The Good Computer Guy Blog :: iPod Mini repair

Tags: Hardware
A few years ago I opened up a new bank account because I was annoyed at some of my long-time bank's policies (but that's a whole 'nother story.) I just happened to walk into the bank when they were giving away free 4GB iPod Mini's (2nd generation.) My lucky day. At first I didn't even know what to do with the thing, but eventually I ended up putting all my MP3's and CDs on it and letting it live in my vehicle. It worked great. For my current vehicle I bought a device that lets me connect both the iPod and my Sirius satellite radio and even control the iPod via my steering wheel controls. Bliss.

But eventually the iPod started having trouble. It would be OK for a while, then suddenly it would reset itself. Instead of picking up where it left off randomly playing my songs it would start over at the beginning, playing them in artist order. Unfortunately that meant I heard Lesson 1 of Pimsleur Portuguese over and over. Yeah, that got annoying. One fix seemed to be setting an alarm on the iPod so it would wake up every day at 7 AM and not go into the "deep sleep" that caused the reset. That worked for a while, then it started happening again. I figured that it could be the battery finally giving out and thought I'd need to get a new iPod.

Not so fast, though. While it seemed that there was not a user-serviceable battery at first it turned out that you actually CAN take the iPod apart and install an after-market battery, which I was able to find online for only about $6. Nice! It was a little tricky to take the iPod apart but with a little patience and some very small screwdrivers I got it eventually, popped in the new battery, and away we go. Or not...

Somewhere along the way I seem to have broken the click wheel. Or the cable connecting the click wheel to the motherboard. Not good - I couldn't control the iPod. And even hooking up to the vehicle control wasn't enough. I could start and stop, but I couldn't get the iPod to play all the songs randomly, which is what I want. Occasionally I want to play a specific song, too, and I couldn't do that. Rats.

Back to the Internet and I found people selling click wheels and ribbon cables. It seems like a common part to break when replacing the battery. Prices ranged from about $8 to $25, both new and used. I opted for the $8 new wheel.

And voila - after carefully taking everything apart again (this being about the 5th or 6th time now!) I was able to install the new click wheel, along with the new battery. And it worked! Now I'll just have to see if I get Portuguese lessons on the way to a client tomorrow morning...