3G Ipod / Weird Battery Problems

[gseeo1348]

So...about two weeks ago my girlfriend complained to me that while listening to her (my old) 3G 20gig iPod, she heard a popping noise similar to a static pop an a notice read on the screen that said there was no battery life on it, and it shut off.

She was unable to use the iPod on the rest of that trip, but took it home and charged it. Since then, the amount of charge the battery meter shows has been inconsistent, and often it does not recharge the full amount, even after sitting on the dock charging for hours. Additionally, the same inital problem has happened to her a few times since then.

Today, my 3G 40gig iPod experienced something similar. While listening to my fully-charged iPod, the battery meter went, unexplicably, to zero, and I had an error message on my screen saying the battery life was zero, and it shut itself off. I turned it back on, got the restart Apple logo, and played another album. It played through the album fine, and the entire time the battery meter slowly went all the way back up near 100%.

After that album finished, I went to play another, and the same probelm happened---battery life to zero, and it shut itself off. I tried a few more times to get it up and running again, but to no avail.

It seems weird we would both have the same problem within weeks of each other. Both iPods are less than a year old--hers (my old one) I have the warranty on; the other I bought secondhand and have no warranty on.

So...any help/comments/suggestions?

[Blue_Dawg]

I know it has been said many times that the battery meter on the 3G is not accurate at all. Never heard of that causing it to shut down and then using it again and it being fine. Seems strange.

[gseeo1348]

So...further to the subject...

I left my iPod charging overnight. This morning when I left the hose, all while connected to the dock, I switched the backlight not to come on at all, started a playlist, put the headphones on my ears, and pulled it off the dock and headed in. It worked for a little less than two hours before shutting off here at work, and now there is no charge.

So...my best guess is that my battery is now having a difficult time holding a charge, and that the meter on the iPod (based on your comment) is entirely innaccurate.

So...do I need to get a battery replacement kit? Could there be some sort of problem with my home dock and charger that's busted two different iPod batteries?

[Blue_Dawg]

How old are both of the iPods and how often do you drain the batteries completely?

[davidgnotta]

Well ... something is definatley wrong with either the batteries or the battery indicator.


I just bought a brand new iPod Photo (40gb) and used it about a week with no problem. I charged it in the cradle (hooked up to my iMac) overnight for a trip the next day. It played about 5 songs on the plane and then just stopped and turned itself off. When I tried to revive it I got the faint Apple logo, then finally the battery indicator showing no power left.

I tried to charge it with a car charger (Belkin) but my iPod did not come on, even when hooked up to power this way.

That night I plugged it into my Powerbook and it came on and started charging. I left it hooked up to the Powerbook (which was plugged into a wall outlet) for several hours and it seemed to charge back up.

It worked fine on the flight home. The indicator seemed to show the battery level slowly going down, as it should. I turned it off yesterday (yes I am SURE it was off) after a short bit of use and now this morning it was dead again. It wouldn't even give me the Apple logo or show the battery indicator. I've plugged it back into the cradle and it is now charging again.

I think Apple has a problem and they better fix it fast!

[gseeo1348]

both of my iPods are less than a year old. My 40GB is 9 or 10 months, and the 20GB is about a year old (Christmas present last year).

Neither is completely drained very often--I can't speak on behalf of the 20GB, since it's now my girlfriends, but I doubt that has been run down often. Mine, personally, has been run all the way down 4 or 5 times in the time that I've had it.

[AndyH]

Originally posted by davidgnotta
I just bought a brand new iPod Photo (40gb) and used it about a week with no problem. I charged it in the cradle (hooked up to my iMac) overnight for a trip the next day. It played about 5 songs on the plane and then just stopped and turned itself off. When I tried to revive it I got the faint Apple logo, then finally the battery indicator showing no power left.

Question for you...was your iMac turned on all night? If it was on, do you allow the CPU to sleep via the Energy Saver controls?

If your Mac allows the CPU to sleep, that can cause problems with a connected iPod...in fact it's been known to drain the iPod battery.

[gseeo1348]

threadjacker!

[undertool]

my 3Gen 20 is haviong the same prob, so focus back on the 3gens!!!

[yinyang]

seems like a strange that the battery should suddenly drain like that.

try doing a update or restore to replace the software on the iPod to rule that out as the issue.

do you or your gf remember if it was any particular set of tunes that precipitated the battery drain - maybe some new tunes that have been encoded differently?

failing that i would suggest contacting apple for both iPods and that way you may be able to find out if your 40Gb is still under warranty

btw welcome to the lounge

[gseeo1348]

both ipods have the latest version of the software on them, and all the music on there is 128kbps AAC encoded. it's not like the battery slowly began dying on me--there was literally a popping noise, and now the best charge it can hold is for about an hour, and that's with me starting a playlist, backlight off, locking it, and heading out the door.

i ordered a replacement battery online--i figure if that's not the problem, i'm still going to need it eventually, since the hard drive would hopefully far outlast the battery.

i'd prefer not to restore if i don't have to--both ipods are full. what does a restore do aside from a complete new install of the software and wiping the disc clean?

i'm also concerned that this happened to both of our within a month of each other. is there any chance there's a short in the dock or wires that might have caused this? is there any way to test for that if so?

[ng0720]

Another data point: I'm having the same problem. Would appreciate suggestions.

In my case, and I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not, the pop and shutdown has occured after I handled my 3rd gen 20GB iPod in some way. The battery meter leaps from almost full to empty and the iPod just shuts off, almost like there was some kind of electrical short in it.

This happened again just tonight on the commute home. After turning it back on several times, it finally started to notice that it did have some charge left. I was able to get it to start playing again and eventually the battery meter returned to the level it was at before the pop.

This is the third time I've been able to coax it back to life after a pop and shutdown. The battery seems to have a charge, but the iPod doesn't recognize it.

I haven't yet tried the reset or reformat. I may do that tonight if I get a chance.

[ng0720]

I may have solved my problem.

After a reset and a disk scan came up clean, I decided to investigate the possibility of a loose battery connector. So I borrowed my son's guitar picks, popped open the case, and removed the hard disk and battery. Since I didn't see any obvious problem, I hooked everything back up and started to reassemble the case when I noticed a very very small torx screw lying on the desk near where the hard disk had lain. I also noticed an empty screw hole in the top of the hard disk that was the same size as the screw. So I screwed the screw back into the hard disk with a sharp pointed knife and put the iPod back together. Thankfully it still works.

As a bonus, that odd rattle I used to hear is now gone. Evidently the screw was moving around inside and shorting out the iPod, resulting in that loud pop. I suspect the iPod then shutdown as a self preservation mechanism. I have no idea why the battery meter went to zero on subsequent restarts, but it would usually correct itself if I fooled with it enough.

If I don't post another followup, you'll know that my problem has now been resolved.

[buddanthonydiaz]

Having installed numerous batteries in the 3g iPod, the best thing to do is unplug the battery for a while. Once you plug it back in, the battery meter will be a bit more accurate. It will still show that it is low, but it then slowly creeps up to where it actually is. Same deal with connectivity problems. A couple of 3G's I was working on would charge via firewire but not connect to the PC. Took out the HDD for a while, and boom, back in business.