GB drive and it would only be able to play 1/15 if the 30GB drive were filled with videos. Since it will be cabled to your computer to charge between 15 and 25 times before playing it all once, there is more than enough opportunity to change out the songs on the iPod while it connected to your iTunes Library. Remember the Library is the repository and the iPod player is merely a chalk board that can be changed continually."

He went with the 30GB and used PayPal to send payment.

Fixed - Total cost $100.

Chris Hatcher called me from Riverside, California

to make sure his diagnosis of the problem with his 5th Gen video was accurate. "It started chattering and knocking very loudly. Reset and Restored it several times to no avail. During the Restore you can hear the drive chatter and wind down and then back up throughout the restore process"

He described a failed drive and sent it in to be replaced. The drive was $60 and labor/return shipping was $40

Fixed - Total cost $100.

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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