I have a lot of iPods I collected over the years, and I kind of like to save every now and then one from the junkyard. And while looking to play with my iPods when I did the #MARCHintosh challenge, I recalled I had a faulty one in my box, so I decided I should revive it. However, because I didn’t plan in advance, I noticed I bought some nice things to use on an iPod that’s dead, as the issue with it is somewhere in the circuit board and it wouldn’t start, charge or show anything on the screen.

And while most of the upgrades are here, I am still waiting for new batteries to arrive. The upgrades I got are fairly simple and were purchased from AliExpress, because the local suppliers ask an arm and a leg for these: a yellow faceplate (of which I had to buy another one, because I got the variant without the yellow center button), a new backplate with 256GB laser etched on it, a 256GB SSD. three batteries (one to use in my U2 iPod, the others just to lay around, one who’d be used in this one).

Today, while going thrifting at the car boot sale in a nearby town, I found an iPod for sale for a value equal to €2 (I paid 4 goats and 2 potatoes), because it was sold as untested (for spares). As I took it home, I plugged it in and was happily surprised to see that it starts up. The hard disk was clicking bad, which means that it was pretty toasted, but the main thing was that it started, which means that the logic board is (probably) fine.

I opened this up, and I was shocked to see the amount of water damage and corrosion it had inside, especially as the unit worked fine. So without further ado, I disassembled the thrifted iPod, as the only thing I actually need from it is the mainboard with the clickwheel (and temporary the battery), everything would be taken either from my broken iPod, or would be replaced with new components.

I cleaned the board thoroughly with a brush and isopropyl alcohol (do not drink it!), let it dry and was happy to see that there wasn’t any permanent damage to the board.

I then dismantled my broken iPod, took the parts that I needed and started to Doctor Frankenstein a new one. After everything was together, I connected the device to my main computer, and it connected just fine. After a simple restore of the OS (because the new hard drive wasn’t even formatted), and copying the new files to it, it’s ready for a test.

Of course the lock button is stiff because the case is half a nanometer too askew and one of the headphones can’t be heard, but after replacing them with another lock button/headphone combo from the thrifted unit, it seems the issue might have been a loose ribbon connection. Oh well, practice is practice. At least now we’re waiting for the new batteries to arrive.

Once the battery arrived and I changed it, I noticed the horror of the case not closing, because the ZIF SSD I have doesn’t fit (as it’s made for those thicker chonkier cases), so I threw in a good 80GB HDD that I had laying around and called it a day. I could order a new chonky back, but I consider it’s all well, given the fact I have about 72GB of music in my library.

All this being done, it’s now all ready to use as a companion for the summer!