As I’ve written before, I’m not exactly busy at work right now. I spend most of my day looking for things to do, surfing the web and listening to my iPod.
I’ve been doing this for several months and I’m already to the point where I desperately need the twin drugs of an Internet connection and a charged mp3 player filled with groovy tunes just to make it through the day without bludgeoning myself to death with a stapler.
And then this morning arrived.
I pulled my iPod off the charger and noticed the dreaded Sad iPod icon on my screen. This made me sad, too.
Beneath the icon was the URL http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/. I went to work and immediately pulled up the web address. Sure enough, there were all sorts of tips on how to deal with the little sad icon, including Apple’s standard cheery “5 R List” of ways to fix your iPod: Reset, Retry, Restart, Reinstall, Restore.
Of course none of these even remotely worked. Everything I tried immediately ended up with me getting the sad iPod icon once again.
Frustrated I turned to the blogosphere and started searching around for anyone who might have had the same problem of me. And, of course, many people did. There’s a reason Apple’s iPod support page has a Google Pagerank of 8.
Don’t buy a new iPod yet!
The iPod Repair Guide
Less than $20 with a
money-back guarantee!
After an hour or so of surfing around I came up with this analysis of my situation:
I had a broken iPod that was resistant to all the usual methods of repair. If I couldn’t get it fixed I was going to have to send it into Apple. So I decided to do what many of the blogs out there recommended:
Purposely drop my iPod to the floor.
This had worked for many, many other people even though Apple’s website (wisely) doesn’t mention this possible fix. I couldn’t quite bring myself to dropping my $300 iPod to the hard tile floor on the off chance that it would spin or wobble on the way down so I did the next best thing: I held it and slammed it onto a pad of paper on my desk (providing some cushion so I didn’t crack the case), charging port down.
And like mana falling from heaven, the tunes started playing.
Apparently there are really SIX R’s in the Apple repair repetoir: Reset, Retry, Restart, Reinstall, Restore and Ram.
While I thanked the Jobs Gods for resurrecting my iPod I couldn’t help but wonder WHY such a ridiculous fix worked. I did a little more poking around it and turns out that the hard drive cable inside a lot of iPods manages to work itself loose to the point where the connection is no longer valid. So the iPod is looking for the hard drive, the cable isn’t completely connected and your iPod get sad.
Dropping (or banging) the iPod basically jolts the cable back into the socket.
This worked for me and it appears to have worked for countless others. I cannot, of course, take responsibility for anything you do to your iPod. I’m fairly certain Apple doesn’t recommend this method of fixing it. But then again, this fix doesn’t require you sending your iPod away…
Oh, and if you’re having battery issues with your iPod, I stumbled upon the excellently titled “The iPod Battery Unplugged” page. I didn’t need it but I learned some things…
Author’s Note: Due to the overwhelming response on Digg about this controversial iPod repair method I have decided to help the many people who are still a little unclear on how this method works. I am listing simple instruction on how to assemble your own iPod Repair Kit which should hereafter be known as the iPad™.
Required Materials:
iPod with Sad iPod Icon
Pad of Paper, any size
Optional Materials:
Pen
Beer
Hovercraft
Llama
…you get the idea.
Assembly Steps:
1. Put the pad on the desk.
2. Optionally, write something on the pad with the pen.
3. Done.
How to Use:
1. Hold the broken iPod in your hand, charger port down.
2. Ram your iPod against the pad firmly, but not hard enough to go through the desk or send the iPod flying out of your hand.
3. Test iPod.
4. Repeat as necessary.
5. Have a celebratory or condolence beer.
Here is the finished product:
For the shockinging mechanically inept, I’ve even put together a page where you can buy them premade.
See? I told you I wasn’t very busy at work right now.
543 Responses to “How To Fix an iPod with the Sad iPod Icon”
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RedFox says:
Haha! You’re lucky you didn’t go ahead and smash it on the floor!
July 16th, 2006 at 4:33 pm -
tony says:
Found this out independently when I slammed my iPod down on my desk in frustration.
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Kevin Cannon says:
I had the same problem. I fixed mine by opening it up, disconnecting the Hard Drive, then reconnecting it, making sure all the other connections were tight.
You can see how to open the ipod here:
http://www.notpopular.com/blog/comments.php?blogID=63 -
marten says:
You know you could’ve just -opened- the ipod, push the plug back in.
That’s what I did.
Anyway good to hear it worked. Percussive maintenance rules.
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Ryan says:
The sad icon would have cost me $279 for apple to fix it, or repair. I had heard about someone throwing their ipod. After 2 months of no tunes/podcasts I went crazy. I frisbeed mine a few feet from me on the carpet. It worked! I had to “fix” it a couple times since but it is great now.
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Michiel says:
the Sad iPod repair kits is beautiful.
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kamika says:
do i get volume discount when I order a 100 pads?
and can I become a reseller ?
thanks for the nice article.
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George Gallagher says:
I can confirm that this works.
I was getting sad ipod icons from time to time. I ‘fixed’ the ipod by tapping it firmly against the steering wheel of my car (Nice soft material). Note I tapped it at the TOP of the case NOT the bottom. I suspect this tapping (akin to my father hitting an old TV set on the side in the 1960s) works because it reseats the hard drive cable. -
Harry says:
it worked!!!!
i had given up with my 20gb 4g and had got a 512mb shuffle, NOW MY 20GB IS WORKING AGAIN!!!!
THanks so much!!
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Too rich and doesn't know what to do with money says:
Hi,
I would like to buy the collectors edition of the ipod repair kit. Can you provide information on how to get it? -
RICHARD CARTER says:
It only bloody worked!
Brilliant, thanks fella. I owe you a beer.Rich
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dragonleg says:
Yo!
Nice post…I love your quirky sense of humor.
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
lee, AKA dragonleg
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Daniil says:
In Soviet Russia that is how they fixed all the problems. Jokes aside its totally true, I still apply the same technique to every problem from software to cookware. Works all the time.
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sad ipod user says:
this is exactly what worked for me a few months back. didn’t have the benefit of the nifty pad, though
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Matt Kurio says:
I had the same issue about 2 weeks ago. I also read about dropping it or baging it and that made it work for another day or 2 until I got the sad face again. I found another site that suggested opening the iPod and making sure the HD cable was fastened well. I did this and my iPod has been working fine the last 2 weeks.
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Gav says:
great scott, i am going to try this too…..let you know if it works….
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Disposable Gadgets at Ryan is Cool By Association says:
[...] I’m sure a lot of iPod owners have had the disappointment of the sad iPod face on their player before. One guy’s solution was to smack it as hard as he could onto a pad of paper in a got-nothing-to-lose attempt to save his iPod. Turns out the tunes started singing after this low tech, last ditch effort. Lucky jerk. [...]
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Gav says:
it bloody worked, lets see hwo long it last before this piece of poop decides to konk out again!! Maybe next time i will bash it so hard that the little sad face turns smiley!!
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Vince says:
Just so you know, a guitar pick or something with that thickness, will be able to pry open your ipod. Though dropping it on the floor or slamming it against ipod repair pad or… IPAD, may work. It can also ruin things like the LCD, or the hard drive itself. SO, in this instance where it is just a loose cable, it might be wiser to open it up, rather than make for an even a more costly repair.
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BurZ says:
Your Right , My friend found that bang it on is bed fix the problem. He got the problem many many time.
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eb says:
where can i order
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Matt Shultz says:
Dude! You’re a genius! My iPod broke last November (one year and a week after the warranty, natch). I had the file/exclamation mark thing going on, not the sad face, so it seems that it works for that error to.
I feel moderately silly for breaking down and buying a nano a few months back, but what the heck. Guess I got two working iPods now.
I could kiss you.
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Josh Giese says:
I came to the same conclusion of fixxing an ipod a few months back…
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Morgan Evans says:
hahah this totally works.
I had a sad face for about a week and one night I dropped it, I picked it up, and it worked.
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bdo says:
lawl
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Loud Opinions | Blog » Blog Archive » How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] He fixed an iPod by banging it on his desk.read more | digg story [...]
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Sharpie says:
I don’t own an iPod but I’ll take three. I’ll have to assume that they work the same for brain-farts as they do for iPod farts eh? Bang head here.
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DJY News » How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] read more | digg story [...]
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rinzin says:
Thank you!!!!!
It works!! -
BenWhitey says:
very funny and clever
Has anyone bought your repair pads yet?
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tailoredmusic.com » Blog Archive » Fixing a Broken iPod says:
[...] Tom Coffee has a brilliant suggestion for fixing a broken iPod, as summarized in this photo. [...]
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James Tulworth says:
I tried this with my nano and it blew up in my hand. I now have 3rd degree burns, and my mother is dead.
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Jon says:
the same thing happened to me the other day, except all i got was a folder with an exclamation point followed by continuous restarts… coudlnt connect it to my computer to fix it either… so i got a little angry and slammed it on the armrest of my computer chair (which part of it happens to be metal) that made it work again, although it put a nice big dent in the back plate… so i looked online and found a way to open the damned thing and hammered the dent out… while i was in there i found a tiny screw that went into the plastic holder around the dock connector had fallen out… anyways, it works fine now, and although it has a few bumps on the back of it, there isnt a massive dent. Why does smashing electronic devices against things always seem to make them work?
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Dunks says:
I had the same problem with mine a few months ago. About a month after the warrenty ran out. I took my ipod apart thinking it was completely screwed, and when I put it back together it was fixed.
Last month the screen cracked and ordered a screen of ebay. I suggest checking ebay for ipod parts before any other site. I was able to get the screen for half the price of what I would have paid from a parts site.
I know how you feel. The iPod is just one of those things that works its way into your life, and when it breaks, it seems like the end of the world.
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Aurelia says:
I was almost crying last night about this very thing. I came across this on digg.com and tryed and it worked. thanks so much.
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Tim King says:
I’m so glad someone has come up with a novel yet satisfying way to sell a slightly used note pad for an outrageous price!!!
More power to ya!!
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Tim King says:
Now you just have to offer the pads in either “Apple White” or “Matte Black”, ooh, and don’t forget those U2 iPods, you could have a “U2 Sellout” colour scheme!
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None of your business says:
Banging…hard disks…Bad combination, no?
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Matt says:
Great article. Some Atari computers had a similar problem (and solution!) with socketed chips becoming unseated.
Oh, uhh… do you make a Repair Pad for the Nano?
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twoplustwoequalsblog » Blog Archive » “Fixing” Stuff says:
[...] However, I have met greater success since then in line with professional iPod repairs. My mom’s Sony CyberShot digital camera died today. It was four years old, and it finally gave up on zooming and took blurry photos. It flashed up an error code that I popped into Google. Lo and behold, the solution is to physically restrict the lens from extruding during initialization so that the overextended motor gets back in line. After confirming that she wouldn’t care if I broke her camera more, I attempted the fix. It worked. I saved the day! [...]
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Nuudelisoppa » How To Fix an iPod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] Spilling Coffee Juha [...]
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EveryDigg » Blog Archive » How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] He fixed an iPod by banging it on his desk.read more | digg story [...]
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Tom Coffee says:
I just wanted to thank you all for the kind words. I’m glad some of you were able to resurrect your beloved dead iPods with this method.
As for the goodly number of people who told me I could just pry the cover off the iPod to fix the problem: I didn’t actually know what the problem was at the time. I figure the iPod is a portable device that is designed to be carried and jostled and yes, banged, around a little bit. I also figured that the iPod is not a device that is generally designed to be pryed open.
So I tried banging first. That worked. If it hadn’t then I might have gone for the pry method.
To put it another way: banging it on the desk was the lazy man’s way of fixing it. Prying it open would require… you know… effort.
For those of you who have used this method to fix your iPods, I would be interested in knowing how long it “stayed” fixed. I get the impression that the cable may loosen again over time…
Oh, and for all of you truly mentally unbalanced readers, I’ve gone against my better judgement and put up a real order form.
Thanks for reading…
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Ymsgt says:
it actually works, I smacked my iPod yesterday… I have no longer a warrant, and no money to buy a new one or repair it. So I simply hit my knee with it, and started playing
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Tequila 2.0 » Blog Archive » Como arreglar un Ipod triste says:
[...] Este usuario termino con el problema de una manera muy simpatica, golpeandolo. [...]
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henry says:
I LOVE YOU!!!
take my babies!
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DynD says:
Good Day Sir,
I would like to purchase 10 of your fantastic Ipod repair kits for the price of 100US$. I am located in Nigeria at the moment but my cousin lives in the UK and you can mail them to him direct.
How long would you take to manufacture them and post them over?
Regards.
Haha… J/king. Sweet fix you`ve got there. Will keep it up my sleeve for when some of my mates ipods stop working. I`d bet a pint and see how it goes.
Cheers!
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Alan Linquist says:
I’ve been carrying a cd player aground since this January, when my iPod suddenly quit on me. I can’t believe this fixed it. Thank you.
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brian starns says:
GOD BLESS YOU! After playing computer nerd, I read your article and decided to become the Ipodinator. It worked! Holy S_! I’m so happy with you I’m willing to drop my competing patent for the ipad! Lets’s see those 20-somethings shake their booties while slamming their Ipods in the next commercial!
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MP3Buzz » How To Fix an iPod with the Sad Icon says:
[...] The blog SpillingCoffee.com has a nice little write up about how to fix your iPod that has the sad face on the screen. Before following his directions I would check to see if your iPod was still under warranty. The way he fixes his iPod is by Purposely dropping his iPod to the floor. This has worked for many people that I have heard of. So how does dropping your iPod fix the problem? Good question, diving a little deeper it seems that the hardrive cable the attaches to the motherboard, sometimes comes loose enough where the iPod can’t find the hardrive, causing the sad face to appear on the screen. This had worked for many, many other people even though Apple’s website (wisely) doesn’t mention this possible fix. I couldn’t quite bring myself to dropping my $300 iPod to the hard tile floor on the off chance that it would spin or wobble on the way down so I did the next best thing: I held it and slammed it onto a pad of paper on my desk (providing some cushion so I didn’t crack the case), charging port down.And like mana falling from heaven, the tunes started playing. [...]
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Elise says:
This is one of the funniest thing I have ever read. I got the sad face after keeping the ipod on the treadmil for awhile, and the thought of facing a day of work in musical silence frightens me. I just spent an hour on the phone with HP (I have an HP Ipod made by Apple- WEIRD I know) and apparently I can send my Ipod back and they will replace it because “there seems to be a fatal hardrive error.” (Yea, this would be the SECOND time in a month I’ve had to send an ipod back). I’ve banged it around a few times and it’s not fixing itself =(, but I will be doing this for the rest of the night. Nice to know Ipods screw over everyone. Why I don’t buy another brand I just don’t know….
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paul says:
I recommend banging the back of your ipod on the corner of your desk. This will leave a few unsightly dings on the smooth metal backing, but it worked for me.
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boooster says:
this is amazing! it really worked! you’re the best!
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K says:
Completely true. My iPod has been on the blink for the last two months. Today I banged it three times on a pad of paper and it is workinh, all files, all photos intact.
I love you, dude.
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Fighting to Stay Awake » How to Fix Your Sad iPod says:
[...] If your iPod is sad there’s little you can do. Hopefully it’s still under warranty. If not, as a last ditch effort you can try what this guy did: I held it and slammed it onto a pad of paper on my desk (providing some cushion so I didn’t crack the case), charging port down. And like mana falling from heaven, the tunes started playing. [...]
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becky says:
this cracked me up. i’m on my 4th ipod. yeah… 4th. luckily my warrantee never expired, but everytime it’s the same issue. i threw mine at a wall because the files on it were my ticket to walk at graduation. and miracle! it worked. the good news is everytime it fucks up, i just send it back, and get a brand new one. which is nice because i scratched the fuck out of it when i threw it.
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Tom says:
Yup! Worked like a champ! I had even sent it in to Ipod Mechanic for diagnosis and they said the drive was toast. I thought I would try to open it and install a new drive but before I did I BANGED it down on the pad on my desk and VOILA it works again!
Thanks!!!!!!! -
Garry says:
Fantastic! Mine and my son’s iPods both “went sad” in the same week a couple of months ago and have been tormenting me ever since. Was just about to throw them in the bin when I found your repair kit and … hey presto, 2 iPod family once more! Thanks a bundle
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Tina says:
THANK THE LORD! I was going to buy a new ipod since Apple was going to charge me just as much to fix my old one, but I am glad that I took matters into my own hands. Your trick worked and has saved me a much needed $300!
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steve davis says:
Top one
it only blooming worked
well chuffed
ta -
The Daily Warthog » Blog Archive » How to fix a sick iPod, Web design in Belfast, Ireland, Design Blog says:
[...] Stat! [...]
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RecordPodcasts.com » How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] He fixed an iPod by banging it on his desk.read more | digg story [...]
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Wouzer says:
That firm but controled slam did work like a charm! Though I used my own repair kit of blank paper (I’m a minimalist), I’m very glad with the result!
Thanks dude.
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Guy says:
Just worked for me – really! I thumped it on my palm a few times (nice and hard)… After that I reset it and now it is getting reloaded. Who would have thunk it?
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Sem77 says:
Thanks it’s works. You’re great…
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MeadWizard says:
I have used this a number of times to repair by 4G 40Gbyte unit. This method, banging against the connector, does appear to work the best. Usually works for a month or two at a time. But the only time the unit fails is when I try to hook it up to iTunes to update. It generally works fine when I leave it alone – it lives most of the time in the car.
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Josh R. says:
this same thing happened to me about two weeks ago. i tried your method (dropped dock connector side towards the ground) and it worked. my jaw dropped. thanks for the solution. hopefully it will continue to work.
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trippyhippie says:
wtf?!?! my iPod is a homo….i smacked it like a billion times and its still funky…can someone bang me?? ….OOPS…I meant my iPod….bang my iPod….duh…haha
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Rachel says:
THanks so much. It worked!!!
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MIchelle Breon says:
Dude I tried but didn’t work -_-;. my question is…which way do you have to bang it Face up face down on its side where the charger gets plugged in??? IM sorry for such a stupid question but i must know.
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Shaun says:
It worked! I printed a picture of Jesus and slammed my iPod against it. Now my iPod is alive!
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Tom Coffee says:
Michelle,
I always banged my iPod with the charger port hitting the pad.
The momentum of the hard drive going down into the plug seems to help the connection.
In theory this banging process only works with iPod that HAVE hard drives.
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Ashley says:
Iit worked!!!!! My boyfriend just was deployed to Iraq and his Ipod mini turned SAD, he sent it back to me to work on and I tried everything Apple and everybody recommends and then tried the bang method (used an old book called The Wit and Humor of America to bang it on……maybe this is the secret) ….It worked THank you thanK YOU. Jason will never believe this!!!
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Me says:
After seeing this I might just buy a broken one and use the “pad” method
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joe says:
My 4th gen iplod died with 2days of warranty left (wouldnt even turn on..) Not knowing this technique I took it back to shop and they charged me £10 (probably about $120 nowadays) and gave me a 30gb video iplod instead- yay!
Now its already showing the sad face…grrr. So does this slam dunk da junk technique work on a 3 week old 5th gen?? I have plenty of paper but also lots of burly hand tools and a vice just in case..
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Liz says:
For such alittle gadget it sure has a big “how to fit it” book. Now I know why…I just got a Apple ipod Nano, got itunes down put it just runs round and round and alas no sound. Did all the troubleshooting, and the ipad method and cursing…ready to pry it apart, or should I send back? Still under warranty – I hope.
Going through tune withdrawal in PA…help! -
Ash says:
Omg, i have been searching for two days how to repair my ipod photo 20Gig, as it says with a warning sign contact http://www.apple.com/support/ipod!
After trying so many things, none of those worked and was crazy enough to try this and my god does it bloody do the job :O wicked! many thanks!
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ichiro_lookalike says:
Holy Fricken ish!!!!!!! that seriously Fricken works!!! DAmmit i just bought a $300 video ipod, but its coo’ now i got 2 ipods, instead of one broken one!- Tom if u come up to seattle i’ll buy you lunch!!
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Apple News » How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon says:
[...] He fixed an iPod by banging it on his desk.read more | digg story [...]
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H.Bains says:
the sad ipod thing has happened to me twice,the first time i got pissed and threw it on the floor and left the house, but when i came back it was fixed, i thought it was just because i left it alone, then i found ur site and i threw it on the floor again and hey presto it is working again, thnks.
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Appreciative Person says:
Best advice ever, banged it on my mouse pad, first time didn’t help, second time did it harder, now it works.
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vicky says:
i actuall cant believe that worked ur a genious
ive tried everything for the last 3 weeks
thank u soooooooo much -
tomcxp says:
I can’t believe it, this technique worked!In my case I used a nice large hardcover book to slam the ipod into. First time no luck. Second time harder. Low and behold it works! Brilliant!
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olde english says:
you saved me 200 and some odd amount of clams to send it away. my mom is dead too
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Kmel says:
Awsome!! really works…
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Lili says:
I have been using the same ipod since Nov 2004 and I have the 4th generation one with the clicking wheel…I loved it dearly..only this morning I was driving in my car and I turned it on to attach it to the itrip…and i noticed the sad face!!!!! I PANICKED! I ran to my boyfriend and we tried resetting everything by the book..but he came across this and decided to try and smash the ipod hard against the couch 101 times..and now it works FINE!!! thank you
Lili
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Gina says:
I LOVE YOU, this saved me from going nuts.
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katherine says:
you are the bestest bestest dude in the whole entire world! i cant believe that worked, youve made me sooooooo happy, thankyou, thankyou thankyou!
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Chris says:
I tried this, after hitting my ipod many times and attempting to open it, and it actually worked! It seems to have to do with the angle you hit it at, cause sometimes dropping it makes it worse. You’re probably right that you have to target the bottom/charger side. Worked for me!
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James says:
Cheers man, you’re a life saver. Keep up the good work!
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kevin says:
my ipod is in lock mode and cant get out of it even tho i set it to unlock mode.. what do i do?
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Greg says:
I was about to throw out my iPod, but dropped it three feet (onto the carpet) instead. All better now!
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Holly says:
I love you. No really, I LOVE YOU. I’m not kidding here. I don’t care who you are or what you do or how good or bad you smell….I LOVE YOU LONGTIME.
Thanks!!! -
Spilling Coffee with Humorist Tom Coffee » How To Restore Your iPod Music after a PC Crash says:
[...] A couple of months ago I turned my iPod on to find that it simply wasn’t working. After some research and wacky experimentation I figured out how to fix my iPod with the sad iPod icon. Then, about a month later, my PC hard drive (damn you, Maxtor!) crashed… hard. [...]
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ram says:
this actually works!! big ups
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Kitana says:
You are an ipod god. I’d thought that technology today was too advanced to be repaired by smashing, but you’ve proven me wrong. My ipod works like a charm and my wallet is no lighter than it was half an hour ago. This totally works!
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Ami Halfon says:
Thank you very much,
two hours ago i came back from the store. telling me i cant do nothing, my ipod is 99.9% Dead. the only thing i can do i replace it with another one with 3 months warrentie for 190$ (i live in israel) a told them that i’ll think about it and got back home. at the road i was started to think about buying a new one instade with more gigs and 1 year warrenti.
and most of all i thought of doing a funeral to my beloved 40G ipod player.
comming home, and googling “sad ipod” was very suprising. i did it with a pad of paper like you said and it works!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was shocked, and then loughted about it for 20 minetes with tears in my eyes.
THANK YOU MAN. I LOVE YOU.
this is one of my happyest days in my life. -
fred says:
Man, i could not believe my eyes, i just finish reading all the people’s comment, printed the picture of Jesus Christ and the Trinity, went in to my room, grabbed my ipod and smashed it on the picture with the text book underneath the picture…the next thing i knew was my ipod was working..my jaw dropped…and i started thanking God and just wanna thank you too..I appreciate this..it’s like a christmas gift.
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Kman says:
OMG – it worked — unreal! I replaced paper pad with wallet (for me banging the top end of the iPod Mini worked)
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Aubrey says:
Thank you so much! The apple store had quoted me a price of $225 for repairing my sad-faced iPod. I started scouring the web for any sort of alternative and found myself at this blog. I banged the iPod on a ream of paper and lo and behold! It worked!
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Veronica says:
IT WORKS!!! MY HUSBAND TAPPED IT HARD ON THE PALM OF HIS HAND (I WASN’T BRAVE ENOUGH TO DO IT) AND IT IMMEDIATELY CAME BACK ON!!
THANKS A LOT!!!
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Rolando says:
Hilarious and unbelievable. If it happens again, I’ll open it up, but this is good enough for now. Thanks!
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Lan Smith says:
I used my italian leather daytimer padfolio and “BAM” just like that, I got it working again. Thanks for the information!
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jenn says:
This is quite possibly the most useful blog post I have ever found. I was about to break down and buy a replacement, but mine’s working again (for now). Thanks!
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Luis says:
Dude, you figured it out! I was actually more worried because my ipod 4thgen was also making a crying noise, and it fixed it too … thanx, next round is on me!
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Stephanie says:
The sad iPod icon just came up on my iPod last night, and I too tried Apple’s 5 R’s, to no avail, of course. (Let’s just say it’s a GOOD thing that I found this blog before I resorted to the sledgehammer…)
So, I was kind of skeptical when I smacked my iPod down on the table, but it WORKED! All I have to say is, You are my hero.! And you probably just saved my iPod’s life… :p
-Stef Stephans -
CK says:
It worked!!! Eureka…now where’s that beer….
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megz says:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU…i became so frustrated i started thinking up alternatives… 1)new ipod 2) get it fixed 3) throw it away… until i stumbled across this site that showed me just how to fix it.. by doing something no one would thing, but to drop it? haha cheers, the ipods back and running..until next time!
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Jim Adams says:
Brilliant!! My 17 year old son had saved many hours worth of school course work for a media project, (of course no other backups!). He spent all evening trying to get the damn thing going again before going to bed totally stressed out. I stumbled across your ‘fix’ and two minutes later it was working again. The look on his face was priceless and I’m a hero (for a few hours at least). THANK YOU.
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Henrik says:
Cheers, worked for me too.. Now my girlfriend won’t have to kill me! Good with the disconnected cable explanation, gave me a bit of confidence to go on…
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Rene says:
Thanks Tom. My wife has had a sad ipod for weeks and has taken mine daily leaving me with nothing. I have used your technique and will now be a HERO in her eyes. Maybe I can work this into a ice cream cone and a massage.
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Sad iPod Mini :[ - Se7en Sins Forums says:
[...] here is a guy with the same problem and his method works for tons of people. Spilling Coffee with Humorist Tom Coffee » How To Fix an iPod with the Sad iPod Icon __________________ [...]
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Jessica says:
Just about when I was going to throw it in the street and drive over it with my car, I came across your blog and it worked. You are awesome. Who knew slamming it down could release the frustration while fixing the ipod?! Thanks a million.
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Eboni says:
It worked!! It worked!!! I purchased a “gently used” iPOD from ebay for my sister as an xmas a gift. I turned it on, and to my dismay – the said iPOD icon appeared. I was ready to completely cuss out the seller. first thing this morning (xmas eve) I stumble across your site from my google search for “Sad iPOD”. I followed your instructions and BAAAMMM!! I get the language screen! No more sad iPOD!
Thank you so much!
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luke says:
so who thinks its smart to buy broken ipods off ebay now LOL,……?merry christmas everybody
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GSM says:
I’m stunned! I tried everything on the Apple website, nothing worked. I was all set to buy a new iPod (cost of repair >= cost of new iPod) when I happened upon your “fix”.
It WORKED!
Thank you!!!!!
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DP says:
Unfortunately my wife just bought me a new 5g ipod for christmas after I have been whinning for the last 3 months because of the sad faced screen that showed up. Just like everyone else, I did the 5 things apple wants you to do and even brought it to an apple store to get evaluated. A new bad hard drive was what they said after plugging it in to their troubleshooting computer.
I tried this as a last ditch effort before buying a new hard drive on ebay and I couldn’t believe that it worked!! Took less than 20 seconds to pop off the back and unplug/replug in the hard drive and it turned right on. (I opened it up instead of attempting to break other components internally) Thanks for the tip. Now I can sell it to recoup some of the cost of the new one! -
steph says:
yay .. my pod and i are happy and together once again
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babypink says:
i couldn’t help posting a TESTIMONIAL here LOL. after reading what you wrote (and also what several people on the internet wrote), i decided to give it a try. Although i got my ipod when it first got out (it was expensive), what did i have to lose? So i decided to slam it as you said. I slammed it several times. It didn’t work. Then i tried it over and over until it FINALLY WORKED. Boy am i REALLY happy now. Thank you so much for the inspiration and thanks to you for writing down your experience, you saved my poor ipod from going into the trashcan. Yipeeeee.
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Ric says:
You are farkin Amazin! It worked after 2nd BANG. Almost sold it on Ebay for 30.00. Now I have to cancel the Listing. YEYAYEYAAYEYAY!!!!
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Sam says:
I get cynical about the amount of “advice” on the interweb but in absolute desperation I tried your advice and presto! It worked! Thanks for the idea man!
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Michelle says:
Wow. I dropped my iPod mini on the treadmill several days ago, it wouldn’t turn off, so I turned to Apple’s page for help after the sad iPod icon came on. Then I found your page and read all these great testimonials, filled with the hope that my iPod too could be fixed with a bang. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve hit it – on a legal pad, dropped it on the floor several times, hurled it, slapped it…all to no avail. I was 2 minutes away from ordering a new iPod when, out of frustration, hit it with my wrist. Lo and behold, it stopped “crying” when I tried to turn it on, and is now happily charging up! All I have to say is, if it doesn’t work, keep trying!
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BetaBloggerG says:
I must admit, I had my doubts about this method. However, after trying multiple times all of Apple’s official suggestions, I found your post and decided it was worth the risk. I took my wife’s sad 4G b/w ipod and rammed it onto the carpeted floor with moderate force (it’s hard to be too rough with such a sweet piece of machinery). I was delightfully surprised to find it booted right up on the first try. THANK YOU!
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QTpie7903 says:
After reading this, i had my doubts. so i used the info about the fact that the cable to the hard drive might have come loose with my knowledge of “this thing cost me a LOT of money! I’m not dropping it!!!”. after doing a little more research on how to open the ipod, I used a VERY thin screwdriver and and pryed open the case. after unplugging the hard drive completely and replugging it back in, i closed everything up and restarted my ipod. Low and behold, IT WORKED AGAIN!!!!! so for those of you who don’t want to use brute force to fix something, or know the value of a buck, I suggest a more tame way of fixing your ipod. same results, less strenuous activity!
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Sharna says:
well.
i geuss luck was not on my side.i attempted dropping, numerous times to no avail.
In my anger i threw it at the floor unfortunately it broke apart.
with a broken screen.geuss ill just have to buy a new one.
thanks for the help.
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roxanne says:
i have had about 10 ipods (seriously… so many i have lost track). i got them all under applecare, and which covered free replacements up until last month. predictably, my new ipod went on the fritz just days after applecare expired. having observed this sad ipod situation many times over, i decided to collate what i knew and consider this last ipod an “experiment.” so i realized that the problem definitely was the hard drive, because the device would make a spinning noise, searching in vain for some kind of connection apparently. sometimes it would work laying down but not work upright (say, in my pocked or on a machine at the gym). then about four days ago it stopped working all together. but i tried this fix, and viola! music and a charged battery again. it seems silly to me that apple won’t tell people to go inside their machines and simply reconnect the faulty connection when folks like me keep wasting their money getting new ipods free (and upgraded ones too, since the ipod i originally purchased was discontinued, thus giving me 20GB more memory gratis).
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Micha Bakker says:
Wow,
I almost got into a fight with my girlfriend over the €260 repair cost.
Then today I read your story and combined it with Josh Highlands instructions of how to replace the harddrive.
I only opened it up and disconnected and reconnected the drive and it is alive again! -
Marko says:
omg if i had only read this blog like 5 mins ago mayb my nano would still b alive….i stared holding down all the buttons and now its on sum damn Verify Scan screen??????Would U Happen To Know Wat To Do>>>?????
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Nellie says:
You are awesome… I was getting ready to send my ipod back to Apple when I stumbled across this site and Voila my ipod is perfect. Only took one small bang on a stack of mail. LOL Thanks so much for publishing this idea. I was completely clueless on what to do.
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wzjy47 says:
I am not sure why Apple won’t admit that the Gen 4/Photo iPods have a problem with the cable from the hard drive to the motherboard coming loose. “Banging” you iPod may help, but I would recommend that you take the cable out of the motherboard and put it back in (make sure you lift the clamp). If that doesn’t work, we would be happy to take a look at it for free:
http://www.theipodrepairstore.com/free-ipod-diagnostics-trouble-shooting.html
Have a nice day!
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antonio says:
man, i just couldnt believe when my ipod came back after i bang it on my desk!!!!
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Eli says:
my friend had a mini with the same problem
she did no how 2 fix it
and she gave it to me and i found this site
worked great and i got a free ipod
THANKS -
Jennifer says:
Awesome! I was so excited when my iPod came back on. I was resigning myself to buying a new one once I saw how much the service fee is. Now, I just saved $200+ dollars!! Thanks~
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Cheri says:
Thanks! This fix worked great! I was at work and I charged the device but then the dreaded Sad Face icon appeared. I was at my wits end but your solution worked (I dropped it onto the carpeted floor). Thanks again.
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Laura says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
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Sad iPod? at Corporocity says:
[...] http://www.spillingcoffee.com/2006/07/13/how-to-fix-an-ipod-with-the-sad-ipod-icon/ [...]
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Sandy says:
Help!!!! I checked all the connections, smacked it a few times -still sad. It used to be unpluging the battery would reset it and it would work for awhile. It used to click and I could here it spin then click–like it was stuck. It doesn’t sound like that anymore-it makes a dull spinny sound. Now what?
FYI unplugging the battery was a really good fix!
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staud loaf says:
WOOOO-HOOOO, it totaly worked! Tom, you’re the frickin man. It was such a weird adjustment having to go back to listening to all my CDs in the car again. i am rediculously happy that this method worked.
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anyrose says:
OMIGAWD! I cannot believe it worked! I got the Sad iPod this morning. It stopped playing right in the middle of a song. At first I thought the speakers on my tabletop unit had gone (the right side goes in and out at will, but only for short bursts) So I rebooted (but I wasn’t near my Mac to restore, but I thought at least I might have a clean slate to resynch) and I got the Sad iPod face. When I got home I Googled for hte image so I could email it to a friend, and lo and behold, your page was attached to the image. So, thank you very very much!
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Bret says:
totally worked! thanks so much.
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Jumbo says:
You sir, are a genius. I salute you and pray that you and your descendants will be safe and sound for the next ten thousand years and beyound.
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joshua pilcer says:
omfg I LOVE YOU. i got mine working. i didnt want to make alot of noise so i just banged it with my wrist for a while. so i dont know if it worked or not so i took a knife and was going to open it up. i started to kinda pull it apart then it went to the main menu. so thank you sooooooooooooooo freaking much.
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Matt D. says:
You saved my 4th-Gen out-of-warrenty iPod that I was going to throw away! Thanks so much!
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jessicado says:
Holy crap…I can’t believe that just worked!! I have been playing around with ipod’s suggestions all day, and googled many other sites trying to find a solution. After reading your suggestion, I decided to hell with it and slammed it on the desk. Lo and behold it actually worked! I have now paused from doing my happy dance long enough to write and tell you how much you rock.
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Resident Media Pundit » Blog Archive » Fix your broken iPod says:
[...] The first and most prevalent suggestion is the voodoo “bang it on the desk” method, suggesting that your busted iPod can be restored to life with a good smack. Apparently this really has worked for lots of folks — this guy is even jokingly entrepreneurial enough to offer the iPad, pre-inscribed with “Bang iPod here” — but, alas, a mighty whack did not cure my ailing iPod. [...]
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Kevin Feldheim says:
I had the sad icon and assumed I’d have to pay to get it fixed (the troubleshooting on apple.com did not work of course). To repair it, apple wanted $255!!!
I came across this site and figured for $255 I can get a new one anyway, so….less than a buck later for the pad of paper, and my iPod works again–THANKS!!!!!
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Debra D says:
Thanks for the help. You rock! I had been trying to fix my 40g Ipod by dropping it on the table flat-side down. Your suggestion to strike it charger-end down did the trick!!!!
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I hate Apple says:
My iPod stopped working only last night. As I was going to bed I dropped it. Then when I was in bed I tried to listen to two new songs that I was really excited about hearing. It seemed to start, then it started skipping, and the sad icon came up. Today my mother hit it against a little stool and tried this method. When she tried to restart it after the latter method, I told her I’d drop it on the floor if I saw the sad face one more time. Naturally, it appeared. So I screamed, snatched it and chucked it on the floor. And it worked! The battery was dangerously low, of course, but it worked. And so out of all the trouble people have with Apple iPods, there comes a proverb:
…Never trust American companies, ’cause they suck. -
B.B says:
Hallelujah! It came back on !!!You’re a genius!
Nothing else has worked, and I have tryed everything, hitting it on my desk did the trick…:) -
Shawna says:
i got that icon
& i tried slamming it and other but it neva worked & after i slammed it reely hard da icon jus came up all of sudden… PLEASE HELP!!! -
Syd says:
It worked! I cannot believe it. Thanks so much for making my (and my son’s) day! syd
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JAson says:
MY lord, u r a genius man, i spent my entire doing junk on apple.com and i saw your website after 3 hours. I was skeptical at first but after seeing about hundreds of people thanking u i gave it a try…and it worked. I was fuming afterwards how pathetic apple.com is. Ur explanation is better than theirs, thanks again!!
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wk says:
haha, my iPod photo 60gb had the same problem. and your solution worked
thank you very much!greetings from germany
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Sarah says:
I just spent 3 hours of my life reading and downloading from apple. I got so frustrated and started searching and came across you website. I was a bit nervous to try but it actually worked!!! Thanks, you saved me some $$$ !
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Mark says:
4th gen shite it self… couldnt believe it after whacking it, kicked in and now restoring
too farking good, another happy podder
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gunther says:
Holy cow! I cannot believe that this worked. I listen to audio books all day at work and when it took a dump on me I thought I would have to listen to my co-workers incessant banter and blabber. After looking on apples web site my spirits were low, but when I found this page my frown turned upside down and although I needed a co-worker to hold my hand I slammed it down and low and behold it worked. Good work man!
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DeeJayG says:
Glad I googled “sad ipod icon” & found this tip, thx a million!
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Suus says:
Thank you! I was trying to figure out which way to drop/whack it and your explanation was crystal-clear! The iPod works again!
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Maggie says:
you just saved me $280.
you are awesome.
xoxoxoxox
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Brian says:
Another satisfied customer with a 4G iPod Photo/sad icon problem and no Apple suggested remedies worked. Thanks much!
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Shawn says:
Thanx for the great info. I tried hitting it from the bottom. Didn’t quite work. So I tried the side slap (TV method).-Worked like a gem! Opening the ipod would suffice, too. However, i recommend this method for anyone who doesn’t have tools to open the ipod.
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Oh, Look Away » Blog Archive » There and Back again: An iPod adventure. says:
[...] It turns out, this time was different. I looked at the support docs. No help there. I tried a few tricks I knew. No hard reset. No disk mode. I’m screwed. It just keeps erroring out. Either to Sad Ipod or to broken charger mode. (It was 95% charged). So long little iPod. So I checked the interwebs. This guy says the sad Ipod can be made to sing again with a solid whack. The way I look at it, if you’ve got a bricked iPod anyway, what’s the harm? So I clared off a little space on my desk, mustered up some intestinal fortitude, and slapped that sucker down on the desktop. Hard. [...]
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Brenda says:
Also, having issues with my ipod 30gb. when I tried fixing my ipod with your method it didn’t work
( Although, I truly enjoyed reading your posting, and got a kick out of your product idea (haha) i’ve come to the realization that IPODs SUCK!!! and i’m never buying one ever, ever, ever, ever, again and I’m not recommending them to anyone! Sorry, ipod frustrations!
Thanks again and I’ll remember your technique for future reference! Besides, it makes me feel better to kinda throw my ipod. haha. -
Johnnie Meadors says:
Damn, I slammed it to the table and it worked. Apple pisses me off, they were initially charging 180.00 to repair this issue. thanks for your help!
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crazyrog17 says:
it doesnt reseat the harddrive…
it frees the arm that reads the platters.gosh.
its so difficult to get the hdd connector out, let alone get it back in VIA SLAPPING. sheesh.
(=D
haffagreatdayand i almost ordered an ipad.
maybe if it was more like.. ten bucks… -
Shayne says:
WOW YOU’RE HILLARIOUS!!
ok so i did try the notepad, bed, carpet, pad, and coaster but they all did not work haha but what i did was i flipped my ipod over so that he screen is facing the palm of my hand and i spanked it a couple of times kinda hard and now it works!!! wow haha thanks -
Shayne says:
ok um just kidding.
it died again.
now it shows up with a link below the sad ipod “www.apple.com/support/ipod”god im pissed
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Brian says:
Oh my GOD! It worked!!!! THANKS!!!
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Migawa says:
Errr….What A Strange Way Fixing For An Ipod….I Have Just Slammed My Ipod To My Desk And It Worked Again ! It Was Dead Before…With A Sad Face Icon…
That’s what i put in my Yahoo Messenger Status ! Have recovered my lovely Ipod 80GB Video from that fu.su.cking sad face ! Many thanks from Vietnam.
Cheers And Beer !
Migawa
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paddy says:
saved my iPod. thanks mate
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tales from the crypt( ) » an ipod singing the blues says:
[...] Third approach: I was beginning to feel a little like the iPod icon: sad, so I challenged google images with something like “sad ipod icon” so I could have a IM buddy icon matching my mood (instead of yet another lolcat). The first hit was Tom Coffee’s website (Spilling Coffee) which described a very unusual and unorthodox method of recovering a dead iPod. He mumbles a little about Apple’s official advices on reanimating dead iPods a.k.a. the 5 R’s: Reset, Retry, Restart, Reinstall, Restore and then introduces a new “R” on the equation. Let me quote him: I had a broken iPod that was resistent to all the usual methods of repair. If I couldn’t get it fixed I was going to have to send it into Apple. So I decided to do what many of the blogs out there recommended: [...]
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erica says:
i never woulda believed it if i didnt have a witness that it worked!!
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Katie says:
Dear God in heaven, it worked. Welcome back, lil’ fella! awwww….here’s to another 3 years!
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Paul says:
WOW – I love the internet. Following advice from apple that a new purchase was probably the right thing to do as minimum cost of repair would be £70, I just lost out on bidding for a replacement on E-bay at c£100. Because of my existing accessories I thought a new one would be very costly. So curiousity about could it be fixed took me to the internet and the ‘bang it down hard advice’. Now no sad face on the the i-pod and I have a very smiley face because you’ve saved me £100!
WOW – I love the internet. Thanks.
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adamito says:
I trow ipod on floor…. it was great success…
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Paperfoxes Run Run » How-To: Fix an iPod by Means of Force and Other Such Fun Things says:
[...] I looked online, and found that this icon is actually quite infamous, and the cure for this is just as equally infamous, as it a.) channels the Fonz and b.) teaches your iPod who’s boss. [...]
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Mr. Happy says:
Wow… thank you for that helpful advice. My sister and i shared this problem, and in one farewell to my ipod smash, it worked. Thanks again…
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Devon says:
I really can’t believe it!!!! I am stuck in the middle of the desert in Kenya working in a refugee camp. I am not allowed to leave the guarded compound and so there is no way that I can buy a new I-pod. I have been miserable for weeks and now your fix it method has truly saved my life!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. My 30 hour bus rides through Africa will now be pleasant again.
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raul says:
haha, this works, ive found out first hand in the future. when all else fails, use force! anyhow, i just bought a video for 50 bucks that i thought needed a good whack, but no luck, still wont work. how sad
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jen says:
i’ve been doing this for hours and it does not work. by the way, this isnt the guy who “invented” this, i dont know why everyone is jumpin in his lap.
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Marc (in Iraq) says:
I just bought my ipod 30GB today and after i Sync all the songs on there and try to play the first one, I had that lovely sad face. So, I did what any normal people would do, I went to “www.aple.com/support/ipod” and I got nothing. I was desperate and was thinking about taking it back to the store. After desperately typing “ipod sad face” into my search box in came up with this site. Don’t get me wrong, I was skeptical at first about banging my $250 dollars Ipod onto something, then i was like, what the heck, since aple was so helpful (NOT). I closed my eyes and banged it lightly, lol, and try it, but didn’t work and tried it again, just slightly harder and boom, it worked.
I’ve very thankful to have stumbled upon this website. -
Thomas says:
This is the most insane advice I have ever received. What’s even more insane is that I tried it and it worked! Thank you…
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Ipod :( says:
[...] Tama ang sabi nito, nito, at ito, haha! Hinulog pa nung iba sa floor. Buti pa ko taktak lang. haha! [...]
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Cristina says:
OMG you are amazing. I was jsut about to to bust out in tears when i came upon this. Stupid Apple helped me NONE!! GAH!!!
I did the bang therapy and my ipod is happy and working again. I love you!!!
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Ita says:
Its not working, I have a 5th gen ipod, my mom wont pay for repairs or a new one, and when I tried your method it was failure after failure after failure, and now it mays a weird sound and dosent work at all
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Peabs says:
Unreal. It totally f’in worked. I’m so pleased. Mildly astonished, but pleased.
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Nicole says:
You’re an ipod genius… I think appple should give you a job. As afraid as I was to do this, it worked! Thanks for posting this!
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Ricardo says:
Thank you for the tip;it worked great and fixed my Ipod.
I just knock it in the palm of my hand and got fixed on the first attempt. -
Allan W says:
I don’t believe it but it actually worked !!!
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Bert Vermeiren says:
Great !!
I opened the Ipod, pushed on the wires towards the harddisk, and suddenly the lights of the screen went on and my Ipod works perfectly again.Thanks !!!
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Paul says:
Tried all the Apple recommended solutions, opened it and re-assembled it again but no luck and finally slapped a few times on the phonebook and i’m happy again.
Thanks for the advice! What seems to be a joke makes me smile in the end! -
megadeth says:
fantastic and amazing…just by throw it sometimes it starts working..LOL
No need going for repair… -
pirast says:
you know, we did everything:
we created this nice circle on paper and hit the ipod on it. it did not work.
so we disassembled this nice device and replugged every cable we were able to find. but it did not worked.
so we bought a Hovercraft and a Llama, but it still did not work. After we were that furious that we threw the ipod against the hovercraft (and beat it against the floor, but pssssst) it really worked.
i have to say that i find that apple does not have a good quality assurance and that I will not buy an apple product for my lifetime. I will also suggest my friends to do so, as it is not possible to build such a shitty piece of hardware.
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Adam says:
OMG
Just dropped my ipod onto a carpeted floor from about chest height, after trying everything i’d found on the net to get it to work, and right before putting it on ebay for sale.
One drop instantly fixed – shocking! No wonder so many people are snapping faulty ones up from ebay, they drop them then sell them on working probably lol
Thanks for the tip, cant believe it worked
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mike says:
OMG this really worked. I stood the ipod up so the port was facing downward and hit it once on a fabric placement on my wooden kitchen table.
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dil says:
WOAH
IT WORKED
damn
i never believed the comments
i just thought it was some crazy conspiracy
woah
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Dave Kerzner says:
I T W O R K E D ! ! !
thanks
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Pauls says:
omg works for me, i was just about to get a ipod touch, whooo 400$ saved tytytytytyty
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Betong says:
my 20gb ipod was show the sad image how it is fix, plss can you help me…
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Alex says:
OMG! It worked!
You’re great man, you just made me save 300 $!
YESSSSSThanks very very much!
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Jeremy says:
Fantastic! I tried Apple’s useless R methods with of course, no luck . A simple google search found your website (first one) and BAM! My iPod works again.
Although, I didn’t use the pad of paper as directed, I used a harry potter book!
Each to their own I guess.
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volvidejapon says:
THANKS!!!! Im crying of happiness!!!!!!!!! Thanks god y cross with you. Very very much!!!!!!!
IT WORKS!!!!!!!
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Tony says:
My ipod fell onto the floor when my plane landed today( was sitting in very front seat so my bag was taken off me as I usually have it back in the bag for landing ) . Woe is me the bloody thing wouldnt work. I have just done the vertical slam dunk and guess what ! you beauty! it worked.
Many thanks for your efforts
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Jo says:
Oh my god, it worked. I thought I was going to have to buy a new ipod which I couldn’t afford…..weeks of sitting on the train with no tunes and all it took to restart my sad ipod was a hard bang on the table….wallla…spread the news!!!
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Vitor says:
It worked! Really fine! I had to throw it though the slam didn’t worked.
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Dr Jon says:
Worked first time for me! Thanks so much, You are a star.
May all your beans be freshly ground.
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alex says:
Just fixed my 4 gen 20gb. Dropped it about chair height on to my carpeted floor. Worked like magic, thanks!
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Jorielle says:
I banged it against a table and it worked. Funny.
Thanks. -
Ismael says:
Excellent , I did it and it worked. I would recommend you to Steven Jobs work team…!!!!!
Regards,
From Uruguay South America,
Ismael -
Oliva says:
It worked for me too! Thank you so much!!
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Sid says:
Fantastic!!!! Like you, I couldn’t bring myself to drop it on the ground. So I hit it on a pad of paper and it worked!! MANY THANKS MATE.
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Seansgirl says:
Oh crap this worked!!! It wasn’t until my little sister called with the same problem that I looked for a solution. We were both on the phone pitching our i pods around the room like nut jobs.
tech support my A**!
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marie says:
OMG!!! Waaahhh! it actually worked for me too, i just “rammed” my IPOD lIKE 10 seconds ago! wahaha… crazy fix, but it sure works!
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JLK says:
I cannot believe that this totally worked.
Thank you.
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Anthony says:
Hey man, i cant believe this. I JUST tried this while I read your post. and it worked.
Thanks so much!!!!!!! My ipod is working again. Thanks!!!!!
(no joke) -
alan says:
yyyyyyyyyooooooooouuuuuuu u the best man i hope u never find anithing to do so u can help me how to fix all my problems… this one really workd thanx
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Mike says:
Wow… What in gods name.
Normally i’d just come to these crazy blogs and do it, leave, get frustrated, buy a new one of whatever lol.
This WORKED! WHAT THE HELL??
GENIUS!I got so scared i was going to lose all my songs
This isn’t just some long on going joke, its true, it works!
Thank you so much!!!
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The Liz says:
holy f*cking shit, that did not just work……….I’m astounded. and I love you.
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Bobby says:
this thing worked for me …. right away ..
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amanda says:
OH MY GOD you are my hero. i live in a dorm with two other girls and when my i pod stopped working i was forced to actually interact with them.. it was sooo bad. i am so happy to have my i pod pack and not lave to lesson to the devil and the whale that i live with
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M.P.Drury says:
I hate posting on blogs, but when somebody has written something so clear and so useful, I just have to say Thank-you.
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sam says:
WOW you saved me a lot of money thank you sir or madam very much!
-
t-r0y says:
HAHHAHAwow
it workd
iwas so sad for like weeks..i banged it on my desk3times i -
ipod gal says:
It WORKED!! Thank YOU!
-
jai says:
GENIUS ….!!!!it worked for me also man….im totally amazzed!!
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RadMan says:
The methodology is correct
but
the explanation is not;most likely you had overcome
“stiction” in the bearing point of the spinning
disk.Bang is NOT recommended but a quick TWIST in the direction of the rotation of the hard disk platter plane would have worked as well.
Despite this, many modern hard disks are fairly resistant to shock to about 75-100 G’s even in the Z-axis so yes, a sharp shock may overcome
platter stiction and start the disk spinninghowever
this is usually the harbinger of bad news to come so pull your DRM songs off , copy them using your rights to “fair use” by BACKUP methods, and watch your usage of the Apple portable device carefully
perhaps prudent power up cycles to gain maximum use would be in order.
yes stiction occurs more than infrequently;
take it from someone who knows the Winchester Arm Fixed Disk Drive method for 30 years now;
I have even had continual start-up stiction drives in the 1980’s where I kept a hammer
near the “Hard Disk Drive” and gently tapped at the forward side area to “start” the spin up;but experience tells me this wont last long
Yes, this can work very well for most ppl
but not for those with IDE connector displacement
(obviously) -
Mike B says:
Worked after the third hit, I failed to see the hit on connector part. So I was making it worse, then read the complicated instructions again.. I thought I was doing it right.. But alas, I smashed it one more time and it worked fine…was watching a movie in a second..
Thanks for the HELP!!!
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oness says:
u helped a lot thnx. i was about to buy a new ipod
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kaz says:
OY MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
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SteveJC says:
IT WORKED!!!!! You know, I was seconds away from smashing it against the desk but with less restraint! Huge thanks friend, best Apple advice I’ve ever had!!
-
flipjargendy says:
Thank you for the info! I would have payed money to get this thing fixed!
The results of someone becoming pissed off at their ipod and slamming it down helped so many people!!!
I’m using a 4th Generation iPod, a 20 GB one. It worked for me.
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gilraen says:
You genius!! I was searching for a repair address when I came across your site. I could kiss you, you saved me a fortune! I so hate apple…………..
Thank you so much,
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Ben says:
you bloody genuis! cheers for the beautiful insturuction! i was actually checking for a new iPod today, damn glad i didn’t buy one!
cheers again!
-
shamelessplugforipodrepair says:
Hope I am not intruding with this shameless promotion
But this will only work for so long before you do damage to something, throwing any device which has a moving hard disk is probably a bad idea. Well, I know its been working for people and more power to you, as you spent a lot of money on this device and now its not working. However, when this fix does stop working for you, and it will, you could always send it over to us at http://www.rapidrepair.com, we offer free diagnostics and have the skill and knowhow to get you back up and running like new.flame me if this out of line, I am just trying to help you, and of course get your business in turn.
thanks
-
Melissa Castillo says:
yay my ipod got fix and umm well at first my music would only play for like 40 secs than it will freeze
i was soo grrrrr bout it then i just was like w/es bout it then the next moring it was frozen i let the battery waste and then it didnt really show a sad face cause i got the old version it just had a file saying error and go to http://www.apple.comipod/support i went on it didnt do anythin for me so i kept searchin then i found this site this help alot! and ohh if your ipod is frozen and you got it recover and it says reset just hold the meun button and the middle buttom so your music wont get erase!! -
urukai says:
thank you
It works -
Phoenix says:
IT WORKS !!!!
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Joe says:
HOLY CRAP!!!!
No way in hell did I think this would work, but I’m sitting here, ipod next to me, so what the hell, right?
SLAM! onto my mouse pad. Started right up.
thanks man.
-
michael says:
thank you
i actually took the courage to bang the ipod on my sofa. and walah..it worked …thanks for the info… -
Easyday says:
Well, I was seriously fed up, first the (4th Gen clickwheel) started locking in songs, then it would not turn off, then it would not charge, finally it would not turn on. A dull apple, followed by the picture of a dead battery, followed by some stupid message with a picture of a sad ipod telling me to visit the apple website in writing so small I was looking at buying an electron microscope to work out what it said. Trip to the store – come back in 2008- and prepare to re-mortgage. Explore internet – find this sight – bang ipod hard on carpeted floor -ipod working perfectly – would love to buy you a beer.
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CrowCast 4g 30gb says:
ROFL! It really fuckin works! Here’s the bitch of it, I just bid on a 5th Gen 30gb video on ebay, and then this worked LOL…I might just turn around and sell the 4th gen on ebay.
Hilarious shit, and kudos, much hope for this to get up there on the Google rankings. Because this seemed to work alot better than the Apple page!
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natalie says:
it works !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Greg says:
A kinder and gentler solution that worked for me was to just take the back off and use something like a small screwdriver to press on the connections to the hard drive. Dropping probably accomplishes the same task, but perhaps with the risk of more collateral damage.
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Steve says:
You’re f*cking brilliant. I used a book instead of one of your iPads, and it worked just as well. My girlfriend is elated, considering it was her iPod.
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jason says:
wow that didnt work, but atleast i can get some musical use out of my poor ipod when i shake it now it rattles.
-
Maveric says:
Dude thank you so much for this post! I have an old mini I got off Ebay that just died one day! Apple wanted $207 to fix it! Then I found this site banged my mini 5 or 6 times on my desk and Voila! It works like new! Thanks dude!
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david johnstone says:
I thought my battery was perhaps cooked when the sad icon paid me a visit…then I found your site.
I was skeptical, to say the least, however I really had nothing to lose.
One good smack on the dashboard of the minivan 3 weeks ago solved the problem.
Thanks !
dave -
fraggie says:
thank you! my sister sent me a link about cracking open the case to repair a sad face ipod… my old 20 gig has been in a kitchen cupboard for about a year and a half… as i was sliding my fingernail around the edge of the damn thing i realized that i hadnt bookmarked the page she sent me… a quick search lead me hear… after banging the thing in my palm, on my mouse pad and ultimately on the solid wood of my desk it is alive and well… merry christmas to me
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Nancy says:
IT REALLY WORK!!!!
I banged twice on a book and my iPod was back to life! Thank you for taking the time share this tip -
vince says:
so far it appears to have worked, although i was looking forward to bitching out some apple tech support people. thanks!
-
owbow says:
it worked on my iPod, but just tried it on my niece when she came up with a sad face and she’s just bitching and whining even more now?
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alex says:
haha! thanks for the advice, i’d tryed all the stuff apple had said but none of of it had worked and as soon as i tryed the banging it on a load of paper thing it worked!
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bike says:
Wow, thank you so much! Your tip helped me to reanimate my broken “sad” iPod Photo instantly. I used a pile of envelopes, though
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Anthony says:
Thanks Dude!!!!
I was about to buy a new one coz even my IPod showed that stupid sad smiley… But then I though let me just try and ram in on the floor… I had nothing to lose right… So I did and it worked… YAY!!!! -
Wildman says:
OH MY GOD THIS IS THE SECOND TIME A SITE LIKE THIS HAS HELPED ME WITH MY IPOD WHILE THE APPLE SITE JUST DIDNT GOOD ON YOU PEOPLE WHO WRITE THIS STUFF
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unbelievably_grateful says:
wow i cannot believe that worked – thank you soooo much!!
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Ed Callahan says:
You are the man, worked for me the first time! I used a wooden cutting board instead of a pad of paper, and I didn’t write on it first (wife’s cutting board). Thanks TONS.
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Marissa says:
Thank you sooooo much!!!! I was sooo upset because like you, my warranty expired two weeks ago. I cannot tell you how thankful I am.
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Srivatsa says:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You have got to be kidding me. It actually works!! No more sad iPod.
What I assume is happening is that the hard-drive read needle may have gotten stuck or the hard-drive may have corrupted sectors.
I am going to wait till it crashes, then I’ll have an excuse for getting a new one
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Macca says:
Unbelievable. This worked an absolute treat. My girlfriend is so happy her Ipod is going again – otherwise she was going to have to listen to my catalogue of thoroughly depressing songs for 6 months straight.
Thanks so much. -
Steff says:
Oh my gosh you saved my life.!!!! I was at work today and my ipod broke suddenly. The sad icon appeared. And i was sad too.
You can add sticky notes to the list to bang it on.
IT WORKED … MY CO-WORKER AND I ARE AMAZED
THANK SO MUCH FOR THE INPUT… I COULD NEVER BE WITOUT IT.
-
Larry says:
I just did this fix. IT WORKS.
-
Laurent says:
HAHA! THANK YOU! its destressed me as it repaired my ipod! lol
thank you man… -
Keir says:
UNBELIEVABLE! my ipod has had the sad face icon for 2 years now and ive tried everything i even called apple and they gave me lame ass excuses then i finally resort to this! and it works! i cannot tell you how grateful i am thank you!
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km says:
It works! It works! It works! I slammed my ipod on the carpet ground and the menu came back on. Hurray!
Slam it!
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Graham says:
You’re my frickin’ hero!!!!
I am now a previously broken iPod owner!
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neil paterson says:
Hi there thats great it works just banged it a few time off the pad and it started working i have an ipod nano i had no used it for a few months then went to use it when i had the problem
many thanks
neil -
Igis says:
Man i tried this shit an insane amount of times. Smacking this pice of shit hardware from the gayest company in the world on the floor did not work neither did smacking it on my palm, desk, and other various objects.:D I tried opening my video ipod, i took the wide cable going into the hardrive out and put it back in, still nothing. I’m probably gonna send it to rapidrepair or something to see what they do to it. If nothing i’m gonna use my samsung QUALITY cell phone for music instead of this worthless pile of crap.
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Stefanie says:
Thanks so much for your advice!! It worked on mine as well. I went to 4 different places and they all told me i would have to spend an arm and a leg to get it fixed or they would give me 10% off for a new one! Who knew that to take some aggression out would work just the same! Thanks again!
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Nobody says:
Thanks for the advice…. I thought I would have to go to the “Apple people” but I just smacked the thing on my desk with a book as a cushion and voila “All Apologies” by Nivana…. All in all we are good at heart… Thanks again
-
Fred Saez says:
OK, just tried your excellent ipod fixerupper technique and it worked. But i whacked it on a pillow a few times. still, thanks for the info.
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tinyMatthau says:
i tried the “hitting” method and the problem still remains. please, somebody tell my what i’m doing wrong…
i miss music.
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Ronaldsnk says:
IT WORKED! FOR ME AT LEAST, I JUST THROWN IT TO MY BED XD, thanks thanks thanks!, sorry for my poor english
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Scott says:
wow can’t belive it worked
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Samboozi says:
OMG – this actually worked for me!
GOD BLESS -
Vic says:
OMG
I LOVE YOU!
Thanks ^_^ – you just saved me $268 I didn’t have. <3
-
marco@borromeo:~$ _ » Blog Archive » iPod e l’icona triste :( says:
[...] li uso quasi più di Google per trovare informazioni), che mi hanno portato a questa pagina; insomma, dovrei sbattere l’iPod in giro, perché probabilmente si è staccato il cavo [...]
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kinobi says:
ei, tnx for the help… well done!!!
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Toby says:
Ha, it worked for me too!!!
I thought i was going to have to go to the Apple Store and kick off with them…
…alas the good old give-it-a-smack option works like a charm.
Must have been designed by the Fonz
Great article mate, cheers
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help! says:
ok i keep smacking my ipod but then it shuts off every time and it still has the sad little dead face…help
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Thankful Kid says:
Oh my sweet Jesus!!
IT WORKED
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loafy says:
HFS, this did work.
I bet this is what the tech at Apple did the last two times I sent it back using my Best Buy service contract. They returned it to Best Buy, stating “Could not replicate error.” They probably should have written, “Slammed iPod on notepad and fixed problem.”
Sheesh.
-
AB says:
HOLY $&*T
worked on my ipod photo!
TYVM!
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JENNIFER says:
OMGG THIS REALLY WORKS! THANKS YOU SOOO MUCH FOR THE ADVICE!!
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HD says:
Thankyou soo much! this actually worked!!!!!!!! im so happy i have my music back! you are the greatest
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Abbi Kent says:
Ha ha..brilliant article..just adding to ur innumerable messages of gratitiude, thanks so much for the entertainment and VERY useful advice! couldn’t quite bring myself to throw it on the floor either, so took ur pad advice-worked a treat!!! thanks…genius solution…ur a life saver!
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so sad says:
IT DOESN’T WORK!!!!!!!!! I TRIED IT LIKE 4 TIMES… AND NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IM GONNA CRYYYY…………..
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
sriram says:
I tried with great trepidation! Worked for me! yay!
-Sriram, India -
Carl says:
I was squeamish about the banging of the ipod, so I opened it up and pressed the hard disc connector firmly in place. I reassembled the ipod and it booted up! The battery is fully charged, too, probably from all my attempts at getting it to turn on. Thanks for the tip!
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Lizzie says:
This worked GREAT… I banged it on my phone book and turned it on and there was no more sad face!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP -
EPM says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
It worked!!! My Ipod´s not sad anymore!
Thanks for sharing the tip!
-
Jen says:
Unbelievable! I showed my friend at work my sick pod face and told her I was going to try it… and she told me I was crazy…. nothetheless, I pulled out my pad of paper and wacked it and it worked!!! She is speechless and me and my Ipod both have happy faces now. Thank you!
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Simondo says:
Stunning… just dropped mine on the kitchen tiles whilst looking for the screw-driver to open it up… and guess what…. Bingo !!! Will be reviewing this technique on my website. Any other useful stuff feel free to add. Thanks a million
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Jackie says:
THANK YOU!!!! I have been on ipods support site all morning and nothing was working until I googled and found your site (as well as others) that said the same thing. I didn’t want to do it at first but was so frustrated. I banged it onto some newspapers on my table and it worked!!!! Thanks for the info!!!!
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Aliya says:
Had a sad face on my i pod……..googled and found this page…….so went along with the suggestion. Didnt exactly bang my ipod hard on a desy but banged it a bit on my palm, charger side down…..and it WORKED !!!!
Thanks so much !!! -
Nic says:
Yep! I had the sad pod for 3 months and was told by apple that my hard drive was shot and I needed a new iPod. I was about to go buy a new one today when I came across this page and tried it. Wouldn’t you know…it started right up! I could have had my 6 year old brother do that!
Thanks for the tip!!
-
Eric says:
Googled for this………….didn’t believe it………banged on my pad (only once)……….stuck it in the dock……..it work! Absolutely bloody incredible! I salute you!
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Siobhan says:
The only reason I did this is because I had nothing left to loose…and slamming my ipod on the kitchen floor not only FIXED it but relived some stress as well!
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david says:
how many times do we bang the ipod im loosing it i cant fix my ipod
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Jim says:
YES! This does work; tried it on both of my “broken” ipods. Slam it with enough force to make a dent, but not enough to smash it to pieces. (That’s what she said?)
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Craig says:
Thanks for this, I had a sad icon for a few days and tried resetting, etc. I tried slamming the port of the ipod down on the leather desk mat I have and viola – it popped right up, quite amazingly!
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Siobhan says:
I mentioned this specific entry and your blog in my latest video post. I have youtube account with nearly 1,000 subscribers. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFrfuXhN0SE
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Brian says:
Incredible, this actually just worked for me. I can cancel my appointment with Apple now it looks like.
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Erickson says:
F*CK!
This REALLY works!
THANK YOU! \o/ \o/ \o/
-
Terry says:
Thanks. I threw it downstairs, I now don’t even the sad smiley anymore.
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rocky says:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
it wooooorks!
i think i love you
-
David says:
From now on, I’m gonna start hitting everything that looks sad.
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Branfeast says:
By jove it works!!!!(Chucked it on the rug)
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Maurice says:
I still cant believe this works. I read all of the reviews of people thanking you and still couldnt believe it. It was so easy that a caveman can do it (LOL).
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I love you!!! says:
It worked it worked it worked!!! thank you so much for your help!!!
-
Chris says:
or you could gently pop the ipod apart and reseat the main flex that connects the harddrive to the main board. No cold solder breaks, no problem. They’re actually quite easy to get open.
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Ipod triste | SiRGts Blog says:
[...] ipod technical service? mmm talvez no. 1055(gmt -6) Experimento #3 – Preguntarle a digg, segun el link de digg, nos vemos otra vez en el Experimento #1 de arriba as ique pasamos al siguiente. 1059 (gmt -6) [...]
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Dee says:
just tried it at school worked like a charm!
Thanks alot -
Fifikins says:
I think my iPod is made of phail. Sad to report that it hasn’t worked. Am stopping short of trying a hammer. All I want is a happy iPod. Can haz?
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Steve says:
Praise God! It really freekin’ works!
I don’t have to live like a hermit anymore! -
kerminator says:
I’m amazed!!!It actually works. I went for the slightly altered approach of dropping it on a carpeted floor. Sad face reappeared but 3 seconds later Bang!! working again.
Thanks
-
Nathan says:
WOW – I just had my 3 year-old iPod photo crap out on me. I came across this story.. and to be honest I called major BS on it from the get go. However, I was sitting here with spending hundreds on a new iPod as my only alternative.. so.. I thumped it connection port down against the palm of my hand, reset it, and BAM.. it’s back. I AM A BELIEVER!
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q says:
this fix works. now I can back up the music library of my ipod using copy pod and then throw the damn ipod to the lake.
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Andrew says:
It didnt work.
I slammed my iPod against my knee which reflexed and kick my computer. My computer is ok, but my mini iPod is still dead. -
Andrew says:
I tryed again, missed and cut my knee. I am 0 for 2
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Frank says:
I used a similar method. For anyone who is or has been a smoker knows how to pack cigarettes should find this fix very easy. Since I didn’t want to bang it against anything really solid, I banged it against the palm of my hand like packing cigarettes. My iPod photo works again. LOL!
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Dæv says:
I tried slamming my iPod against a pile of magazines. I did five times before giving up. Then I thought I’d go for the other technique of dropping it onto my hard wooden floor. It fell, bounced around a bit, and somehow fixed itself! Amazingly, a bit of abuse seems to be the only solution for a sad iPod.
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Ashley says:
OMG IT WORKED thank god for googling problems before taking it to apple haha! so happy right now
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Michael Robinson says:
I am SO glad I found this site! I was about to announce the death of my wife’s iPod.
Thanks!
-
moataz says:
THIS ACTUALLY WORKS!!! First I banged it to my desk and it didnt work I hit it with my hand 6 times and still didnt work.. then I banged it to my desk with more force and it worked !!
-
steve says:
After about a year of having no ipod and not being able to buy a new one – I just googled the question – how to fix an ipod – and got to your site. I slammed it down twice and hey presto – It works!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks dude
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Steve says:
And yet another happy ipod junkie for who this fix worked. Thanks mate for this rather unusual, yet highly effective fix, cheers from Down Under, Steve
-
Juan says:
OMG this worked! thank you so much!!
I didnt use the paper method though, i just dropped it to the floor from one feet height and it started working again! -
Kyle says:
Thanks a lot! The apple support page didn’t help whatsoever but the ‘ram your ipod onto a pad’ method worked perfectly. Kudos!
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Barb says:
I can’t believe it, I tried everything and then the banging in my hand a bunch of times actually worked.
wow. -
Branden says:
how many times should you slam it? ive done about 40 now, and nothing happened.
are you sure that the llama is optional? maybe i should try using one…
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Jan says:
“Un-flippin’ believable”!!!! Worked like a charm. THAT’S priceless. Thanks a bunch.
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DINO says:
I thought this was a joke when I started reading it. I’ve treated this like gold for the last year and my wife thought I was nuts walking around the living room throwing, dropping and RAMMING my ipod. Finally worked. I’m impressed!!!!! Thanks!!
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RoryIsAmazed says:
Hey – I tried rapping the top left of the iPod against the knuckles of my balled left fist. A simple 1,2,3 and it was spinning again. Can’t wait for my 20GB 4th Gen to get sick again so that I can do it again, and again!!!
Word to burgers, big bird, and your moms – nuff respect.
-
John Wilker says:
LOL. I thought all was lost, my old iPod Photo locked up in the sun at a party, then went to sad iPod mode. A whack on my notpad on the desk, and viola, happy iPod again.
Classic! Apple needs to add this to the support page!
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Raul says:
holly shit it really works, Now i can get drunk in peace. Thank
-
Jo says:
OMG IT WORKED!!!! Thank you so much!!!! You just saved my ipod. Thank You.
-
Pasher says:
F*cking legendary. I cant believe that it worked! After trying all the official apple techniques, the caveman approach was the one that worked. I have all my music back, so I am as happy as a pig in…
I suppose there is a life lesson in this. If something is broken, smash it. Worked with my old TV and my Ipod. Funny stuff
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Itiro says:
Well, it may sound like a lie, but I dit it yesterday (before reading this post).
And it worked!!!
My iPod 4G stopped working a week ago, and to make some fun in front of the family, I dropped the iPod on the floor…
For my surprise, it started to work, with all my songs, playlists and configurations!!!
Non-sense, but the truth.
Don’t try this, unless you really gave up on it.
(sorry for my english)Oh, I remember using the same technique (technical tap) on my SONY HandyCam. It’s true, check this:
http://www.pechorin.com/m/2004/10/23/Error_Codes_Assistance-224535.htmlhttp://www.camerahacker.com/Forums/DisplayComments.php?file=Video%20Camera/Sony/Error_Code_C.31.40
-
Itiro » Parece mentira, mas não é… ressuscite seu iPod! says:
[...] descobri que tinha até um site ensinando essa técnica com iPods: How To Fix an iPod with the Sad iPod [...]
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michael says:
Hell it works …my daughter is going to think I am a genius….cheers
-
How To Fix that USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows Vista - Humor by Tom Coffee says:
[...] device that would help you pull the plug out of your computer, much like my iPad invention for fixing that dreaded sad iPod icon. But then I realized: I’m too lazy for that, [...]
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Chris says:
Holy S___! It worked….. My IPod is back. Thanks
-
thegayze says:
this is ridiculous! and it works!
there was one sitting on display at my friends place for quite some time since it stopped working and made sad face all the time, then my 30 gig got a broken sreen and said “no” alot……
so, i banged his ipod on my knee and it totally got way happier!
haha no sad face!
old school 20gig ipods are the new retro walkmans! -
Nick says:
I didn’t even slam it very hard, just a little drop on the charger side and voila! Thanks!
-
Paul Watson says:
Thank you so much, you saved my life.. erm I mean my i-pod. I’ve had mine since 2005 with no problems and suddenly I was getting the sad face. Bang, it works.
Yay!
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Jake says:
Loved the blog and instead of sending it in to repair, your repair technique worked! I used my company’s health plan instead!
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Ipod Sad Face at Ask About Tech says:
[...] before you do that check out this funny article on how to fix an Ipod with the sad face by Spilling [...]
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Abbott says:
Like a charm! My wife thought I was nuts. Thanks so much!!!
-
twinturbo0 says:
I LOVE U…
=)))
SURPRISINGLY IT REALLY WORKED IM SOOO HAPPY I HOPE U HAV THE BEST LIFE IN THE WORLD.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH.-twinturbo0
-
krissy says:
i know im saying the same thing as everyone else here, but i am so happy with this technique. dropping your ipod on the floor works a charm.
-
-Ste-> says:
I can’t believe it.
It worked. -
Ipod Question - Page 2 - INGunOwners says:
[...] How To Fix an iPod with the Sad iPod Icon – Humor by Tom Coffee This may help you, but I would say the hd has gone bad. [...]
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George says:
Oh, man! Thank you. I was hesitant at first. Yet, it worked. I banged it on a stack of papers. Thank you! thank you!
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Allerina says:
You, my dear sir, are a gentleman a and scholar.
Every morning when I ride the bus to school, I listen to my iPod, and it wakes me up and cheers me a little bit.
So you can imagine the sad look on my own face when the iPod showed it’s own depression.
And I was even sadder to find that the morons at Apple don’t know how to do their jobs.
But thanks to you, I have my Ipod back!
I almost cried I was so happy.
THANK YOU! -
mmhurst says:
Banged it against my hand and VIOLA it works perfect now!
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Walkie says:
Banging works for me when I get the sad iPod screen.
I get the sad iPod usually after my iPod freezes and it runs down. Rarely does the select+menu thing work when my iPod freezes. I keep doing it (usually dozens of times) and sometimes it will reboot, but more often I have to wait for the battery to run down, and it reboots on its own (or shows a sad iPod).Could the iPod freeze be caused by the same thing that results in a sad iPod (i.e., loose HD cable)?
What I’m asking is – will banging my iPod help when it freezes and won’t reboot by the usual procedure?
Thanks.
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Harlan says:
you rock!!!! celebrating by listening to the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack
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Nelson says:
Who would have thunk it? Great stuff!
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michelle says:
hey, just found this through ask.com, it WORKS!!!! you just saved me over three hundred dollars….i can’t thank you enough.
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Virgil says:
WOW, It Worked!
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Burhan says:
This this works. I cannot believe this but thanks. i throught i would have to take this into the apple store and pay to get it fixed.
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Alexandre Ribeiro says:
I don’t know how to react to this but… some two years ago my 20Gb White iPod has stopped working. People told me it was broken because of my then new car charger (they said I wasn’t supposed to turn ignition with a device connected to the charger, ’cause it would lead to a short circuit and the device being burnt).
Well, at the time I tried all possible means of fixing it (well, at least all I thought was plausible) but ended up buying a new iPod.
Well, then it comes to today and me doing the house cleaning and fixings and what did I find beneath some tons of old sweaters? My old iPod. Well, I though it would be a good idea trying to charge the battery (maybe time would had fixed it automagically), nop… no luck. It kept turning on, then showing Apple’s logo, then the battery charging icon, then the same old Sad iPod logo, then restart the cycle. Sad me.
Well, maybe had someone posted someting on the Internet? Apple may have found a fix? Last time I heard of it, some people were selling battery replacement kits to fix this problem (those kits were pricier than my iPod, so… it was not a real option). Well those two year saw Google becaming our very best friend and so I took a visit to it.
Well found the same stuff I found two years ago, except for this guy at “Spilling Coffee” saying he fixed his iPod ramming it to the floor. Nothing to fear, nor to loose (my iPod was to go to the waste bin anyway) I tried to ram it to my desk. Same way he described, charging slot down (Firewire cable connected to the iPod and to the wall), a somewhat soft ram and… the iPod froze for some ten seconds at the apple logo. hmmmm has it worked or just I irreversibly messed up everything? hmmmm it seems to be hang. I don’t know why, but instinctively I clicked on the central button…. And it worked!!! oh fu… S__ of a B___! It worked! It1s working. My old iPod ressurrected. My tunes, my contacts, everyhing is in there working. What a f___! I can’t believe it (in fact I can believe, that’s not the most bizarre I have seend on these fifteen years I’m working with technology).
By now, it’s still pluged to the wall charging (haven’t took courage to try it unplugged! You know… Maybe the charriot will became a pumpkin).
Now I can tell you, It may sound an urban legend, but… it worked to me!!! Thank you for suggesting me to do this, otherwise I would neglect an old friend. -
Ash says:
Oh my fucking hell.
My iPod, which has been freezing for days, froze mid-song earlier tonight and wouldn’t be resurrected by anything I tried – leading me to dreaded Sad iPod icon. I went ahead and purchased another online to be picked up tomorrow, because I drive 70 miles round-trip to class and I NEED my music.
Just for giggles, I Googled around to find what was wrong. I slammed it down once, twice, three times, nothing. The fourth time, I cleared everything off the desk, said, “Screw it,” and slammed it down hard on a magazine. Then I hit the Menu button and what do I hear? Click. Click. Whirr. Click. Click. AND I GET A MENU!
Now, I won’t be returning the new iPod (because really, this old-ass 20GB with the black & white screen is ancient and too small for my expansive library), but I’m glad I have music until I can pick the new iPod up tomorrow.
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hash.. says:
hallelujah……it worked …but mnow that i banged my ipod its making some strange sounds …..
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Henry says:
I did it, it works, I am so happy I keep laughing .
I try to fix it with 5R , and today try try your 6th R , it works I works man, thank you. -
Juan says:
Thank u soo much!
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sandy says:
you are awesome. my ipod was stuck on that low battery sign and I stumbled onto your page and started beating the hell out of it and surprise it worked. thank you so much.
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sys.eng says:
Dude,
You are a friggin’ genius! I’ve tried the fixes on at least 25 sites, including Apple, HP and Microsoft. I even put in a new hard drive. (duh!)
I thought I checked all of the connections inside, guess I missed one. Thanks a million…I’ve missed my little buddy and you have given him back to me. YOU ARE THE MAN!!! I think? -
Sarah says:
So I’d heard about throwing/hitting/ramming your ipod to get it to work, and I’d tried it with no luck, but thanks to your article, I did it with the connection thing down, and it worked this time!
Thanks! Hopefully the “fix” sticks. But if it doesn’t, I know what to do!
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Casey says:
I LOVE YOU!!! This worked!!! My iPod has been doing the sad iPod face now for almost six months, and in place I had been using my ancient MP3 player that was around when the dinosaurs were. The hard drive on it recently fried, so I was stuck! My dad told me we could send my iPod in to be repaired (because I don’t think the company that made my MP3 player exists anymore), and I was like there’s gotta be another way. Apple’s going to charge an arm, a leg, and a firstborn to fix it. So I looked around online and found this blog! It took me a few throws (carpet works well, it gives the iPod a little bit of cushion, but it’s hard enough for to give off a nice loud thump!), but it works now! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! When I get married and have kids, I’m naming them after you.
Thank you!!!! -
catherine says:
my ipod is still not workin for me anythin else that can help me try fix it im goin mad here please hel before i go mental
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happyipod says:
LMFAO this actually worked, thanks man I am soooooo happy.
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Caroline says:
Over two years later, and still, thanks for the advice. I went to another blog that advised against banging the ipod, they wanted me to open it up, but I’m pretty sure nothing good would have happened from that either. I think people at work think I’m weird though. I didn’t use the pad of paper, just the heel of my hand. Now it hurts a little.
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Stuart says:
Having spent hours troubleshooting this problem, I stumbled upon this article. It sounded like my kind of solution as the thing was lucky not to be bounced off the floor. Sceptical, but willing to try anything I gave it a few smacks of my leg then slapped it a couple of times against my hand. Still no success, I got out a catalogue slammed it twice, and the second smack sparked it back into action. Amazing!
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Michael says:
I dropped it on a paperback book on my desk from 6 inches up (dropped it vertically on the power input), caught it on the bounce, and now it works again.
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Rachael says:
I can not believe this actually worked! I was stunned! I has resolved myself to having to buy a new one…not anymore!
Great tip! -
kittnchopz says:
YAY!!! it REALLY worked!! i cant believe it!! i’m so glad i didnt toss or sell my ipod!! YAY!!!
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Kat says:
And who says violence doesn’t solve problems?!?! Thank you so much! You are my hero!
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Will says:
I slammed my Ipod onto my desk, and sure enough it started working again. I spent over 2 hours reading information on how to fix it, and slamming it was the only thing that worked.
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Annabelle Lee says:
Genius, I could kiss your feet right now! I have no problems with my 30G iPod, but couldn’t resist getting a used 20G iPod U2 edition for two thousand pesos (roughly $40–a steal). But I was told I may have to bring it to Apple for resetting, etc, as it had the sad iPod face. Did everything Apple’s support page told me to do, which is to make sure I manually set it to disk mode, which is not as easy as it sounds. After an hour of aching fingers, nada. Google directed me to your ridiculous suggestion. No iPads nearby, so I settled for a book by Steinbeck, aptly titled The Red Pony (U2 editions have RED click wheels). Three rams and my iPod quit its dying throes (that pathetic whirring) and CAME TO LIFE. Calling this one Lazarus, and you’re his godparent!
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Mr Jaw-Droped says:
It worked. It freaking worked.
20g ipod classic. iPod was handed down from one family memeber to another because everyone was trying to figuere out how to fix it(to keep since the owner didnt care for it anymore)and then it ended up in my hands. I had it for a month and would try setting it up in disk mode, diagnostic mode, anything-mode and nothing helped. Read this blog, let the ipod fall on my carpeted floor and the freaking thing worked. Its been in circulation for over a year and I got it to work with alittle frustration and this blog. WOW. -
Mr Jaw-Dropped says:
It worked. It freaking worked.
20g ipod classic. iPod was handed down from one family memeber to another because everyone was trying to figuere out how to fix it(to keep since the owner didnt care for it anymore)and then it ended up in my hands. I had it for a month and would try setting it up in disk mode, diagnostic mode, anything-mode and nothing helped. Read this blog, let the ipod fall on my carpeted floor and the freaking thing worked. Its been in circulation for over a year and I got it to work with alittle frustration and this blog. WOW. -
Simon says:
Worked for me thanks! Seem to be getting this more often and wondered why it kept coming and going. Guess the angrier I got, the more vigorous I was with it…
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john says:
it worked it really really worked!
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karen says:
omg, you’re amazing.
my husband has a (horrible) hp ipod–the genius bar at the mac store wouldn’t touch it, of course, and he’s since given up on ipod and is using a sandisk…so he gave me the ’sad ipod’ one. i have a perfectly good ipod, but thought this would be good for the house system if i ever got around to fixing it.
it sat for months…i was going to PAY someone to fix it, if possible, and while looking, found this site. i took the ipod to the living room and dropped it on the granite floor from about four feet up. still sad ipod, but the cover loosened…i opened it up, brushed off all the sawdust–he’s a woodworker–on the inside (i had replaced the battery some years ago on his and mine, so am familiar with the insides) and closed it up. good to go! no need to buy a new one, pay someone to fix it, anything. maybe i’ll charge him a repair fee anyway….hmmm.
seriously, thanks to you. wow. you rock. merry christmas. happy hannukkah. whatever. thank you!
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Ryan says:
Dude! I thought this was crap when I read it! Then I tried it! I still can’t stop laughing! It’s insane! I have my iPod back!
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Jamie says:
Hey, I know this post is so old, but I just took your advice, dropped it on the floor, and sure enough it’s working. Thanks a lot!
my ipod has been broken for weeks and weeks and I couldn’t afford to get it fixed. So thanks! -
very happy ipod user says:
youre god to me! haha. for weeks ive been going on and on with an ipod that only gave me a sad face and then i found you! i went to the nearest stack of paper i found and rammed it. it fucking worked!
I LOVE YOU -
paul says:
Holy shit, it worked! Slammed it three times on my mouse pad.
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Betsy says:
It worked! You are fantastic! I was about to tear my hair out. Thanks
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Barb says:
Wow! I had a sad face and a dead battery icon. Tried everything on the Apple site and finally made an apppointment at the Genius desk for tomorrow. Then, at last, I found your site, whacked my iPod on a magazine and, voila!, it works. Thanks so much! (I wonder if that’s why the Geniuses at the Apple Store always go in the back to “check something?”)
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Stephen says:
Wow I thought this was the worst idea to slam my $300 ipod but it worked. I actually just slammed the back of my ipod against my hand, the apple icon came up and I was able ot listen again. Thanks for this great fix!!!
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fre3ze says:
Slamming the ipod worked for me but do we have to do anything else to prevent this problem from happening again ?
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Ron says:
I can believe this actually worked! First time. You are a God.
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s. kobak says:
This really worked. Honestly. thank you so much
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Greg says:
Unbelieveable. I swear this worked for me. Totally stunned. (so was my iPod!) -Thanks!!!
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Mitch says:
YEEEEES!! I could kiss you!!! My ipod has been languishing sadly in my wardrobe for over a year now. Every now and then I have checked it to see if it has cheered up, but always still the sad face. Every day on the train to work I look longingly at the happy-faced commuters with their happy-faced ipods and turn back to my sad newspaper. But now – having followed your hint and given it a good bash on the carpet – it has cheered up beyond recognition! Sweet Home Alabama on shuffle as I write this – happy days and happy Christmas!
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x0j0e0n0x says:
my ipod was left lastnight in my car in the garage in -10 DEGREE weather last night,
i picked it up this morning and it says go to apple.com/support/ipod. an d it has that sad icon face.
we’ll i was wondering if this technique will work for a ipod broken from the cold weather.
any tips or ideas? -
Sarah says:
Thanks so much for this
My Ipod is working!! I’m so happy I saw your article before handing a ton of money to Apple ) Cheers -
adrian says:
thanks it worked for me!!
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wilson gonzalez says:
HELP ME!!! I tried banging my ipod on the floor and on my hand and it seems it doesnt work..
What are the most important things you need to do to fix it?.. -
Ted says:
Unfreaking believable, I had been sitting with what I assumed to be a 20gb piece off garbage, useless and dead in the water.So I stumbled upon your article and thought why not give your fix a try.Rather than using an “IPad” I used the always ever present knee. With one downward thrust the minimal pain was well worth it. It worked like a charm. Thank you so very much for the tip. P.S. My Knee is doing fine !!
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RickZ says:
Your “ram” method didn’t work, but I tried the sad ipod face repair guide and that worked like a charm! You saved me $200 and hours of reloading my music. Thanks, man!
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toopriddy says:
Wow, I cant believe this worked. I was sad when I looked at the sad ipod icon and searched for a solution to my old friend’s problem. Thanks!
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Harv says:
Wow! That’s amazing!
For, like, months now I’ve had this pad of paper with a sad face drawn on it, but I just laid my iPod down on the table and slammed the pad down on it a few times. Bingo! Sad face totally ripped off.
The paper’s good to go again!Only trouble is, now my iPod doesn’t work…
:p
Seriously, though, I will use the 6 R’s if the SadPod ever appears.
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Cynderella says:
I usually can make just about anything work if it breaks…but I couldn’t get my ipod to work and it was out of warranty. I really thought this might be a joke but tried it anyway since my only other option was to just buy a new one. I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! IT WORKED!
Thank you so much!
You are the best!
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bj33smith says:
I agree, I was getting ready to throw it out and then figured I have to try something. I read this article and gave 3 nice whacks on my counter with a shirt as some cushion and now it works! Thank you so much
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buddha1968 says:
Holy Sh*t it work! thanks a lot dude.. I owe you a beer..
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hoorah says:
HOOOORAY!!! My ipod had been “sad” for 2 years and was just sitting pretty. I banged it on my thigh for added cushioning and my ipod was resurrected from the dead. Thank you so much for the most useful and effective method of repairing the sad icon. You deserve a medal.
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Torrance says:
This ram repair also works on the Creative Zen Vision:M 30gb and 60gb, my girlfriend and i have had them white screen on us several times, all we do is the ipod slam and BOOM! they work like new. i’m gonna see if the slam and ram works on Zunes, since i have one of those with those wonderful 80gb hard drives that turn in to 1gb hard drives
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Tragicburnvictim says:
OH MY GOD IT WORKED I WAS SO SKEPTICAL BUT I FIGURED I DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO LOSE ANYWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!
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Vancouver says:
Today I resurrected my 4 year old iPod 4G after it being in a sad state all this time. Incredible, it sounds too good to be true this technique, but it worked for me on a ream of 20lb paper
Not taking any chances, using this short time to offload data off it, and treating it as a terminal case…(expiry unknown…)
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Paul says:
Wow – i had given up and was about to buy a new one when i came across this website. A small notepad also works but not a sofa cushion i discovered. Nice work, you just saved me £160!! Good humoured website too!
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Web-Betty says:
Holy shit this worked! My 4th gen U2 iPod gave me the sad iPod icon yesterday and I thought that was it–time to say goodbye. But no! You saved me $400 for a new one, LOL!
You, my friend, are a Godsend!
Thanks for this most excellent post!
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Knotty_jim says:
Wow, hats off mate, i had written my 20 gig ipod off and all the music i thought id lost, and a year later, read this, use the patented IPad repair kit and its back to life, better still, all the music i thought i had lost i now have back!
Cheers buddy!
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Ania says:
Genius. Worked like a charm. Thank you so much!
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Malcolm says:
Hey it worked. Thank you so very much.
I followed the steps given and it worked like a charm.
Thank you.
Cheers!!! -
Big Al says:
I was totally bummed today when my beautiful green iPod mini displayed the sad iPod icon. I skipped my afternoon class, and I’m the teacher. So I was very happy to find this page. I banged it on the table a few times and nothing but more sad ipod icons. I kept scrolling down and found another link to an article about spanking your ipod. I held it in my hand, screen towards palm, and spanked it’s little green behind. I was happily shocked when it immediately started working again. Thanks a million!!
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DavidYnz says:
Hey brother.
I tried everything with my $300.00 ipod. I was in China and my ipod stopped working. I was ready to give up and do what every good geek does, take the ipod apart and see what’s up. But apple geeks never give up, and then I found this web site. My wife is watching CSI when I decided to drop my ipod on the carpet floor. She looks at me that thinks I’m nuts. I pick up my ipod and reset it and it works. You are the bomb!
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Jason says:
Was sem musica in Brasil for the summer. This method worked the first time. Cheers!
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GURP says:
WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
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alli says:
I cannot believe it, but it works! Thank you, you saved me from buying a new Ipod!
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Fiddle says:
Writing in to confirm another successful iPod recovery. Thanks!
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dogwood says:
Yes!!! I did it!
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johnny rockets says:
i cant believe that this actually worked. thank you thank you thank you
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Giovasa says:
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!!
Here’s my story: 20G 4th gen Ipod, bought in 2005 so I’m kinda fond of it; a couple of days ago it gave me the click of death so I’ve been trying hard to make it spin again, at leat for a while and back it up;then I read your post, I happened to notice a stack of magazines next to my pc and…THANK YOU MAN, greetings from Italy! -
NYC Dave says:
I have had an old iPod (generation 4 clickwheel) that I have a nostalgic love for. I have spent 3 months (on and off) hoping it would come back from the grave.
This solution is amazing. I had my doubts, but could not have been more wrong. My good ol’ iPod is back!
THANK YOU from a doubter!
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wooooo-hoooo says:
This must be the most bizarre fix I ever heard of (apart from banging on the TV to get a better picture back in the old analogue antenna days), but
Whoooo-hooo, it worked here, too!!! Thanks Tom (from Vietnam)!!
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iPhone and iPod Fun « Liam likes it says:
[...] on how to fix an ipod with the sad icon. A brilliant ipod [...]
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Seb says:
hey guys, im having trouble doing this.
I have tried numerous times smacking the ipod (Charger port side down)but still no luck.
How excactly are you ment to do it, does a charger have to be plugged in?Any ideas?
much appreciated. -
Lukas says:
Thanks mate! Legend! Ipod is working again
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blackstar says:
Dude, you’re the man.
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Matt says:
This worked! Thanks!
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Tony says:
OMFG, it WORKED. I was actually laughing when reading this, thinking, “no way it’ll work for me.” Lo and behold, it worked…on the first try.
I slammed it onto a really thick mouse pad, and it worked like a charm. Wish I would’ve known this a year ago when I replaced this iPod. Oh well, now I’ve got a new portable hard drive
THANKS!
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Casey says:
it worked on my old-pod. wow that’s what i call tech support.
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Mump says:
HA! It worked! I used a sofa instead of a pad.
Success!
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chase says:
thaks bro
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Miami [Clo] says:
Thank you so much it works. Now i can use my ipod again after so many months of storing it. Thanks to your article …..I tried slamming it and it drop && now working. HOORAY!
–YOU’ve made my day -
Ana says:
When I thought everything was lost, you gave me hope.
I thought this was the Mexican style for solving problems, but apparently it works across borders.
THANKS, THANKS A MILLION THANKS. (Who would have imagined that such a simple thing could bring music back into my life.)IIII LOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEE YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jimbob says:
Hahahahahaha!!!! It’s just worked for me too!!!!!
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andy says:
you are a f*cking genius. i love you.
although it was hitting it on the right hand side that fixed. so if its not working for other people try that.
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Larry says:
You.
Da.
MAN!It worked! I would have never believed it…
Then again, now I have no excuse to buy a new iPod Touch…yet.
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Samia says:
BRILLIANT and also very amusing – I gave my ipod a big thump and then it came back to life! Yipeee
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James says:
worked for me… the killer blow was hitting on the i pod against the pad on its side… james
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Denise says:
I laughed when I read this but after trying all the Apple tips I thought this was worth a shot.
IT WORKED. I banged it with my hands a couple of time, did the Hold on and then off thing, and the Menu Select and the thing booted up with all the music still on it.
THANKS
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Megan says:
I tried this loads of times
Its just makin really weird noises now
Any advice? -
Chris T says:
looking back to my childhood (too long to think about) I should of thought to try this. My father was a leading TV r&d engineer and used this high tec method with great results. So after finding this site and wincing on the swing oh what JOY! if your happy and you know it….. Thanks coffee man
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Ramsi says:
Dude…It F….ing worked…You rock…Apple should really consider bringling you as head of support…
Cheers,
Ramsi
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Mike S says:
4th Gen “sad” iPod working again! I didn’t even have to slam it very hard.
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bin2 says:
Holy crap… sounds weird but it worked after a few hits on the paper!
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Casey says:
Thanks for the tip, worked perfectly. This was a 3rd gen ipod used for kids music in the nursery so I didnt mind smashing it as a last ditch effort. Worked immediately. Thanks!
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Kamal says:
i tried to bang, drop, hit hard, upside, downside…all…..its still not working, the sad ipod icon resumes again. On forcing to disk mode, it does not restore (the second step fails)….please help
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Heather C says:
So I had a lot of old broken ipods in a drawer. I never bothered to fix them because every time one broke, my dad would buy me a new one, usually by then a new model. So I’m home for college with nothing to do but fix ipods. So far, I’ve fixed two. One was a Ipod Mini 6 gig.
Didn’t have a paper pad (ironic as a college student right?) so I used my laptop case. It’s made out of a cushion-like material. Put it on the desk banged it a couple times.
This method works like a charm.
Thanks! -
roger says:
i was bored and droped mine off a 2 story building then it landed on its back and the screen cracked
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iPodgeniusyouare says:
LMAO.
Mate you are an absloute genius.
Ive just found my broken one in my draw, and had given up all hope, but since i got an ipod connection for my car i thought i need the room, mergh ill give it a go, whats the worse that could happen.
I would love to buy you a drink <3
Thanks Muchly ! -
Cat1987 says:
IT WORKED!!! Myself and my boyfriend were desperately trying to fix it before we go on holiday and it just kept making a weird whirring noise with a sad ipod face, so….. we slammed it against the desk and IT WORKED!! AWESOME AWESOME STUFF!!!
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G says:
oh my golly! I really does work!!!! I tried all sorts of things too and was ready to waste some $ getting it repaired!! Who knew it could be so simple??? Thanks a billion!!
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Gina says:
Well i followed your advice with my ipod,1 slam of the ipod on a flat service and hey presto it bloody works.
Im still in a state of shock as i am posting this great THANK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU to you -
kb says:
u r a f*cking hero.. seriously.. i have been trying to fix my ipod for almost a month and today i decided to RAM it on the book.. and it worked..
and its working perfectly now..
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Trav says:
Dude! you are man! it just worked for me! to bad i already sent a hate letter (with a ton of exploits) to apple. but they deserve it anyways because my other ipod only has a 10 minute battery life. Thanx a lot, bro!!!
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kw says:
THANKS for the drop tip. I thought my ipod was dead.
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Frank says:
I dropped mine and it works!!! My girlfriend couldn’t believe it when she saw ipod playing like always! and I just dropped once!
Thanks Dude!
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Spadez says:
My friend you are a legend mine kept coming up with the red cross.So I took your advice & dropped on every-angle it made a funny noise & started going bloody brillant thank you for beating the conglomerate.Cheers from little ole New Zealand.
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evilmonkey says:
Dude I was ready to spend $300 on a new iPod till I saw this page and it brought me back from the brink of despair. I had to slam my iPod once on each four sides but in the end it worked out. thank you so much!!
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Umar says:
i opened up my 60g 5g ipod and reconnected the hd cable sevrel fuc**ng times but wenever i open it up again and the cables out ive been at it for like two weeks and by doing so i also broke my headphone jack cable
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onemoresuccess says:
Here we are, years later, and you’re still helping us fix this problem. I had my doubts, but I’d tried Apple’s R’s to no avail so I gave it a good whack on a covered table, and instantly heard it whirring back to life. Played perfectly, updated my podcasts with no problem… life is back to normal. THANKS!
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Peder says:
my ipod displayed the sad ipod icon, i opende it and on the motherboard thingy under the hardrive, one of the little black thingys had burned out??? any suggestions???
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dresdon says:
haha…pretty funny….it actually worked!!! that’s awsome
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Linda says:
I cannot believe it but that fix worked, it took a few go’s at slamming the ipod hard enough to jolt it back to life but eventually it worked.
That’s a brilliant fix, thanks so much!
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Jason says:
fanbloodytastic
My daughter was tapping me up for a new ipod insisting that her ipod classic was beyond repair – stumbled accross this fix and hey presto its working again :0)
now tempted to try this fix with everything :0)
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enrique says:
i said iwill be stupid if i do this,finaly i did it and it works perfect,thank you veryyyyyyyyyyyy much..
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Amy says:
I love you, marry me… will it work on my crap samsung phone thats also broken? THANK YOU
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Frust says:
You know what, just tried it on my “Sad Faced” 4th gen ipod, it works. That should goes into Apple’s Tech Support Ipod recovery guide
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Greta says:
Genius! I tried it, it worked, I am a believer!
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Aidan says:
Strike another one up for me too! Thanks!
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JOE says:
I BANGED IT A DOZEN TIMES AND IT JUST WONT WORK!! ITS MAKING KLICKING NOISES AND SHOWING THE SAD ICON. IT TELLS ME THAT IT IS VERY LOW BATTERY AND IT IS PLUGGED IN FOR HOURS ALREADY. CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS?
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lolly says:
YOU ARE A GENIUS! Love from New Zealand
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Casper says:
Works perfect. Do it if you have a sad iPod.
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Peter says:
OMG, this actually worked. Helpful (and hilarious) article!
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John says:
OMG, it worked. your a legend. Tried throwing it about indoors, I guess the carpet wasn’t hard enough. Finally got frustated enough to go out side and slam it on a brick wall and of a car.
WOW! -
Mike says:
WOW it worked, the first time! thanks.
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Seb says:
mm ive tried everything from dropping, banging, raming, smacking, throwing.. even the occasional frisbe.. i guess its time to dig a grave for my ipod
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Leon says:
Nice one! Just fixed my iPod photo, great tip thanks.
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Peter Navarro says:
I exhausted all possible fix on my 20g ipod..
After everything else failed I decided to give this a go..
YOU’RE THE MAN!!!
I never thought this could work!!! Thanks alot!! -
C B says:
Wow, this actually worked. Thanks!
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jojo says:
uhh, you’re the shit!!! and i love you for saving me another two hundred and fifty bucks. =) thanks!
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Dr. Quasius says:
It worked. I thought it was a joke, but I was ready to throw my long out of warranty ipod into the trash, so I went ahead and dropped it on the floor. Problem fixed. Craziness!
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Jake says:
Thanks so much! Worked like magic. My iPod and I are no longer frowny.
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donk says:
huh….well I’ll be.
It does work!
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donnie58m says:
it worked wonderfully and the graphics at the end of the article made for more entertainment to go along with the story.
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Simiil says:
Holy Crap!!
I didnt believe this, till i did it!
everything works like a charm now again
(certainly with Rockbox…)THANKS!!!1!!
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Ticino says:
Thank you so much for this page!
Now I must clarify that your method in particular didn’t work (perhaps I didn’t ram it hard enough) but the mention you made of people dropping it on the floor made me think.
So I took my beloved iPod photo and walked to the middle of our dining room rug (good wool mix, approx. 1/2 inch thick, non-shaggy) and dropped it, back downwards, from a height halfway between thigh and knee (basically where my hand reached with my arm at rest holding the iPod horizontal). The iPod hit the carpet with a plop, bounced up about two inches and flipped over.
Then I picked up my iPod and did the reset procedure (flipped the hold button on and off and then held down the menu and centre select buttons simultaneously until the apple symbol appeared). At first, the apple symbol remained dark, but then there was a slighty ominous soft clunk from within the iPod and the apple symbol suddenly illuminated. Within a few seconds, my screen magically came back to life and my old friend was back to his old self, smiling sheepishly at me with the initial menu screen. I was flabbergasted!
I can’t tell you how overjoyed I was. Ok …. I admit it ….. I cried for joy and kissed my iPod and thanked you and God! I never realized it meant so much to me. Or maybe it was the fact that you have just saved me, even if indirectly, the €260 of a “repair”.
Extra notes fot this method:
- Bear in mind that I am only 5ft 6 tall so six-foot giants may have to stoop a little for optimum drop height.
- The floor under my carpet is tile on concrete so those of you with a base of wooden floorboards or springy parquet might have to raise the drop height to compensate.Good luck to anyone in the same situation.
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VINCENT says:
this is pure genius.
my ipod totally works now!!
THANKS SO MUCH! =] -
Steve says:
Holy Crap! I just bought one from a pawn shop for $10, read this and banged it on my mouse pad and it worked! Too cool- thanks!!!!!!!!
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Paul says:
You are brilliant! I had an old iPod (first gen click wheel) that died ages ago. I got bored and wanted it to work again so I followed your instructions…I couldn’t believe it worked…this iPod was out of commission for years! AWESOME! Extra iPOD!
THANKS!
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Samarth says:
dude……..Does it work with ipod CLASSIC?
plz reply
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Marty says:
I kid you not, it worked for my iPod Photo 60 Gig! This old gal is now still alive and kicking! Thanks!
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Andy says:
you sir are a freakin’ genius! I was all set to walk down to the shops and see what I could buy, so thought I’d try slamming it on the table… bingo!
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cecilia says:
Unbelievable!!! It is the ONLY thing that worked for me too…I did it because i had nothing left to lose
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Brian says:
Holy crap! I have only been able to use this ipod as a paper weight for the past 18 months because of the stupid sad icon! Unfortunately my iphone just stopped working, so I decided to start googling ideas to get the old i-pod up and running. It only took one hit & all my music was still there like a little time capsule..
THANKS! -
Nikhil says:
Your advice is just awesome! Thanks buddy!
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Bonnie says:
OH my flipping LORD. you are the man. I can’t believe this actually worked. I was so bummed. I had just downloaded a audio book. I was half way through it and it froze up. I off course went straight to the IPOD web site. I was trying everything. I even tried to open up my IPOD to see if the battery was dead. NO JOY! So I decided okay time to go and buy a new IPOD. Didn’t want to spend the money. (you can understand!) So I Google Sad face on IPOD. It brought me to your wonderful site. So I read the testimonies and let my hand drop the IPOD about 4 inches and started working. Thank you Thank you thank you!!!!
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andaluciaBro says:
:] wow, i cant believe it worked
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Elizabeth says:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! It actually worked. I can’t believe it. Thanks a million times!!!!!
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big pod says:
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww it works
cheers man
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Smedrick says:
Wow, dude…after 3 years you’re still getting praise. Add me to the list! My old B&W 40GB touch wheel was resurrected thanks to you. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
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H says:
WoW! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God Bless!
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Carlos says:
Hey! work for me! hope it works for a month at least.
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Darren Geary says:
I have been without my ipod for a week now. I play all of the music in my bar / restaurant in Kenya through it. I have in the last 5 mins tried your banging method and it works again!!! You are very welcome in Ngiri bar, Diani Beach, Kenya for a beer or two on me! Thanks a lot
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Sian says:
Thank you for this website! My 14 month old daughter was the last one in possession of a working iPod, when I went to use it I got an unhappy iPod face.
In desperation and preparing to ask for a new one for Xmas i thought i would give this a go and slammed it (not too hard!) on the desk not expecting that it would work, and it did!!! Hurrah! thankyou!
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Joon says:
I can’t believe this worked. Thank you and God bless!
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Dan says:
OMG. This worked. Thank you SO much!! It did take two “Rams”.
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scoplaya says:
Freaken GEINOUS!!!! i was SERIOUSLY going to throw this ipod away and buy a new one till i read this and said hey why not..and to my surprise IT WORKS! thanx
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Rich says:
I cant believe this.. it worked!
I also got a pad of paper and (not too hard) banged the ipod onto it base down.
I thought it might have been a hard drive issue but obviously not!
Cheers for this post.
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Dave says:
I just did this and it fixed my iPod. Cannot believe it. Thank you!
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latsirk says:
thanks so much, i forgot about this idea. i’ve done it before and it slipped my mind. i have a 2nd generation ipod touch now and i had to hold onto my fourth (white) generation which was my very first ipod. it’s only black and white color with no photos, no movies, etc… just because it’s a classic to me. now i got it working again cause of you reminding me the best thing to do to make it work. i’m keeping this till the cows come home, thanks again!
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EMC362 says:
I got this VERY old white iPod a while ago. One of my customers couldn’t get it to work, so she offered it to me. I took it, and for a few weeks I couldn’t get it to work. So after letting it sit in my room for a few months, I decide to pick it up and toy around. I go back to the Apple site and try their ways of making it work, but no, it doesn’t. I google around a bit, find this article, then I’m like, “Might as well… all or nothing.” I slam my iPod on my desk with some cardboard under it, and alas- it works. Brb, buying lunch for Tom
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Tony says:
It worked!!! It seems like a silly idea but it really worked! Now my 30gb ipod is saved
Thx a mill for the quirky tip -
Will says:
I was totally skeptical but it WORKED! I was resigned to buying a new iPod and thought, what the hell. Thanks so much for sharing this! Your karma is deep in the black!
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Lindsay says:
Oh wow… ::laughs:: I love how masochistic technology is. I just went ahead and banged my iPod to hell against my hand. Totally worked. =] Thanks!!!
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MellowFellow says:
After reading all your responses, I tried dropping mine. It still did not work. I opened up my Ipod and located the drive cable. I reseated the cable to fix my problem. Thanks all! I was not able to use my ipod for months, because of the sad face. Now I am happy again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks a million. -
casey says:
holy sh*t it work
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Trevan says:
I just had the sad face happen to me and I slammed it against the coffee table, no pad, and it started right up. Thanks for the advice. I had resigned myself to losing it.
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Mark says:
I love this solution. I usually fix most of my electronic equipment with the “mechanic’s tap”. But I was reluctant to do this with my Ipod. But after several hours of watching the screen attempt to reboot and reading how to preform this task. (just to make sure that I mastered the technique) I did as described. Thank you I know have my Ipod back in working order and will not go through the rest of my work day without this much needed distraction. I do have to admit that I was unable to find a pad of paper, but my computers mouse pad did provide a suitable substitute. Once again Thank you.
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Janine says:
OMG…My iPod hasn’t worked for months. I pretty much gave up on it, thinking it was shot. I noticed tonight that it was in diagnostic mode, so I thought maybe there was still some life in it. I did a search on the internet for the Sad Icon and came across this page. I tried the fix…and to my astonished surprise, my iPod lit up and is now charging as nothing was ever wrong. Aaaamazing. Thanks.
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lynoel says:
holy crap it work thanks you sooooo much
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Kelli says:
It worked! As soon as our major snow storm is over, I am going to the Apple Store to have them open it and check the cable because it has done this five times in the last two weeks.
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Aaaaah says:
Aaaaah thank you so much! I tried opening the ipod and tapping the hard drive but it wasn’t working. I then tried your tutorial with the hitting it on a book. It didn’t work with the bottom of the ipod (charger side) but it worked after I hit it on the side of the ipod. Thank you so much again!!
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Laura B says:
OMG. I have been struggling with this issue for so long and thought what the hell, and slammed it down. Presto, it works.
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Pitu says:
Thank you very much, I tried to reset the ipod several times but it wasn’t working. As soon as I bang the ipod it started to work. Its awesome!! Thank you very much again!!
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Pam says:
Worked!!!! Thank’s a lot!!!!
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Jasmine says:
Great !!!!! It worked… My husband was laughing when I told him that I was going to bang my ipod to the floor…. but it worked
… he is unable to believe this…. Thanks a lot !!!!
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Joey says:
Are they hiring at your place of employment? I need a job but don’t like to work too hard.
And yes, the ipod fix just worked for my iPod Photo 60. Amazing. -
Sarah says:
Tried to get onto the apple website to see what the sad icon meant, but it wasn’t working. So I did a quick ‘Bing’ search and you came up.
Thanks for the funny and excellent advise. It got jolted out of place because it fell out of the stroller- so I banged it on my desk, and I have tunes!
YEAH! -
Bob says:
Wow! 3.5 years later and this advice is still out there helping!!
My daughter’s ipod quit, tried all the 5 Rs, etc from the Apple site, no go.
Then saw this site, and 2 bangs later, one with the USB connector hitting the paper, second with left side hitting paper, and Voila!! It works.
THANKS!!
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josh says:
It worked. I can’t believe it.
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Mastermind says:
I’ve got a way better idea:
if your iPod is older than a year and your guarantee is no longer available, do not smash your iPod!!!
2 things you need:
a trowel and a tweezer!
take the trowle to open your iPod. thats very easy, just leverage it up between the alu-case and the top cover.do this carefully and without much power. the iPod-interior is very simple. there are 2 things of interest: the cable or strap to the hard-drive and the strap to the battery. these are fixed to a slot an the pcb, like a toggle switch. open these slots und and pull these cables or straps back inte the socket. you might have to check this again, if your staus has not changed. but if you put ist back right, your iPod is fixed and makes you happy like a 1000 times before!
last step is to recover it in itunes!
very easy and apsolutely foolproof.
have fun -
Mastermind says:
by the way: the special tool to open iPod they use in Apple stores is an apsolutely normal trowel;)
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Danny says:
I can’t believe this worked. I had watched tons of vids for the last couple of days about the r’s. And disk mode and all that crap. I’ve even tried dropping it before. But then I read this and I decided to drop it a couple times more. I did. It didn’t work for about 3 times. But my last try I took it out of the case and threw it on the carpet with more force. It worked! I’m so happy. Thanks
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Ross says:
okay
it worked
and i laughed so hardipod photo
now no one believes me
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midzyboy says:
my 30g ipod video had the sad face and decide to go with your remedy not expecting any success.
i tried it a couple of times to no avail then i got so frustrated with it i frisbeed it 10 feet in the air across my lounge and eureka !! it workedcheers and good work mate
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david says:
damn it worked i slamed it on my pool table a cuple times then i turned it on and it work thanks man