ipod 3g firmware

[m0dded]

i bought a new hard drive for my 3g ipod, and i need the firmware to put on it. if someone with a 3g ipod could open terminal and type in this string of commands, i'd be really appreciative.

sudo -s
(enter password)

dd if=/dev/diskx of=~/(name)
(make the name whatever you want)

dd if=/dev/diskxs2 of=~/(name)
(again, make up a name)

if anyone does this, please reply and tell me so i can give you my email, i'm very thankful.

[Pikemann_Urge]

Hey there. Unless there's a specific reason you want an image of the firmware all you have to do is partition the HD into at least two partitions (e.g. fdisk) and then make a filesystem (e.g. mkfs) on it. After that, the iPod Updater will re-install your firmware.

E.g. I used Linux to partition a messed up 40GB iPod HD before booting Windows and having iPod Updater do the rest. If you want more details let me know. BSD should be similar to Linux so what I did in Linux can easily be done in OS X.

[m0dded]

well i've tried partitioning it into the three partitions using terminal, but it still just gets the folder icon with the exclamation point. is it better to format it to windows, then switch it if i want to use it on my mac? what were the steps you did to make it work?

i have both a PC and a mac, so whichever is easier, i can try.

[Pikemann_Urge]

You might have missed the mkfs stage. But here's what I did in sum:

1. Using fdisk in Linux I made three partitions, the last being only one cylinder

2. I changed the partition IDs for 1st and 2nd partition to WIN 95 FAT32 (type b) and wrote the partition table to disk

3. Used fsck /dev/sda1 to make sure that the firmware partition was okay

4. Used mkfs to format the 1st and 2nd partitions to vfat

5. Rebooted into Windows and let iPod Updater take it from there

If you want more detail don't hesitate to ask.

The document which was the source of the above procedure:

http://pag.csail.mit.edu/~adonovan/hacks/ipod.html

Scroll down to the name "K. R. Foley". I made the third, one cylinder partition on his advice because I had the same problem as he did in the beginning. It isn't compulsory.

[m0dded]

i will try to do what the link says, but i am more on the beginner side of using terminal or that type of program. following the steps on this site: http://www.bsodmike.com/pages/how-to-upgrade-your-ipod/ i have been able to partition the ipod to three partitions before, but i still couldn't get the ipod to boot up in to disk mode or anything like that. so if you could go into a litle more detail as to how to do the partitions your way, i'd be super appreciative.

[Jesse Hollington]

I can't speak for the 3G iPod for certain, but the latest iPod Updaters are quite a bit more intelligent than the older ones were...

I have manually wiped partition tables clean on 4G and 5G iPods and never had any problem using the iPod Updater to restore the iPod. You may have to force it into disk mode to allow your computer to detect it, but other than that the iPod Updater or iTunes 7 should be able to take care of setting up the necessary partitions for you.

[m0dded]

my ipod will not go into disk mode, that's my problem. when i try, it just stays at the apple logo and will stay there until the battery dies.

the only way i am accessing my ipod is through my external drive enclosure. i bought an adapter to allow me to convert the 1.8" ipod to 3.5" ide and just plug it in through usb. if i don't do that, my computer will not recognize it.

[Jesse Hollington]

If you can't get it into disk mode, then how are you able to access it from your computer?

Have you followed the specific steps in Putting your iPod Into Disk Mode?

[Pikemann_Urge]

Watch this space - I have a few things that need doing ATM but I'll give you a step by step tutorial on how to do all that stuff later today. It's not complicated thankfully.

[m0dded]

i'm accessing it on my computer just like i said. i plug it in to an external hard drive enclosure, and then i can access it via terminal, or via windows disk management untility. it's just like a blank hard drive you're formatting to work with an OS, just a smaller physical size.

oh, and thanks a lot for the help Pikemann_Urge

[Jesse Hollington]

Gotcha. Somehow I missed that part (about the external hard drive enclosure).

However, if the iPod itself won't go into disk mode, it's likely that there's some other problem with the iPod hardware itself. Disk mode is not in any way dependent upon the format of the hard drive (although of course it has to be able to detect a hard drive).

You should just as easily be able to format the hard drive with a basic partition table and the iPod should pick that up without any difficulty. Again, I can't speak for the 3G for certain, as I've never tried this on a 3G, but I've done complete disk wipes on 4G and 5G iPods and never had any issues getting them into diagnostics or disk mode, as this code is embedded within the ROM chip itself.

[m0dded]

i can get into diagnostic mode, but for some reason it won't boot into disk mode. i hope that's not a sign that there's something beyond hard drive problems on the ipod.

[Jesse Hollington]

In my experience, the only thing that generally prevents an iPod from going into disk mode is if it can't find a hard drive at all. I'm assuming that you checked all of the connections carefully when you put in the replacement hard drive?

[m0dded]

yes, i've removed it and put it back in at least 15-20 times now and it always does the same thing.

would the hard drive having nothing on it at all prevent it from going into disk mode?

[Jesse Hollington]

Again, I can't say for certain with a 3G, as my experience there is much more limited, but with a 4G/5G this is definitely not the case.... As long as the drive is physically there, it will go into disk mode just fine, as there's nothing in the ROM diagnostics that bothers to check the drive.

Even if there were on the 3G, a base partition table should be enough to allow it to work... You shouldn't need any iPod-specific firmware or partitions on it for this purpose.