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iPod Mini Autopsy
tritone writes "Some fearless soul has disassembled his iPod mini and provided pictures and commentary about the process. This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process. That's $249 well spent in the pursuit of knowledge. See the full report at www.ipodlounge.com."
Is the battery at least covered under warranty?
The opposite of progress is congress
No comments at all and already slashdotted... What's the webserver running on, an iPod?
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
In getting the drive to work outside the Ipod. though. check slickdeals for a $255 pre-order deal through Target.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
will they put out the f*cking $100 one? The one we were all hoping for? Right after Duke Nukem Forever comes out, right?
Photo server is still up at http://gallery.ipodlounge.com/ipod/thumbnails.php? album=6 Taking apart the iPod mini
February 23, 2004 By Greg Koenig
Apple has crammed a lot of stuff into the anodized aluminum enclosure of the new iPod mini, and taking it apart is no easy task. I'm an industrial designer with lots of experience pulling back the curtain and meeting the wizard in PDAs, Mp3 players, stereos, watches and all sorts of other gear. I am usually pretty good at it, having not broken something in years (lots of bug hunts for tiny parts on the floor though). Except my brand-new iPod mini, where I screwed up big time... twice!
The Procedure:
Tools needed: (1) Wiha 1.5mm flat head screwdriver (1) Wiha Philips #000 screwdriver (1) Needle nose pliers or medical (Kelly type) hemostats (1) Hair dryer
To help illustrate my disassembly adventure, view the iPod mini autopsy photos and follow along.
To begin with, make sure the 'Hold' button is locked into the ON position (showing orange) to prevent the internal components to be turning on while you are taking it apart.
The plastic top and bottom plates are glued into place with a tacky adhesive that will soften considerably when heated so use the hair dryer on a low setting to heat up the top plate. Work the area until it's very warm to the touch. Now turn the mini around so you're looking at the Apple logo and squeeze the two rounded edges together at the top, causing the enclosure to bow a little bit in the middle. Insert the flat bladed screwdriver between the plastic and the metal (in line directly above the Apple logo) and gently pry the plate straight up. Work around the edges, leaving the area around the 'Hold' button till last. When you finally do get to the 'Hold' button area, pry carefully and pull the plate STRAIGHT up. Behind the 'Hold' button are two plastic standoffs (sort of like tabs) that extend down into the case and push the real switch on and off. If you pry the thing out at an angle, you will break one of these standoffs. That was mistake #1 for me. The actual 'Hold' switch soldiered onto the main board broke, so the 'Hold' switch no longer works.
Now perform the same procedure on the plastic bottom plate. When it is removed, you will see a shiny sheet-metal plate held in place under spring tension by 4 tabs inserted into reliefs machined into the enclosure. At the end of each of these tabs, you will see a round hole. Use the Philips #000 in these holes and carefully pry each tab out of its slot. The sheet-metal plate will come right out.
Next, you need to disconnect a ribbon cable that connects the scroll/click wheel assembly to the main baord. This ribbon cable is on the bottom of the mini on the left hand side. It is orange. You can't miss it. Use the 1.5mm blade screwdriver to pry it apart. If there isn't enough slack in the ribbon cable, don't worry, as long as you get the connector loose, you have done your job here.
Turn the mini over, looking back into the top, you will see two tiny philips head screws on either side of another metal plate. Remove these with the #000 screwdriver carefully and put them in a safe place (don't drop these on the floor, you will never see them again).
Now comes the fun part - gently push on the 30 pin connector at the bottom of the mini and all of the main components (on an assembly I call the component sled) will slide right out the top. It is a bit tight, but if you meet major resistance, back off and INSURE you have the ribbon cable disconnected. This is where I messed up and killed my iPod mini, I forgot to check and I pushed with all my might, ripping the ribbon cable off of the male connector. Oops.
The component sled contains nearly all of the iPod's internals; the main circuit board, battery, LCD display and hard drive. While the LCD is held onto the ma inboard with 4 plastic tabs, the battery and HD ar
Did he really spend the money on the iPod, or was it discovered inside a crashed flying saucer somewhere?
In an autopsy, the doctor doesn't kill anything. So it was more like a murder, then. Think before you type.
...and you've got the next boffo fox special!
This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process
/.ers know that real men use 'kill -9' to do this.
Free XBox, PS2
Also try to realize where your money went during this autopsy.
It's whack.
:-)
But you know what's good? Learning to click the Post Anonymously checkbox when you're going troll with a lame, overused joke.
wait, he spent $249 on this, when he could of spent ~$299 on the full 15gb version
i think the mini-ipod will be a complete flop, too price for too little.
Runnin' On Empty
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom. (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Textbooks and Open Educational Resources
I bet this poor soul was expectign to get a Digicam friendly CF card out of his autopsy.
$249 for a 4GB microdrive isn't a bad price, too bad it didn't work.
Gator/Claria is Spyware.
I'm sure in a month or two he could have gotten a dead one on ebay, thus saving himself $250. Why, oh why kill a good one?
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:jM4q0XOel_oJ: gallery.ipodlounge.com/ipod/b um%3D6+ipod+mini+autopsy&hl=en &ie=UTF-8
thumbnails.php%3Fal
Copy and paste, remove the space, you know the drill.
Don't think of it as a wasted $250. He just got a 4 Gig Compact Flash for his Digital Camera at the bargin price of $250.
This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process.
Somehow I doubt that the D.A. would see it that way.
You probably shouldn't click this.
If there was an easy way to create some kind of direct hot swappable drive slot for this hard disk that you could switch between a PC and a car you could really do some crazy in car audio mods for cheap. Have the i-pod display and controll buttons mounted somewhere in the car and then just wire in the audio to the Aux audio input for the stereo. It would be a not only easy mod but a cool looking one if done right.
The IpodLounge.com Gallery.
;)
Jonty should do some work
There seems to be rather a lot of stuff on Slashdot - amongst other places - about what is essentially an overpriced walkman. Sure, some people like the style, but I prefer the looks and functionality (and cost) of an mp3 playing diskman. I wonder how much Apple has spent on this `guerilla advertising campaign`?
Conclusion:
:)
Don't take apart your new iPod mini.
Well that takes care of that, doesn't it?
What I wanna know is if I can get one iced out with real diamonds (not no zircon encrusted shiat). Anybody? I gotst the cash to buy it if you can supply it. Hoo ya!
You can't touch my shizzles you biznitches! However, you can kiss my bling bling watch, biotch!
Those 4GB microdrives retail for a LOT more than $250. It would be a good deal based on that alone, but as an mp3 player, you can do better in the space per dollar department.
Dear Mr Karma Whore,
/.'ed.
Its traditional to use the 'Post Anonymously' button to avoid being called a Karma Whore when reposting articles that are
Cheers,
Rob.
...they break when ham-handed fools take them apart, and Apple won't give said fools a free replacement!
Paging the Neistat brothers...
..this definitely hacking for fun and [for apple's] profit ;)
The site seems to be a database driven PHP site, and dying fast. I threw the contents of my cache up, just in case-
http://www.sq7.org/temp/ipod
Colin Davis
That's $249 well spent in the pursuit of knowledge.
;)
$249 is not a lot, but I would love to see his bandwidth bill this month
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
My group at Oregon State University is currently working on a device that uses an old hard drive from an Ipod. We have successfully interfaced with it, and can read and write from it at blazing speeds using an FPGA. See our web site here:
0 3/ ece441/groups/g15/
http://classes.engr.oregonstate.edu/eecs/fall20
If you have more questions, send me an email (also listed on the web page)
Bob
I am sure it's just not possible to look at circuits and parts via a couple pictures and get enough info out of it to reverse engineer an iPod.
If someone can build a real cheap alternative it can send the overpriced $300 iPod to its doom.
I read this site yesterday after seeing a link in the Slickdeals discussion forums.
It sounds like extracting the 4GB CF isn't much of a problem.
People have been able to put it in a CF reader and get it working fine on their computers.
A number of people have reported problems getting the CF to work with their cameras or other CF devices working in the iPod. I suspect that this has something to do with how apple formatted the disk and will eventually be solved.
For those of you laughing at iPod mini buyers -- they could probably sell the 4GB CF cards for a profit.
Evolution: love it or leave it
Can't get to the article, but found this one showing a nicely dissected mini ipod...
iPod mini Dissection
"This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process."
I'm no expert but aren't autopsies supposed to be performed after death??? I believe the word you are looking for is malpractice.
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
I thought it was supposed to be HD based, but turns out it's flash according to the article. I certainly don't believe that this guy hasn't broken anything in years though...
We've been through this already: mini iPods have enough space for most people, so there is no value in getting the roomier one. On the other hand, the smaller physical size makes them much more convenient.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
I've successfully interfaced with my iPod hard drive, and can read and write from it at blazing speeds right out of the box.
Wouldn't that technically make it a vivisection? Since it was alive when he started?
This happens every day. A story is posted on slashdot that links to some site.
Site is brought to its knees.
Now - how about a slashdot-cache like google cache? It's not fair to punish the guys that post interesting stuff on their website like this story.
All links in the story would then link to the slashdot-cache and leave the original site alive.
And - aside from saving the sites some trouble, it would enable those of us who came in late to see how he dismantled that ipod.
It's a necropsy unless the procedure is being done by another iPod mini.
Autopsy refers to dissection of a human by a human, or by extension, some instance of class 'foo' by another instance of class 'foo'.
Actually, in this case, it would be a vivisection, as the iPod started out functional, and died due to the procedure.
Whirrrrrrrr--clickclickclick*clunk!*--whirrrrrrrrr
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
Considering that this guy screwed up his iPod in creating these procedures, why on earth would anybody want to follow suit?
He who doesn't break things to find out what it is isn't a geek. (Anonymous Coward)
The "smaller physical size" is not worth it, Its only 0.4" smaller (thats less than a centimetre), Thats not very noticable, and wat if people need to expand in their collection in the futre? I am keeping with my word, I may be an apple zealot, but I certainly don't waste money on crippled expensive hardware. If it had cost just 100 and could carry about 2000 songs I would probably buy it, but I certainly not going to miss 0.4" and $50 for the cost of 9000 songs!
Screenshot of My G5 desktop!
Except these 0.1 releases of OS X improve a lot more than almost any 1.x release of OS 7-9 ever did. Great troll.
Would it really kill Apple to have 4 small Phillips screws on the back, one in each corner?
THAT's superior design. THAT's ease of use.
These "destroy it when you open it" stories are rather common.
Yeah, the parent is using typical Apple trolls (I think) for the sake of humor. Coulda been phrased funnier, though.
Is it really worth 10% capacity of a regular ipod for $50?
I got a question.... you do realize that Apple just buys the HD's used in iPods from a regular OEM (I know that at one point at least Fujitsu was selling the HD's) So why didn't you just go buy the same HD for less money???
I found it amusing that when the very first iPods came out that the same HD used was reviewed and the reviewers complained about how slow it was. The irony was not that the HD was slow, but that at the same time the "firewire" connection to the iPod was being trumpeted even though the HD could not come even closed to saturating the connection.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Ok listen everybody. Let's try to go on the website one by one.
;)
Stop clicking the link, I'm going first
Iraq: war to save the U
An autopsy is performed -after- something is dead. Think before you type.
Doesn't sound too hard. I'd like to see the followup where someone tells him how to repair it and we get to see amusing photos of the process!
CmdrTaco needs to update his vocabulary. If the subject is alive before the procedure, but dead afterward -- that's murder! Or at least a malpractice lawsuit.
That's about 10 hours of music. A lot less than the iPod.... but...
When the battery dies on the Walkman, you replace them for less than $4, and there is no chance that you destroy the thing just be opening the battery case.
When the battery dies on the iPod, it costs at least $50 to replace, and there has been an observed rather high percentage of "does not survive operation" (at least 25%).
It's actually about 40% smaller in volume...and if you're dickering over storage capacity you aren't teh target audience.
do people spout this inane drivel all the time. What is it with asking if things are whack or not? WTH does whack mean anyway? Somehow I don't think it means "whacking" someone (i.e. killing them).
Hear hear.
10.2 -> 10.3 feels more like 2000 -> XP than XP -> XP SP1.
Not only that, 10.0 -> 10.1 was a freebie if you had recently bought a Mac.
Would it be possible to rip out the 4GB microdrive, put it to good use in a camera, and replace it with a 512meg solid-state CF card? Would give you a non-skipping iPod mini that can interface with iTunes, and plenty of space to go work out with it. Plus the cheap microdrive.
Here's a discussion that talks about yanking the ($479.95) Hitachi microdrive inside. More discussion on my original source: boingboing
No sig for you!
He gave me the iPod case.
I plan on installing PC hardware and software in it for the ultimate digital audio device case mod.
Look for my fake joke story next week on slashdot about an Ipod that my parents gave me, but which I completely overhauled because I liked the iRiver better.
It's true that the "auto-" prefix indicates "oneself," but in this case the sense is in "seeing for oneself."
The drive used in the iPod Mini retails for much more than the Mini sells for. Apple is either getting an amazing volume price from Hitachi or they are taking it up their collective asses in order to infiltrate the market.
Whack...not enough cowbell.
The iPod is 6.1 cubic inches, and the iPod Mini is 3.6. That's a little more than half the size, a far cry from "0.4 inches smaller".
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
Well, in the case of the iPod mini, the hard drive retails for $500 whereas the iPod mini is half of that. I know of a few digital camera junkies that are considering buying the iPod just for the hard drive.
You probably waste money on a 500ml bottle of pepsi in order to have a chance at "winning" a free song while I get a 2 litre bottle for $1.79! Four times the value, for just 0.79 extra, and I can use the $2.29 saved on two itunes songs (better odds than the pepsi) and have 29 change for other stuff!
Screenshot of My G5 desktop!
Don't make me start a Penis war.....
Here is another one.
But it was dead before I started.
"FS: Mini iPod. $30
This was 'purchased from a friend' and I don't have anyway to test it. I'm selling this cheap and make no guarantees about function."
And he'll only charge $15 for S&H!
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those things!
Oh wait.
I've got a 10gb ipod (original), and the battery -like so many others- was offering less and less time for playback. I reset the whole thing with the 1.3 Update, and *bam* it's back to 10ish hours (long flight verified).
Because the drives retail for twice what the whole ipod goes for by itself. Currently, it's possible to make a profit by buying the ipod and selling just the drive on ebay.
--- Submission is feudal.
autopsy is done on oneself..
a biopsy is the right word
but in this case, there is no bio-organism
so a techopsy might be the right word... though not very interesting..
We considered this. It was actually cheaper for us to buy a defective iPod off of ebay than to get it from the OEM. The iPod hard drive was fine, it was another part of the iPod that was defective. Also, since we were using the battery as well, this was a package deal that saved us a LOT of money over buying the parts from manufacturers directly. Finally, we only needed to build a prototype, so getting the parts like this was preferred to begging the OEM to sell us single parts rather than in bulk.
bob
If he killed it in the process then it's murder or more like involuntary manslaughter. Autopsy can only be given post-mortem.
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
For just $50 more (thats like just #30, not much) you get 10 times the space
Well, that's just completely misinformed. For 50 more you get 3 times the space actually.
I hope that Ipod mini is a flop!
Yes! How dare they engineer, design and sell products?!
Not only will I not buy it, but I wish financial ruin on them for their audacity in manufacturing a device not aimed at me!
But, just like how Apple sells 0.1 upgrades of OSX for the price of a 1.0 upgrade
Who are these people to number their upgrades thus?
I say if we are to feel that we are getting enough for what we pay, we musn't look at the actual additional features and performance upgrades! We want a BIGGER numbers: Only that is worth money!
You can't take the sky from me...
...it seems that /. decided to give their server an autopsy.
S
bah.
It depends. Carrying around a 2L bottle while I'm at a conference or other inconvenient place would have larger negative utility for me than the dollar value saved by buying the bulk version of the drink. Convenience is not always worthless.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Expect the $100 iPod sometime between when they've sold an iPod to nearly everyone that will pay more than a $100 and a competitor can come close to offering a product with equal sex appeal for less than $150.
He trys ito do something interesting, but his ipod is now dead, then someone post the story on slashdot, and now his website is dead :)
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Put another way, if you assembled a car from parts sold at retail prices a Saturn would cost more than a Hummer.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
I thought an autopsy was when you disect something that is already dead to determine the cause of death. If you disect something that is still alive, that would be murder.
I guess, unless they _want_ to be eaten...
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
Misfit...
http://www.babehunt.org/fusker/index.php?lid=10471
Please don't mod this offtopic, as it is a relevant question...
For those iPod owners out there: What has been your experience with the device as far as strength/stability goes? As in... Does a drop off a table crash the heads? I am looking into purchasing one possibly, but my main use will be for snowboarding and if it's not gonna be able to take some abuse (obviously it will be in my jacket but still subject to vibration and the occassional wipeouts), I would rather go with a solid-state one. Any feedback would be most useful.
# fuser -v
#
If you do, point them to this page. The author there recommends buying a Creative Nomad MuVo. It has the same 4G drive and sells for $200.
Time for a webserve autopsy!!
I made you an mini ipod keychain!
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
There is a similar drive found in the Creative Labs Muvo2 MP3 player. If you look in eBay, the drive goes for a pretty penny, considering that retail price for it is fairly high. Lots of people are selling their "OEM Microdrive" on eBay and I am willing to bet that the majority of them are pilfered from one of these MP3 players.
A proper autopsy is done after the person is dead...
Not a bad deal when you think about the fact that a regular Hitachi 4 GB Compact Flash card cost close to $500 by itself.
Autopsy showed that that patient's death was caused by the autopsy.
I have a 20Gb iPod with a mere 2.6 GB of music on it. I'd much rather have the less bulky mini and $50.
So why didn't you just go buy the same HD for less money?
Two words: quantity purchase.
If you placed an order for 100K+ units, you could probably get about the same pricing that Apple does.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm a gung-ho more bang for the buck male and I bought an iPod mini. (yeah, it was for my girlfriend).
Jesus, it's not +5 funny. I'm getting bored of the same fucking jokes repeated over and over and over and over and
I'm sure you can go back to the fun articles of 99, about 35,000 articles ago. Perhaps of interest would be the first mention of Napster.
I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
RIP (Rest In Pieces)
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
but herpes is forever!
He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom. -- Gandalf
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Technicality, I know, but usually you perform an autopsy on things that are already dead.
PETE (People for the Ethical Treatment of Electronics) maintains that the goals of science can be equally well served without doing harm to our bleeping, whirring, cousins. As a show of protest, they have initiated a series of ddos attacks against sites linked to by popular "electronic butchery forum" slashdot.
PETE spokesman Nigel Rehnquist defending the ddos attack, saying "the ethically important question is not - can electronics understand what is being done to them? The ethically important question is - can electronics feel pain? I've trained my tamagotchi to wail in agony when I press this button, which makes YOU a sadist!"
PETE has achieved notoriety in recent years for it's colorful lobbying and advertising efforts. One series of advertisements, which NBC declined to air, showed graphic depictions of graphing calculator-shaped puppets transmiting IR signals to one another and moaning in the throes of ecstacy. PETE called the advertisement a public service announcement to remind Americans how important and easy it was (only a bit of tape is required) to "fix" their graphic calculators. Prominent executives at another network approached about the ads, speaking on condition they not be identified, called the series of advertisements "disturbing, incomprehensible and weird." "One of them kept rocking his cellphone and singing to it," added one executive, "they scare me."
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
So if I sold the drive and the battery I could make a fortune.
Money here I come.
A blog about stuff.
hi bob. how's OSU?
*blast from past*
oh look, its a multiphasic chronoton particle generator, with optional dual airbags and a heizenberg buffer modulator!
PHP certainly ain't perfection but it beats that gay TCL shit to death.
...since he managed to kill it in the process.
He must not have learned, 'cause he just killed his webserver as well...
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
I wonder if jacking into a dead iPod would be deemed illegal in the UK?
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
Apple doesn't have the push to demand under-cost parts from someone Hitachi. No way in hell that's happening.
It is murder
This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process.
Not to be a Grammar Nazi or something, but you are not supposed to die out of an autopsy. You are supposed to be dead before.
This looks more like a Nazi "scientific" experiment than an autopsy to me.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Well technically no, it's not. An autopsy requires the subject to be deceased *before* the procedure.
Seriously? That sucks... My iPod is about 8 months old and it's in pristine condition. I take excellent care of my iPod to ensure that I don't get a single scratch on it. (Clear film to protect the screen and a "skin" to protect the casing.) I would be pissed in the extreme if they sent me back a different unit. Let alone one that had so much as a microscopic scratch on it anywhere. If you can't replace the battery in a $400 product without scratching it ... well ... let's just say it's the last iPod I'll ever buy.
Looks like a job for PETA!
Quack, quack.
Just a couple of questions: Was it difficult to reverse engineer the pinouts of the hard drive? And would it be possible to make an iPod HD connector to standard ATA drive converter? I have a 1G ipod with a dead HD and I''d LOVE to build a converter and hook an 80gig HD up to it :)
Taking apart the iPod mini
February 23, 2004
By Greg Koenig
Apple has crammed a lot of stuff into the anodized aluminum enclosure of the new iPod mini, and taking it apart is no easy task. I'm an industrial designer with lots of experience pulling back the curtain and meeting the wizard in PDAs, Mp3 players, stereos, watches and all sorts of other gear. I am usually pretty good at it, having not broken something in years (lots of bug hunts for tiny parts on the floor though). Except my brand-new iPod mini, where I screwed up big time... twice!
The Procedure:
Tools needed:
(1) Wiha 1.5mm flat head screwdriver
(1) Wiha Philips #000 screwdriver
(1) Needle nose pliers or medical (Kelly type) hemostats
(1) Hair dryer
To help illustrate my disassembly adventure, view the iPod mini autopsy photos and follow along.
To begin with, make sure the 'Hold' button is locked into the ON position (showing orange) to prevent the internal components to be turning on while you are taking it apart.
The plastic top and bottom plates are glued into place with a tacky adhesive that will soften considerably when heated so use the hair dryer on a low setting to heat up the top plate. Work the area until it's very warm to the touch. Now turn the mini around so you're looking at the Apple logo and squeeze the two rounded edges together at the top, causing the enclosure to bow a little bit in the middle. Insert the flat bladed screwdriver between the plastic and the metal (in line directly above the Apple logo) and gently pry the plate straight up. Work around the edges, leaving the area around the 'Hold' button till last. When you finally do get to the 'Hold' button area, pry carefully and pull the plate STRAIGHT up. Behind the 'Hold' button are two plastic standoffs (sort of like tabs) that extend down into the case and push the real switch on and off. If you pry the thing out at an angle, you will break one of these standoffs. That was mistake #1 for me. The actual 'Hold' switch soldiered onto the main board broke, so the 'Hold' switch no longer works.
Now perform the same procedure on the plastic bottom plate. When it is removed, you will see a shiny sheet-metal plate held in place under spring tension by 4 tabs inserted into reliefs machined into the enclosure. At the end of each of these tabs, you will see a round hole. Use the Philips #000 in these holes and carefully pry each tab out of its slot. The sheet-metal plate will come right out.
Next, you need to disconnect a ribbon cable that connects the scroll/click wheel assembly to the main baord. This ribbon cable is on the bottom of the mini on the left hand side. It is orange. You can't miss it. Use the 1.5mm blade screwdriver to pry it apart. If there isn't enough slack in the ribbon cable, don't worry, as long as you get the connector loose, you have done your job here.
Turn the mini over, looking back into the top, you will see two tiny philips head screws on either side of another metal plate. Remove these with the #000 screwdriver carefully and put them in a safe place (don't drop these on the floor, you will never see them again).
Now comes the fun part - gently push on the 30 pin connector at the bottom of the mini and all of the main components (on an assembly I call the component sled) will slide right out the top. It is a bit tight, but if you meet major resistance, back off and INSURE you have the ribbon cable disconnected. This is where I messed up and killed my iPod mini, I forgot to check and I pushed with all my might, ripping the ribbon cable off of the male connector. Oops.
The component sled contains nearly all of the iPod's internals; the main circuit board, battery, LCD display and hard drive. While the LCD is held onto the ma inboard with 4 plastic tabs, the battery and HD are held in place simply by the tight packing within the enclosure. Feel free to disconnect the battery or remove the HD, they simply unplug from the main board. The LCD disconnects from th
Now you must demand that Apple give you a new one and create an iMovie of you defacing their advertisements.
Also, register appledidnotpreventmefromdestroyingmyminiipod.com
MSNBC, here you come!
J. R. R. Tolkein
Around about the time I broke 35 mph, my ipod lept out of my pocket, hit the asphalt, and started bouncing. I ground to a halt. Still running!
Yeah, I probably got lucky because it wasn't accessing the hard drive when it hit. (And, it was in the little fabric case.) It's been five months, and it still runs fine, however.
Protect your liberties. Donate to the ACLU
Seriously, what's next?
Man makes pasta while wearing iPod!!
I know a lot of people love their iPods, but MP3 players have been around for years and just because it's "hip" to own an iPod doesn't mean it's anything special. I've had an MP3 phone for 3 years now and I do't go around trying to convince people that I'm cool because of it.
and thus taco posted the link, killing it in the process.
lame, yeah I know.
you should buy a crappy laptop before you buy an ipod mini
We were very successful with connectors from http://www.ddkconnectors.com/mcdd50.htm .I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to build a board with this connector on one side and a standard connector on the other side. Although, you probably want a female connector for the small side, and I don't know where you could get that.
As for the pinouts, Mike, one of the other group members, could tell you exactly what you want. His email is listed on our group web page.
bob
Most digital cameras don't support CF cards above 2GB because they can't read/write FAT32. If you think you're in that category, try creating a 2GB FAT partition on the CF card to test it. More recent cameras are OK with FAT32.
The Creative Labs 4GB Muvo2 has a Hitachi 4GB drive. The player is sold out most places since people are pulling the 4GB drive for their cameras. Check eBay for listings of disembowelled Muvo2's for sale. In Creative's case, I believe part of the the shortage is due to them re-engineering the player to mecahnically lock the CF card in place, probably with solder.
The part in the iPod is HMS360404D5CF00: this is the same part number Hitachi gives to its standard CF card drive, so I assume people will get it working Real Soon Now.
Of most interest to the long-term health of the iPod, Hitachi warrants the drive for 300,000 head load/unload cycles, and 140 power-on hours per month. Hmmm...
RTFA. He says he took it apart to explore feasability of custom anodizing mini's for his business. The sooner he figures that out, the better for him.
The issue was that Apple wanted hundreds of dollars
c ts/service/ipod_service.html
49 bucks says you do it yourself http://www.ipodbattery.com/
100 bucks says you are an asshole (you, ePhil One) http://www.info.apple.com/support/applecare_produ
The next pasture is always greener
cirix? why does that name sound so familiar? do I know you? wait, did you work for RCN?
Of course, someone who can't understand the concept of past tense isn't likely to have two bits to rub together, so I doubt I'll ever see it. Try to understand this you slack jawed nitwit. Just because I can do something today doesn't mean I could do it yesterday. Did Apple change their policy after the contraversy? Did Apple fail to to notify their support call centers about this option? Will you ever bother to pull you head out of your ass long enough to remember what fresh air smells like?
I don't really care. It would be nice if you spontaneously recognize what an ass you are, then I could feel this little lecture about how time progresses and things change over time wasn't a complete waste of my time, but I doubt I'll get even that much satisfaction.
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
Look here in 2/23.
It's only an "autopsy" if the subject died before it was examined. If radical exploratory surgery is performed on a ___Living___ subject with little regard to the subject's well being, it's called:
..oh...Say, Nuremberg decide to hang you....
Vivisection
Had the subject survived the experience, it is called "research". If the subject dies during the quest for knowledge, it's called an "atrocity" and you get charged with neat little things like "Crimes Against Humanity" and the guys at
Just wanted to clear that up. Y'know - as Samuel Clemens warned us in his critique of Fenimore Cooper - "Use the right word, not it's second cousin!"
Lemme help you out. First of all, SlickDeals is selling it for 225, not 255. There's a direct link to the deal, which uses an anchor.
No, I'm not affiliated with slickdeals or target. I just think it's cool that an EDU-priced deal is available to the masses.
No questions, but a suggestion: Please take photos in focus in the future. :P I was trying to get a good look at your PCB, but it's nearly impossible to make anything out due to poor photography.
Ok, it's practically impossible to take high quality photos at really short range of really small shiny objects with an older digital camera. No matter how you light it, it's gonna reflect odd light, and to get in really close, you have to put the camera closer than the focal length of the lens, which will blur it.
"Conclusion:
:)
Don't take apart your new iPod mini."
we could have told him that before
Autopsy is when you cut up something that is already dead. When you kill something that was living until you cut it is murder/killing.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Snow?
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
From my experience it's difficult to find hardware manuals and disassembly instructions, for electronics through search engines. Therefore I have collected some repair HOWTOs for laptops, for PDAs and for portable music players. BTW: There is also a Linux software for portable music players.
I don't know about you, but I only take a couple minutes to recharge after a lapdance.
:-)
Well I had some moderation points I wanted to use on the parent post, but I just couldn't find a "liar" or at least "probably deluded" option
i agree, even more the more appropiate term would be dissection. "A Detailed examination or analisys."
On the other hand,autopsy, "Examination of a cadaver to determine or confirm the cause of death".
So unless he was trying to find out why his ipod died, is a dissection(which by the way doesnt imply the subject must be alive afterwards).
"The quality of life is inversely proportional to the number of keys on your keyring."
For just $50 more (thats like just #30, not much) you get 10 times the space
Assuming you have Firewire. I'm going to bet that a lot of Windows folks, myself included, do not -- USB is where we're at. And since the iPod Mini supports USB right out of the box, it's good to go... but the iPod regular does not, you have to buy a $20 cable in addition to the $50 extra you're spending.
I went with a 15gb, and I ended up paying $70 more than the mini, and just for laughs my iPod arrived 5 days before the cable did. It sat around on my desk looking stylish and aesthetically pleasing and making no sound whatsoever until the stupid cable showed up. Rats.