iPod classic 6th Gen 120gb reboot loop

[g0pkh]

Hello everyone.

I have a really odd fault with this iPod.

Its a 6th generation 120GB (silver)
I bought it as faulty from eBay (I like a bit of a challenge)


The fault was specified as "constantly rebooting" which was not wrong.
I thought (incorrectly that this was was a simple HDD replacement job).
Alas not.

There is no problem with the 120GB drive, I have tried installing a replacement drive, and get the same problem.

I have run all the diagnostics on the device and they all pass.

I can put the unit into DFU mode (hold down menu and select for at least 15 seconds past the point at which a reboot normally occurs, the screen will then go blank)

Itunes sees it in DFU and offers to restore it, all appears to go well, until right at the very end, iTunes tells me that the restore was successful, and that the device will appear once it has restarted. However again it just enters the reboot loop.

Here is the weird part, as a test I came across Rockbox and emCORE. After installing this, the iPod works faultlessly.

So I thought as a test, I would try to revert back to Apple firmware. but as usual it simply enters a reboot loop.

Again another load of Rockbox, and all is great.

Can anyone shed any light on this, clearly there doesnt appear to be a hardware problem as such.

I am currently using itunes V10.6 on Win7 and loading firmware 2.0.1
(shift key and browse for ipsw file).
Is there a way to try earlier firmware, indeed was there even an earlier firmware?

I have read stories from other people regarding this problem occurring after a firmware update.

If anyone can help with this issue I would appreciate it. Rockbox works well but is an unstable version on 6th gen.

Regards

Pete

[g0pkh]

over 600 views and not a single reply.

I guess this really is an odd one then.

Working well on Rockbox tho..

Pete

[Sanddawgg]

Interesting. Last week I bought a used 6th gen IPOD Classic 160G on EBAY. I went through similar problems. At first, the IPOD showed in ITUNES, and I started to install my music. When I was done, there was no music, although I could tell it had been loading music. I finally determined that the IPOD had reset after the music had loaded. After that, ITUNES stopped even finding the IPOD at all. I could sometimes see it as a drive on My Computer, tried reformatting it, resetting it... tried different versions of ITUNES on three different computers running diagnostics (had 6,000 reallocs).. I finally got music on it using Winamp, but every time I ejected it, it reset and lost the music, back to the language screen. I finally gave up and returned it (It was supposed to be fully functional) I figured the hard drive was going bad. I've read about other similar complaints online though, and am beginning to wonder if there isn't something going on with ITUNES.. quite frustrating!

[g0pkh]

An update to this issue.

I aquired a cheap replacement logic board for this iPod.

Upon installing it, and attempting a full restore from DFU mode.

The restore was completely successful. I noticed however that the
device firmware was older at 1.1.2 IIRC.

When checking for a firmware update. iTunes clearly states that the
version is current, and no update is available.

Really strange.

As an aside however, I have now reverted back to Rockbox, and am very impressed so far. Such an improvement IMO.

Pete