WOAH. iPod 4G not charging - Dead battery or Farked USB cable? PICS INSIDE!

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392472895710238

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The title was an experiment in psychology; the topic is really quite boring and I don't have pics.


My iPod 4th gen decided to stop charging via USB. When I plug her in, she will oscillate between the large, dead battery icon and trying to boot up - which fails after a few seconds.

This seems to have occured suddenly since my battery would usually last at least 3-4 hours. Do you think this is a dead battery problem or a deciding-not-to-charge-via-usb anymore problem?

Technical notes: The battery does not warm up when trying to be charged. The debug menu states 'CHGRING' when I have the usb cable connected and also detects when it's removed. I have tried multiple cables, multiple usb ports and multiple computers to no avail.

See I'm tossing up whether I should be buying a new battery or a firewire cable off ebay to fix the problem (I will report back with the solution of course).

Please advise.

Signing off,

392472895710238
 
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You need a new battery if your only getting 3 to 4 hours of playing time. When the battery is giving you less than 5 hours then it's time to get a new one.
 

392472895710238

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I agree the battery is on its last legs, but the more pressing matter is the issue of the device not charging at all - I would like to get that fixed before getting fussy about running time etc.

Last night I got into the debug menu, went to the USB charging option and plugged it in and double checked that the iPod recognized that it was charging. I left it in this state for several hours in the hope that the simplicity of the debug menu would not counter act any small trickle charging. Unfortunately this was not the case and upon rebooting it was once again stuck on the flat battery icon.


I've seen other people with this issue - Suddenly no charge can be accepted via USB. Could someone share their words of wisdom?
 

392472895710238

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Update:

Ok other people with this problem seem to run around in circles or cry "me too!" when somebody complains about it, so I'm making an effort to solve this case by compartmentalizing variables that may cause the ipod to not charge. Below I have listed the steps I've taken so far:

- Tried multiple USB cords (No dice)
- Tried multiple USB ports (No dice)
- Tried multiple computers (No dice)
- Tried powering via USB with the cell's internal socket disconnected (No dice)
- Tried charging through a powered USB hub not connected to a PC (No dice)
- Tried charging with a USB cord with the data contacts blocked by means of a piece of paper (No dice)

- Currently: Directly charging the Li-Ion cell through my swallow RC charger. I had a quick check and believe the standard iPod 4g battery has a capacity of 600mAh, so I went for a charge rate of 0.5C (300mA). The battery is currently outside to minimize the implications of explosion, and has sucked up about 140mA at ~ 4v. I'll keep you posted.

Update: My charger pushed about 350mA into the iPod cell before calling it quits. I plugged the cell back into the iPod. I then connected the iPod via USB to my PC and it has booted and is now syncing, as well as apparently charging as we speak. According to device manager it's pulling 500mA from its USB connection. I'm going to let it sit for a while and see what happens.

I just went into the diagnostic menu because I thought it would be a smart idea to let it sit on the USB connection while glancing over the battery A2D reading. The charging menu asserts that it was charging in diagnostic mode but windows device manager does not even recognise that it is supplying power to it. I have opted to return to normal "do not disconnect" disk mode while attempting to nurture it back to life since I can then comfortably see the 500mA drain in windows. Strange that this does not come up in device manager. Could this be a catch 22? One's iPod must be in disk mode to charge, but to be in disk mode it must be charged...
 
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dznuts

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iPod not charging...

Ive had the same thing occur on multiple ipods that had good batteries. On the newer ipods, Ive been able to plug in the usb cable then go directly to the diagnotics menu so that the ipod has a chance to charge without sucking up too much juice. With the older ones, the only way Ive been able to solve this was to plug it into the wall via AC adapter.
 

392472895710238

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Ok, battery failed to recharge in the iPod so I have purchased a high capacity replacement battery - I'll let you know if that fixes it when it arrives (probably weeks away)
 

shellshock

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I had the same problem with my 4th gen! the ONLY place it would charge at was in my car on my Berklin cable. I have no idea why. it started doing this after I replaced the battery with a new ebay one.

It wouldn't charge anywhere else, no AC adapter nor computer.

After owning since the day it was new, I finally got fed up with it and smashed it to pieces, and yea, I was having a Monday too. LOL
 
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