Changed iPod battery and can't unlock it...

February 18, 2006 5:01 PM

The good news: I successfully changed the battery on my 3G iPod. The bad news: the hold button's locked...

I installed iPod updater prior to the battery swap and everything worked. Swapped out the battery with little effort and charged it for four and a half hours.

Reopened it to make sure the hard drive was connected properly and closed it. Turned it on, synced up with iTunes and all looked well. But the hold button/lock icon is displayed. I can't use the wheel or buttons. It'll charge, display and sync up but I can't unlock it. Can I do this via iTunes or some other way?

posted by Atom12 to computers & internet (12 comments total)

i have the same ipod, and have replaced everything but the hard drive since i bought it.

have you tried pushing the hold switch firmly w/ the case off? sometimes the switch on mine will be in the unlocked position, but i'll have to apply further pressure to actually trigger the release. w/ the case off you can access the actual black switch inside, maybe you'll have more luck?

i don't know of any way to trigger the hold externally. if your hold switch is in fact broken and the logic board is now hard wired into lock, you can get a new logic board on ebay for ~$35. just be really careful, it's so easy to sever a connection in there -- i clipped my lcd cable when i replaced my own logic board, so it's not unlikely that you did something similar when replacing your battery.
posted by jruckman at 5:16 PM on February 18, 2006

Just tried option #1. No luck. I can't even turn it on or off manually.
posted by Atom12 at 5:28 PM on February 18, 2006

There's a hold switch on 3g remote as well, so maybe something in the remote connector (that 4-pin thing next to the audio jack) got messed up. If you have a remote laying about you could try plugging it in and toggling that instead of the on-board one.
posted by neustile at 6:11 PM on February 18, 2006

did you reassemble it without getting the switch on the board to fit inside the switch thingy on the case? if so just take it back apart, flip the switch into the appropriate position, and reassemble. I have a feeling I'm missing something, though.
posted by mrg at 6:21 PM on February 18, 2006

a friend of mine recently had the same problem, but not with a 3g, with one of the newer ones. the solution he found was to push the hold button up against a hard surface:

http://hexod.us/a/2006/02/my_ipod_hold_sw.html

hope this helps...
posted by dvdgee at 9:58 PM on February 18, 2006

you might have to open it up again and turn the hold button off, and that all the tiny wires and thing aren't being crimped or anything and are in the right place, then reclose it. Something must be smooshed up against it.
posted by amberglow at 9:47 AM on February 19, 2006

Tried all the above. Restored. Cursed. I'll email Apple as a last-ditch, but I think this one's gone for good. I appreciate the tips, though. Seems like once one of these things decides to die there isn't much you can do. Planned obsolescence, I guess.

I'll be buying a new car stereo instead of suffering through this process again. Not worth the effort.
posted by Atom12 at 9:47 AM on February 19, 2006

the hold button looks like it's off (no red showing), but the screen shows it as on?

it's the software...did you do a hard reset?
posted by amberglow at 9:52 AM on February 19, 2006

If the ipod shows up when you connect it to a machine, i'd download everything you had on it (there are tons of programs) and then totally wipe it and reinstall the software.
posted by amberglow at 9:55 AM on February 19, 2006

Ha! I am right in the middle of replacing my battery (am sitting here waiting for the tech support to come on the phone to answer a question before I close the case).

Since trying to open my 3G (and failing untill I got the right tool --a guitar pick) my hold button has been doing the same thing. Take a look at this thread and see if this helps:

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2004/06/06/my_ipod_wont_unlock__help.html
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 10:49 AM on February 19, 2006

Re: hard reset -- tried it, it won't respond. I'm currently in the middle of the restore. If that doesn't work I'll try to pry the damn thing open for the tenth time and see if there's a way to just disconnect the hold button.

Good luck Taken Outtacontext.
posted by Atom12 at 12:20 PM on February 19, 2006

Belated update: I sent it in to iPodMods and they were able to disable the hold button, which I never used. It works like a charm now and cost about $40. Took a week. Cheaper and less time-consuming than an iPod.

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the company but would recommend them to anyone in my boat.
posted by Atom12 at 7:29 AM on March 20, 2006