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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."
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
Actually, dissecting something while still alive is called a vivisection .
But, yeah, you can call that murder.
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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
Can't get to the article, but found this one showing a nicely dissected mini ipod...
iPod mini Dissection
When the battery dies under warranty, the usual process is that you send your dead iPod in it's whole to Apple and they send you a refurbished unit.
Having said that, there are how-to documents that show how to open the iPod and swap the battery yourself, saving a bit of money.
I guess all the bad press that Apple has received over the lifespan issues of the iPod battery has really pushed them to provide the extended warranty and an avenue to have them replace the battery on a pay per battery type deal.
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.
It is hard drive based. Its just that the hard drive used the Compact Flash interface more common to flash memory. It's a tiny hard drive manufactured by Hitachi.
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!
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.
Here is another one.
I bought the Mini because it's significantly smaller than the 15 gig iPod. It's also much more solidly built thanks to the aluminum case. Moving the controls under the jog dial is also a huge improvement. But the size and sturdiness were what convinced me: The mini fits into a relatively cramped pocket on a pair of jeans or gym shorts.. the regular iPod just can't do that.
Apple does offer a battery replacement service if your iPod is out of warranty, but I don't know if the same restrictions would apply.
I could kill you, sure, but I could only make you cry with these words
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.
I've got a 40gig iPod, and haven't had a problem with it. I'm pretty rough on my hardware (This iPod has been dropped 4 times since christmas) as well as the father of a two year old son (who found it laying out and decided to press the buttons ruthlessly and shake it a few times). Still works and none the worse for it.
As far as skipping goes, if it's in my pocket when I go up or down stairs quickly, it hasn't skipped yet.
In fact, the only problem I have had, happened when using the Belkin Battery Pack. When the batteries in the pack started dying, the music slowed down, similar to a record slowing down.
I recently got an iSkin for my pod, which I think was a great investment for helping to protect it.
aloha
According to the article, he was figuring out the take-apart procedure in order to begin offering a re-coloring service for those iPod mini owners that don't like Apple's choice of colors.
Obviously, if you're going to fuse new colors into anodized aluminum, you don't want to do it with any electronic or plastic parts still attached.
Having used iPod the very first time I went snowboarding, I can say it lived fairly well despite my frequent crashes. That trip, I loaned it to my more experienced friend, and he loved it, all the while shredding more and crashing less. I have a 10GB second gen iPod, and including that visit to the slopes, it has suffered minor drops very well. By minor I mean 2-3 feet, while it is either off or running. So far, I haven't lost it onto concrete or metal from distance (knock on wood), but I purchased it with an extended warranty from CompUSA, so I imagine I have a slightly more reassured attitude about the whole thing.
You've done that? What did they say?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;