Another iPod Don’t

Welcome to another edition (hopefully the last) of iPod don’ts where for some reason I have found another way to mess up my iPod. I swear, I am prone to screwing up technology. I have just gotten the new iPod Touch about two weeks ago. The thing is definitely worth the $229 price tag to get it. It’s a fantastic device. However, what I did to screw it up wasn’t so dang fantastic.

The Don’t: I don’t know if this scenario is true for all iPod Touches or iPhones, but it happened to me, so it can happen. I was listening to an app called AOL Radio while it was plugged into the computer. Then for some reason my computer froze (first time ever), but my iPod was still playing its music. All is well right, except for the computer. So I hold the power button on the computer and shut it off. My iPod goes off as well. I turn the computer back on and the iPod comes back on (the screen with the silver apple). However, a few seconds later while my computer is booting up, the iPod shuts back off. A few seconds later the I see the silver apple again, then it goes off. The iPod is in a perpetual resetting mode for some reason and would not stop. So I unplug my iPod and off the screen goes.

It’s worth every penny of the $229 + tax for this device.

The Attempted Solutions: Well after browsing around and asking for help in the support rooms, I’m told to do a series of steps while the iPod is attached to the computer via USB and while iTunes is running on the computer.

1) Hold down the home button (button at the bottom) and hold the sleep/wake button at the same time for about ten seconds.

2) After the ten seconds let go of only the sleep/wake button and continue holding the home button for an additional ten seconds.

3) After the ten seconds a picture with the iTunes logo with an arrow pointing to it from a USB cable should appear.

This is what the iPod will display in recovery mode.

When the iTunes and USB pic were displayed on the iPod, iTunes recognizes it as an iPod in recovery mode and asks me if I want to restore it. I of course say yes and wait. After extracting the data it tells me that it’s preparing to restore the iPod. Yay! but not so much. After a while, the iPod goes back to resetting itself and in iTunes there’s a message for me that says, “The iPod ‘iPod’ could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1611).” Hmm…okay. I get a response to my problem in the apple forums and someone tells me to put it into DFU mode (I don’t know what DFU means). After putting it into DFU mode and trying to restore it from there, I get another happy message from iTunes that says, “Software for this iPod is currently not available. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes and try again.” Of course I do have the latest version of iTunes (8.0.1). Grrr…I’m running out of ideas. I get another response in the forums after posting my failed results. Their last suggestion was for me to call Apple Care. I called and used their automated system, which is actually believe it or not pretty intelligent and helpful, but couldn’t help me. So I called again yesterday and talked with a representative, and finally success. They sent me an empty box, that arrived today, and all I have to do is put the iPod into it and ship it back to them where they’ll repair it for FREE!

What Did I Learn?: If my computer messes up with my iPod still attached to it, I should take the time to turn off the iPod completely before shutting off the computer with the power button. Then take out the USB cable once the computer is off. I also know that error 1611 is a problem with the iPod’s hardware that I guess got messed up from the shut down of the computer. There seems to be no known reliable or universal solution for this type of problem.

I would be a lot angrier if I didn’t still have my other iPod. I can honestly (and shamefully) say that I’d probably go insane if I had no iPod at all! I am very annoyed that I keep finding ways to screw up technology and that I won’t get to play my games on the “funnest iPod ever,” until it’s fixed. Until then, I’ll need some patience. A lot…of patience.

Technology, 2010 and Beyond

Okay, this is some pretty cool stuff here. These are some ‘futuristic’ items that may make it out on the market. I hope they do. I mean it is 2008 nearly 2009 and we were supposed to have flying cars and cool things like that at the year 2000…right? Well, it was the idea. Enjoy.

Microsoft hmmm…will it work consistently? Kidding it is neat though, but expensive.

Seriously, imagine watching the Champions’ League Final or the Super Bowl on this!

Are interactive newspapers not too far off?

This reminds me of Minority Report without the gloves or whatever it was that he wore.

The “Holy Grail” of alternative energy! But expect it between 2035 and 2050.

An iPod “Don’t”

Alright, so I’m pretty much a converted Apple guy at the moment.  My main laptop is a Macbook, and I own an iPod.  But this is what happens when I do not like to follow directions.

When you put the iPod into the computer to charge or to swap/add songs, the iPod tells you to not unplug it.  Well, foolish me, when I first got it I didn’t feel the need to heed to the warning.  While I was heading back from Lawrence a while ago, I was listening to my iPod and I decided that I didn’t want to hear what was playing so I changed songs.  When I pressed the right arrow button, the previous song turned off and I didn’t hear anything after that.  Fortunately I was sitting at a red light and could divert my attention to see what was going on. When I looked down, the iPod was frozen.  The name of the song was displayed, it said it was playing, but the counter remained at 0:00, and the back light was on.  I tried to press a few more buttons to hopefully work some kinks out of it, get it moving or something, but nothing worked.  I even tried to hold down the play button to turn it off, still nothing. When I got home, it was still in its frozen state with the backlight on.  Frustrated, I left it alone and thought about buying a new one. I seriously thought it was broken. Eventually though, the battery ran out and it turned off, so I plugged it back into the PC and it worked again!  It took me a while before I understood that pulling the iPod out while it was charging instead of right clicking the icon at the bottom and stopping the action caused this.  I was charging it on a PC and I guess it takes multiple times before it locks up if it’s not properly ejected from a PC.  That’s probably why I never figured it out. It took only one time of improper ejection from the Mac for me to learn that that was the cause.

This is exactly what mine looks like except it’s silver and has some marks on it from being in my pocket with my keys.

Then, Tuesday morning (26 May) my iPod decides to act up again.  I know it was from the night before.  I like to listen to music before I go to sleep, and sometimes I forget to take the earphones off and turn off the iPod before I get too sleepy and fall asleep with them on.  I can’t explain what happened here because, I don’t know. I could have been a lot of things, I was sleeping. The next morning I tried to charge it and it wouldn’t. It was frozen this time in an “off” state.  I tried turning it on, but of course it wouldn’t.  After waiting and waiting…and waiting, I tried to charge it again at around 11pm, and low and behold it worked!  Maybe I’m not taking care of it like I should, but the good thing is, every time this has happened (which is too many) the battery runs itself out and with a new charge, it works again. I now stop the action before pulling the plug, like I am supposed to.

I’m curious though, would the mp3 player continue to work if it were doing this and was a Microsoft product? Kidding