iPod 1G repair attempt

[superpantoufle]

Hi there,

An iPod 1G doesn't really qualify as a 68k device, right? Anyway, I don't know where to seek help apart from here… My iPod 1G died several years ago. I bought it second hand around 2002 and used it for a couple of years, and then gave it to a friend who took it on a three years backpack trip around the globe. He gave it back to me for my collection around 2010, with a dead hard drive and several "war wounds" from the trip. 

I left it mostly untouched all these years, and finally attempted a restauration. I bought a new drive and a new battery. It's now back to life running iPodOS 1.5 (freshly restored from a 2018 MacBook Air running macOS Catalina, yay!). Everything seem to work fine, apart from the scroll wheel that doesn't scroll… The iPod was taken apart, and I cleaned every visible part.

I also have another dead iPod 1G with a desoldered FireWire connector. Resoldering it is way beyond my skills, but I used it to swap parts. As far as I can tell, the scroll wheel assembly can't be removed from the logic board, so I can't just swap them. 

Does anybody have any experience with iPod 1G repair and can point me in the right direction?

 

[olePigeon]

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPod_1st_Generation

This should help you get into the iPod at least.  I have no experience with them.  I seem to recall there were people who swapped out the drive for a compact flash.

 

[trag]

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPod_1st_Generation

This should help you get into the iPod at least.  I have no experience with them.  I seem to recall there were people who swapped out the drive for a compact flash.

If the 1st gen is the one with the LIF/PATA connector for the tiny 1.8" LIF hard drives, then folks have used a LIF to MSATA adapter to install MSATA storage on the things.    Or was that the fifth generation?  Appears so from this listing (240 GB hard drive with the PATA LIF interface):

https://ebay.us/JADUYR

 

[superpantoufle]

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPod_1st_Generation

This should help you get into the iPod at least.  I have no experience with them.  I seem to recall there were people who swapped out the drive for a compact flash.

Thanks for your answer! Getting into the iPod wasn’t the problem, though. It was completely taken apart and I cleaned all visible parts. I hoped that cleaning the scroll wheel would be sufficient, but obviously not… I would have swapped the scroll wheel from the otherwise dead second iPod 1G I have at hands, but the scroll wheel mechanism is soldered on the logic board, and that’s beyond my skills.

If the 1st gen is the one with the LIF/PATA connector for the tiny 1.8" LIF hard drives, then folks have used a LIF to MSATA adapter to install MSATA storage on the things.    Or was that the fifth generation?  Appears so from this listing (240 GB hard drive with the PATA LIF interface):

https://ebay.us/JADUYR

On the 1st gen iPod it was plain 44-pin ATA. Adapters were made to use CF cards… The 5th gen were indeed the first tu use ZIF connectors. 

 

[trag]

Thanks for your answer! Getting into the iPod wasn’t the problem, though. It was completely taken apart and I cleaned all visible parts. I hoped that cleaning the scroll wheel would be sufficient, but obviously not… I would have swapped the scroll wheel from the otherwise dead second iPod 1G I have at hands, but the scroll wheel mechanism is soldered on the logic board, and that’s beyond my skills.

On the 1st gen iPod it was plain 44-pin ATA. Adapters were made to use CF cards… The 5th gen were indeed the first tu use ZIF connectors. 

There are 44 pin ATA to almost everything adapters available.    I like MSATA myself, over CF.    The newer M2 might be a better choice now.

 

[superpantoufle]

There are 44 pin ATA to almost everything adapters available.    I like MSATA myself, over CF.    The newer M2 might be a better choice now.

Of course! But for this project I found a "new old stock" 5GB hard drive for a few bucks on eBay, I thought it would be cool to "hear" the iPod. The drive was recognised by macOS Catalina and all is fine on that front. My issue is with the scroll wheel not scrolling.

 

[trag]

Sorry for the distraction.   You'd think there'd be someone who had worked on the scroll wheel.

 

[superpantoufle]

Sorry for the distraction.   You'd think there'd be someone who had worked on the scroll wheel.

That’s what I’d hope! Here is the place you’ll find people who know their way around floppy drives… why not scroll wheels?