The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G!

[FallenAngel]

Originally Posted by NumpXP

dammit! i just lifted left side of pad (north of the wolfson). any other point that connected to that ?

Just check the datasheet, there is a pin on the left side of the chip a few from the top that you can use, that's what I did when I lifted this pad as well.

Originally Posted by NumpXP

and is it normal for ipod to show sad face after removal of inductors and caps( but before soldering the wire)?

Uhm... that doesn't look normal. I haven't tried, but I would seriously doubt this to be "normal".

[joneeboi]

That happened in one of my 4Gs. I accidentally took out L4 or C56 and then it basically killed my iPod. The good/bad thing about the diyMod is that you can replace the logic board when something like this happens and it doesn't cost all that much compared to a full on iMod. Nevertheless, logic boards don't come cheap. Does your iPod still connect to your computer? If so, a restore may be in order.

Aside from that one bad experience with the 4G, I haven't experienced any sad iPod faces with other diyMods, and I've done already done a few at this point (for myself, for other members). Luckily, my other friend just so happened to have a broken iPod right when I broke mine, and it just happened to start working when I received it. He bought an iPod touch to replace it, so I burnt his music onto some DVDs to give back to him. Now I can use it for replacement parts if anything else gets broken. So not all hope is lost, though, if I were you, I'd run through the software fixes before doing anything too drastic. Keep us posted.

[FallenAngel]

Personal little horror story:

The new iPod Mini 2G works perfectly, runs 26 hours on a single battery charge, I just finish the casing, slide it in and all of a sudden I get the battery error icon, scrollwheel doesn't respond and nothing everything is frozen without being able to reset it, windows does not recognize it, nothing!

After a few days of screwing with it, I realized that it all leads back to the clickwheel, if you put it on HOLD, windows sees it and switching HOLD on/off starts rockbox when it's in HOLD position. Somehow this also drained the battery as well, no idea how that fits in yet.

Just this morning, I decided to play with it a little and discovered that the clickwheel connector had a lifted solder joint; re-soldered it and everything works perfectly again! Completely weird symptoms for bad keypad! Now charging battery to see if it holds a charge or if something went wrong with it.

Note to anybody doing iPod Mini mods : be gentle with the clickwheel connectors and double check them first if something is wrong.

[ruZZ.il]

hm. I had that (sad face)when I messed up one of those molex connectors that hook up the little compact flash sized HD's to the mini. I was going bonkers till I mixed and matched stuff and pinpointed it to that. I've got one in from a friends old mini too now, and for a few bucks, 2 on their way in the mail. I also knocked off some transistor when I tried to stick it back into its case while slightly misaligned once..
whoops.. but I managed to solder it back on nicely, so all was good
sh(poop) happens.. and can often be solved. But the risk is always there... AAnyway.

Jon, didja get my message/email after all? check your spam
The canare cable is really easy to work with, it fits just right with a little bit of work. I made myself a prototype modLOD with it where I've basically bridged the standard L/R pins to the ones I used (14/17), so the dock would work with both a standard mod (which I'll probably stick to in the future for standardization) and one with pins 14/17. As usual, the sound isn't overly impressive yet.. the BGs will have to flex a bit first. Again, thanks a ton! Reply to my mail.. I'll try get onto it next week.

edit: F.A: I know what you mean too :P the mini clickwheel ribbon is at-least much easier to work with. its even somewhat fixable. those molex plugs though..

Jon, I think you should add a nice big general disclaimer thing on the first page, like "Go beyond this point at your own risk!" kind of thing. I personally cant help temptation when it comes to soldering but it should be known that its not always an easy mod.. and things are likely to go wrong for most people.. somewhere.. sometime.. dundaduuuu

[NumpXP]

thanks god.. my ipod is no sad face any more! it turned out that i mis-inserted the hdisk ribbon..

so continue with fixing the lifted pad...

wish me luck

[joneeboi]

No new email, Russ. I don't know what it is. I already added you to my contact list.

Good to hear it, NumpXP. Enjoy your diyMod.

I think now would be a pretty good time to ask everyone for their pearls of wisdom that we can pass on to future diyModders. I just added a Guidelines section to the OP, some general advice on how to successfully diyMod one's iPod. If everyone else could weigh in here (since the last few posts already have taken this direction), I think it would be of great help to everyone. For example,

I almost lost some screws for a 5G. Keep your screws in a safe place.

I mauled the little black flap on the nano 1G's click wheel ribbon cable connector. To fix the problem, I shoved a piece of paper into the slot to add the necessary pressure to allow the iPod to work. The same goes for pretty much every connector of the kind, be it nano, 4G, 5G.

I destroyed a back plate when I tried opening an iPod, in the sense that it couldn't close anymore. Those things that latch onto the front bezel's clippy parts got removed from the back plate, so now I have to get a new back plate from eBay. Not too pricey, but a little caution would have saved me some trouble.

Please weigh in, friends.

[NumpXP]

I used a sucker to suck flooded iron, but i got a lifted pad instead. so be careful with suckers, just make sure the iron thoroughly melted or don't use sucker at all coz it sucks pretty hard.

[joneeboi]

I haven't had to use the sucker for any of the diyMods, actually. Typically, the solder comes off onto the iron tip, so most of my desoldering is done in a snap; I braid if it ever comes to it though. Thanks for the tip!

[iQEM]

Trend of these day, i've seen Sad icon almost everywhere, and at this topic too...i failed to fix 2 problem on my friends ipod video, cos i dont know what or how to repair em...

[wgr73]

Hey Jon, another thing you may want to add to your "be careful" list is not over tightening the LCD panel screws. The plastic that holds this in place is very soft. Just a thought. Also, check out what happened to me last Friday!!!