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These are a few my recent iPod repair experiences.
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Carlos Carrion emailed me from Tampa, Florida about his 4th Generation 20Gb iPod. The message read,
"Frank,
I have a 20 gigs Ipod which I bought about 5 years ago, I believe it's the 4th generation type. It's B&W, no color and it only holds music.
I've taken very good care of it, and for many years it sat in a Bose docking station.
The click wheel works as far as volume and moving to the next song, however, the center selector button does not function.
I want to have it repaired. I called your number, but did not get a response.
Thanks in advance."
It didn't sound like anything I had ever heard of before. Only his center select button wasn't working. I had him send it in and fully thought we would be replacing the scroll wheel.
As it turns out the batteries in an iPod are the Lithium ion type, when they fail or age due to overcharging as they fail to hold a charge they frequently "plump". They just expand and become thicker in the middle.
In his case the battery had basically plumped to twice it standard thickness and the center of the battery in the model is right behind the "Select" button. The pressure from the back by the battery plumping prohibited the Select button from traveling to the pressed/detent state.
I replaced the battery and it all worked perfectly. Frankly speaking it would have needed a new battery at that point in time anyway, so this really just standard maintenance.
The battery was $16 and labor was $40
Fixed - Total cost $56.
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Rose Marie Treece lives in Camas, Washington and dropped her 6th Gen 80 GB video iPod in the bathtub with her one night.
I hear this story more often than you would imagine but yet to hear it from a guy.
Her husband who had some experience with analog synthesizers found a way to open it up and made his efforts at repairing it but mangled the backplate (these are very difficult to break into) and a couple of other things so they sent it in.
I was able to make it work again but it needed a new battery, a new LCD screen *and* the backplate needed to be replaced. The battery was $19, the LCD was $41, the backplate was $10 and labor/return shipping was $40
Fixed - Total cost $110.
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Frank Mascarinas called me from Sacramento about his 5th Gen video iPod.
He described it as having a no scroll wheel utility. In just 1 in 300 cases "no scroll wheel utility" does it turn out to be the scroll wheel. All the other cases it's water migrating in through the scroll wheel area to upper left corner of the logic board which gets damaged by corrosion rendering the scroll permanently useless because the logic board has to be replaced. But I am always hopeful I get it in time clean things up and make it work again.
He sent it in with a check for $59 which would also cover a new battery. The iPod had already been tampered with before he sent it to me and I wasn't able to get it to work again. I sent this message,
"I actually tried to call you yesterday not long after I started work on it.
First, there were no screws holding the face plate to the chassis. Not only were the 6 of them missing, it was clear the person that had been into it before me and exhibited some brutality on their mission.
There was long established corrosion EXACTLY where I expected to find it and I was not able to solve the problem. The scroll wheel utility was taken by the corrosion in that part of the logic board
So.... a new battery in it won't make a difference.
The logic board would have to be replaced and that is $90 part which would make the repair excessive. Under the circumstances returning it un-repaired with a refund of $20 and the $19 for the battery is the practical solution unless there is a high degree of sentimentality about this specific device (a gift perhaps from someone)
Frank"
I refunded back $39 of the $59 and sent it back.
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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)
Send the device to:
Frank Walburg
2145 Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
Methods of payment
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