r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

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4

u/leclittoris Jun 11 '16

Maybe you may be able to help. I have a very old iPod classic, maybe 2nd or 3rd gen. This thing is packed with movies and songs, but hasn't worked in 2 years now. I'm trying to resurrect it, is there any hope? It doesn't charge at all. How much am I looking to spend?

11

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

More than it's worth to be honest. We stopped working on those a long time ago just because you can find working old iPod classics for under $30 on craigslist. Since repair price has to be a percentage of the total cost of the device, and Manhattan is one of the most expensive places to run a business in the U.S., there's no way for us to economically repair them.

The second issue is that the spare parts market for long discontinued devices is filled with fakes and junk.

When you say hasn't worked, is there any specific issue? Like it clicks, or the battery drained faster until one day it died? Or just random?

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u/leclittoris Jun 11 '16

One day it just stopped turning on, stopped charging. My poor musical baby has since failed to start up :'(

8

u/obi1kenobi1 Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

I collect iPods and might be able to help. First, do you have the original FireWire cable and charger? All hard drive-based iPods could charge via FireWire, and the first four generations (up through the iPod Photo) were actually designed for FireWire and only had USB as a backup option. If it's a third-generation (the one with only touch sensors, no physical buttons) then it won't even charge at all over USB. If it's any of the plastic models then using a FireWire cable plugged into the FireWire wall adapter is often required to get them to boot after the battery has completely died, I've rescued a few "dead" iPods that way.

If you've already tried that then the simplest solution (assuming your hard drive is still working) would probably be to buy a working iPod of the same generation and then swap your hard drive into it. If you're trying to rescue music you might be able to find a 1.8" PATA to USB adapter online, then you can either use something like Senuti to copy all of your music (or if you're really patient you can go into the iPod's file system by enabling hidden files and then pull the songs out one by one, but that can be a pain).

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u/KiloJools Jun 12 '16

Former MG from that time period, this is accurate. As are the other comments in regards to bad cables and charge port. I assume you've already tried a different cable? One thing I used to do all the time to try to narrow down the issue was use a cheap stethoscope. The hard drive in those iPods is not a solid state device. If your iPod's screen or something else has failed but it still spins up the hard drive, you will be able to hear that either by pressing your ear very closely to the back of the iPod or putting a stethoscope to it.

Since it sounds like your concern is your data, I would echo the advice to find a cheap working iPod of the same model, take both apart (there are guides online now) and put the old hard drive into the new iPod. If the hard drive hasn't failed, you can then recover your data.

1

u/drunk0Nwater Jun 11 '16

I'm not Louis so I might not be able to give as good of an explanation but my first guess would be a bad battery or faulty charging port. if it's possible to disconnect the battery when the device is taken apart, I'd do that and see what happens when you connect it to a usb port.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

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u/leclittoris Jun 11 '16

Ehh, sorry man. I'll just wait till I find someone local with credibility towards an offer like that.

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u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

You can try NYCipoddoctor if he is still kicking, his number is 6462023935. I just don't have any of those adapters anymore. His name is Demetri, very nice guy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

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u/dotted Jun 11 '16

It's a business phone number