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iPod Mini Design Flaw?
terradyn writes "Over at iPodlounge they've discovered that the iPod mini's have a major issue with their headphone jacks. It looks like the jacks connection to the main system board is extremely poorly engineered and so normal use will wear it out and cause lots of static after around 35-40 days... If any pressure on your iPod Mini results in crackling and static, you should return your iPod immediately to an Apple store for a free replacement. They're also theorizing over in the forums that the iPod Mini shortage may be a cover for this problem..." Update: 04/12 01:08 GMT by T : billybob writes "Someone in the forum thread originally linked to has posted pictures of the iPod taken apart, demonstrating the problem."
The Ipod Mini freezes costantly. This was supposedly fixed in pre-production but my mini and many other's mini locks up several times a day.
Well, sounds like a case of dry solder joints to me, which means the solder used to connect parts to the motherboard has not been correctly applied and/or heated, leaving it weak. Could also be a simple socket retention issue.
The good news is that this is usually easily fixable, opening the device and re-heating the joints that connect the socket to the board, maybe also applying a little epoxy to reinforce the socket, as a little movement can agrivate the problem.
The bad news is that if the soldering is not up to spec, the entire device could suffer from long term unreliability, especially in a device that will see constant movement and vibration, such as this..
Possibly they have used a surface mount socket with only the solder connections to retain it, and it really needed some form of positive retention because the case is not strong enough to provide the rest - this would make it a little harder to fix by resoldering, but the theory is the same.
After all, it's not really a DIFFICULT problem in engineering, if this problem is happening a lot then someone has REALLY dropped the ball here.
The predicted cause for this is that everything inside the IPM case is connected to the case with flexible rubber-like stuff, *except* the headphone jack (which is connected rigidly- standard practice for headphone jacks but unfortunate here).
Repeated stress on the case, then, puts stress on the headphone jack and eventually it may lead to the audio problems expressed at iPodlounge.
This should be an extremely easy fix for future IPM revisions, and I'd imagine Apple will be taking care of their customers.
As a sidenote, I had an iBook's logic board fail out of warranty due to a manufacturing flaw and I called Apple on I heard that Apple the flaw- they sent me a box, postage prepaid, in which to send my iBook back, repaired it, and sent it back to me. No money out of my pocket. Very cool.
...for being cheap and uber-stylish. For $50 more you could have had a regular iPod with way more storage, but noooooo, you HAD to get an Apple MP3 player in something other than white!
If you want a 15 GB iPod in color, check these guys out. They'll even paint your existing iPod if you're willing to send it in.
I don't know who is and who isn't aware of this rule of thumb, but working at a big Mac development house (no McDonald's jokes plz) taught me one thing. Never ever EVER (shake a baby) buy first revision Apple products. Since the beginning of time, I think Apple has looked at people who buy their newest line not as their first line of customers, but their last team of product testers.
.mac account, why can't you see it on your desktop!?!?")
Nearly every Apple product that I've seen come out in the past five years, I've known someone that has to return a Revision A product because Apple just dropped the ball on one thing or another. Don't get me wrong, their products are quite amazing and I'm envious of all my Apple fanatic friends that have everything, but if you're going to be on the bleeding edge and pre-order things before Apple's even done making them, of course you're going to see something wrong with the first batch. If you think otherwise, then why don't you try to release an idiot-proof product to people that want their mp3s automagically synced from their work desktop to their iPod to their car to their laptop to their servers to their friend's computers in the UK. ("it's on my
...but I ramble...
Sure, if you don't like having a warranty.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
The small part with the headphone jack attaches via screws to the aluminium case, but does not screw to the main board. Because of this any pressure on the case, dock connector, or simply plugging in and out headphones, creates tension between the small part and the main board. Since only the black connector sits between these two parts, it quickly wears out.
With regular use, contacts get loose and slightest pressure on iPod creates static sounds
Its a compact flash microdrive.. CF is the form factor afterall, not just the memory type. Theres CF-wifi cards afterall. People have been taking these things apart just for the micro drive anyways. If I got one of these I would probably do the same thing, without a decent headphone jack this thing thing is bloddy useless.
Moo!
Could just be dirty. Try cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol or deoxit. This solves most crackly headphone jack issues.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I bought an iSkin EXO2. It's a plastic shell that wraps tightly around your ipod. Provides a better belt clip, screen protection and impact protection while making your ipod look less like an ipod, without increasing the size too much.
Way cheaper than a custom paint job...and less troublesome if you drop it!
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Yes. You are right. I think a more accurate term would be "CF-sized". There are three things which define Compact Flash: physical size, electrical interface, and storage medium. It's noteworthy that the CF interface *IS* IDE, with a different connector. IBM (now Toshiba) has been making CF-sized Microdrives for years, and I will admit to having referred to them as being "CF hard drives." This is unfortunate.
I suppose it's possible that grandparent poster knew that it was a hard drive. My apologies if he did.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
As with all products, no matter who makes them, you should probably buy a warranty if none is provided. Fortuantly, all Apple hardware products come with a one-year limited warranty against defects. So before you flame, remember that your product is probably in warranty, and that Apple would be more than happy to replace it because they desire your business.
...
Nope, it didn't support OGG. It was the first hard-drive based MP3 player released by Archos. The hardware was not able to play anything besides uncompressed (WAV) and MP3 audio files.
But hey, at least it has alternative open source fimware.
Also cool: ipodmods.com
They'll replace your LEDs or change the LCD backlight color...
If you think you can hurt me again, you're wrong. I left my heart in my other pants.
Actually worth significantly more, since the 4GB hard drive costs $400+ on its own.
I worked on satellites and the design mantra there was "solder is never a mechanical fastener". Any component with any mass had be to bolted, epoxied, or tied down. The exception was dip packages, but they have a high pin-to-mass ratio.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
For a more accurate battery guage, create an empty file called "_show_voltage" (no quotes) in iPod_Control\Device.
For 3G iPods with the latest firmware, this will cause the default battery meter to be replaced with a digital voltage display, in 1/10th volts. So a fully charged iPod might display 500 (5.00V), while a nearly dead iPod will be under 200 (2.00V).
Apple paints the inside of clear plastic white to get the look of the iBook/iPod. You just need to remove it and then paint what you want.
apple makes great stuff, but their first-generation of just about everything they make has problems (and is usually really expensive) -- wait for the second revision and you'll have less headaches.
My first-generation 10GB iPod also doesn't have this problem. However, the headphone connection of the Apple remote control I bought for it later does.
JP
You're ignoring the hugely complicated process of refining the silicon. It's not like you can just glue sand together and slap it in a chip package.
Check out the "wife" link at the bottom. Smokin'!
I can't believe no one else has picked up on this yet!
Come on, geeks, get with it.
Most people in this discussion focus on the headphone plug, but as that guy who ripped apart his mini iPod states: the problem is the connector(s) between the two PCB's that's at fault. That connector should have been flexible or the case should have been rigid. Both not being the case, the soldering points of the connector start to crack.
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
I had the same issue with my Pismo (Bronze) Powerbook. My solution was to take out the audio board (a very small piece) and take it to an electronics repair shop. The guy there resoldered it, no charge, and it has been fine since. Apparently the factory solder connections were a bit thin.