TechTV | Secrets of the iPod - troubleshooting

[This post was updated and revised 11/27/05.]

TechTV | Secrets of the iPod is a decent summary of advanced troubleshooting techniques, here are the key points with my emphases and corrections/comments]

Resetting the iPod

If your iPod's locked up, you can perform the equivalent of a hard boot by holding down the Menu and Play buttons for about seven seconds. This forces the iPod to restart, and hopefully allows it to function as it should.

[jf: This is incorrect. This is a partial reset, which does not resolve the 'unresponsive center button' problem which sometimes afflicts my 3rd generation (3G, smooth wheel, docking port) iPod. A proper reset requires the iPod be attached to a power supply, then switch the hold button to "on" (hold), then switch to "off" (red does not show on hold area) then hold Menu & Play. A full reset will solve my unresponsive center button; a state where part of the iPod behaves as though the device were locked.]

Disk Mode

Is your iPod missing in action when you plug it in to your Mac or PC? You can attempt to force your iPod's attention on your computer by invoking Disk Mode on your iPod. To do so, plug your iPod into your computer's FireWire or USB 2.0 port, use the reset button combination described above and, when you see the Apple logo, press and hold the Previous and Next buttons. In short order, your iPod should display the Do Not Disconnect message and mount on your PC or Mac.

[jf: My 3G iPod will mount by FireWire, but not USB. I might try this.]

Restoring your iPod

If you have to routinely reset your iPod or force it into Disk Mode, you should give serious thought to restoring it (iPod-speak for reformatting). Doing so erases everything on the device -- music files, calendars, contacts, notes, and any other data you've copied to it -- so be sure you have a backup of the material.

To restore your iPod, simply connect it to your computer and run the appropriate iPod Software Updater application. Be very careful that you update your iPod with the appropriate version of the Updater. A third-generation iPod can't be updated with the Updater intended for earlier iPods, but a Windows iPod can be (and a 3G Windows iPod won't work correctly with the newer software). Use only iPod Software 1.3 Updater and earlier for first- and second-generation iPods, and iPod Software 2.0 Updater and later for the current third-generation iPods.

[jf: As of 10/12/05 Apple's updater is supposed to work for all devices. The last OS revision for the 3G iPod was 2.3. Just prior to this release the universal updater didn't work on 3G iPods, but this version dhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifid for me.]

Scan the disk

The iPod has the ability to scan its hard drive for errors and repair some of those errors. If you suspect your iPod's drive is slightly funked up, try scanning the disk.

To do so, reset the iPod, and when you see the Apple logo, press and hold the Previous, Next, Select, and Menu buttons. An animated icon of a disc will appear along with a progress bar. This test can take 15 to 20 minutes, so be patient. If your iPod doesn't have a good charge, plug it in to a power source before scanning the disk.

Older iPods could also be placed in a diagnostic mode(methodshop):

1. You need to restart your iPod before putting it into Diagnostic Mode. Check that your hold switch is off by sliding the switch away from the headphone jack. Toggle it on and off to be safe.

2. Press and hold the following combination of buttons buttons simultaneously for approximately 10 seconds to reset the iPod.

* iPod 1G to 3G: "Menu" and "Play/Pause"
* iPod 4G+ and Mini: "Menu" and "Select"

3. The Apple logo will appear and you should feel the hard drive spinning up. Press and hold the following sequence of buttons:

o iPod 1G to 3G: "REW", "FFW" and "Select"
o iPod 4G+ and Mini: "Back" and "Select"

You will hear an audible chirp sound (3G models and higher) and the Apple logo should appear backwards. You are now in Diagnostic Mode.

4. Navigate the list of tests using "REW" and "FFW". The scroll wheel will not function while in diagnostic mode... (see link for rest of directions)

DateDex - The Calendar Directory of days, dates & events worldwide

DateDex - The Calendar Directory of days, dates & events worldwide

Another site getting a lot of blog postings. I agree!

Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures (NIST.GOV)

Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures

This is not new. The footer dates it to 1998! I saw a blog posting on it. Marvelous, but they need a better way to categorize their algorithms.

FILEHand -yet another search tool to try

Marc's Outlook on Productivity: FILEHand - a Google-like search for your desktop

I don't have much hope -- all the full text search tools I've tried lately have been very flaky or worse. Still, I'm obliged to try.

iPod -- Apple customer service debacle

iPod doesn't appear in iTunes or on my Mac desktop

1. At age 6 months 30GB iPod battery is aging fast.
2. At age 9 months battery has < 1 hour life. Instead of paying $30 for S&H I paid $60 for AppleCare and one year postage free service.
3. Get replacement iPod under AppleCare.
4. Replacement iPod is non-functional out-of-box. Won't mount (see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60950). The firewire hardware on the iPod is broken.
5. After the usual 45 minutes on phone support I worked up to a Tier two tech with an overflowing voice mail box. In a week or so I should have ANOTHER replacement iPod.
Update 11/27/05 ... to round out the story ...
6. The next iPod had a non-responsive central button. This was fixed by a full reset, but the problem would occur every 6 months or so. This final iPod was eventually discovered to have a non-functional USB port.

So Apple sent me two defective iPods, the last of which I have used for the past year. In November of 2005 Macintouch reported a 30% failure rate on the 3G 30GB iPod -- atrocious even by the standards of complex consumer electronics. I was bit by a defective product line, and then by Apple's practice of sending "refurbished" devices to replace defective products. The "refurbished" devices are supposedly repaired or shown to be working, but my experience suggests the "repairs" are very "low cost".

The experience with my 3G iPod has made me very cautious about trusting Apple products. It's also taught me the limits of AppleCare. Since that experience I do not purchase the extended warrantee, instead I follow the rules required by my credit card company. I try to have repairs done by people I trust, such as twin cities Apple store that's privately run.

dbVisualizer and MySQL for OS X

Marc Liyanage - Software - Mac OS X Packages - MySQL

I use dbVisualizer at work with Oracle. Very nice application -- the full version is only $70 or so. I noticed it claims to work with MySQL; some quick research supports this.

MySQL can be freely downloaded (open source).

Both dbVisualizer (Java) and MySQL apparently run quite well on OS X.

The combination of dbVisualizer and MySQL is nowhere near as user friendly as FileMaker, but I'm not sure it's beyond the comfort zone of a Microsoft Access victim. I may play with this on OS X a bit.

Tasks 2.0 (Macintouch)

MacInTouch Home Page: "Alex King released Tasks 2.0, a web-based task and to-do list manager with hierarchical views, creation of iCalendars, reminders by email, and other features. The new version brings the single-user version up to par with the multi-user Tasks Pro, adding features such as RSS feeds for every task, time tracking, file attachments, and smartphone/PDA access. Tasks is $29.95 for any server running Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, or Windows with PHP, MySQL, and Apache."