Posted by bac on Feb 2nd:
Why can't restore my iPod?
"no guarantee, but here's something you could try.
1) try forcing your iPod into Disk Mode first
- simultaneously press and hold the Menu and Center buttons
- the iPod should reboot after a few seconds. Immediately upon seeing the Apple logo:
- simultaneously press and hold the Center and Play/Pause (bottom) buttons
- the iPod should now say "Disk Mode" on top with a check mark and "OK to disconnect" in the middle of the screen
connect your iPod via USB to your Mac (you don't say but I'm assuming you have a Mac??)
then run Disk Utility, select the iPod hard drive in Disk Utility and try to Erase the iPod hard drive. Select Format: Mac OS Extended (if on a PC, just format the iPod as FAT32)
after erasing the iPod, unplug it, reboot it (press and hold Menu and Center buttons)
then plug it in and connect to iTunes, and see if you can restore it now.
2) by the way, did you know there's a hidden diagnostic mode in most iPods? you won't be able to fix your restore-failure problem, but if there some hardware problem in your iPod the diagnostic mode might point out something
to enter diagnostic mode with the 5th gen iPod:
- reset the iPod by holding down Menu and Center button
- immediately upon seeing the Apple logo, press and hold the Center and Previous (left) buttons
- you should hear a beep and see "SVC Diag Boot" on top of the screen
- from there you can press Menu to enter manual tests
- once in the Manual tests, use the scroll wheel and center button to navigate
- under the "IO" subsection you can find various HardDrive tests, including checking SMART status, HD model & serial #, etc. supposedly there is also a Disc Scan test, but for some reason on my 5th gen iPod I don't see that option"
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