⟐ Answered March 19, 2026 at 4:48 MST

⟐ Answered October 18, 2025 at 11:00 MST

With so many USB car chargers available that make it easy to carry USB-charge-able devices, carrying a 3rd-gen iPod that solely charges via Firewire is truly a pain in the neck.

I have 2 car charge ports in our vehicle, one is usually occupied by the GPS, the other one rotates between when my wife wants to charge her iPhone with the 2-port USB charger, and when I want to charge the iPod 3rd-gen with the Firewire charger. Even though the iPod 3rd-gen charges solely through Firewire, it would be much more convenient if both devices could both share the USB charger with 2 ports.

I found a hack on the Instructables site that someone posted to modify a USB charger to charge a 3rd-gen iPad Nano, (http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-a...), though I suspect it would work the same way for a regular 3rd-gen iPod. This however, doesn't completely solve my question, it only keeps a dedicated charger for the iPod and doesn't make it flexible enough to use a "regular" USB car charger that might have 2 ports.

Everyone I've spoken to doesn't have any suggestions since it requires a Firewire charge, so they suggest ditching a perfectly good working 40GB iPod for something newer. I refuse to give up a functioning device I paid close to $400 many years ago. What can I do to make this device work with a USB charger ?

⟐ Commented May 22, 2025 at 12:29 MST

The charging icon at a certain point shows that the battery is fully charged. but when I pull out the cable, the battery icon shows not fully charged. So, what's the problem?

⟐ Commented February 06, 2025 at 21:44 MST

I believe this might be a problem related to a component inside the logic board or the power management IC. I would like to know how I could test the components to check for a short or if anyone has experience with this type of failure could point the components that handle battery and firewire power in the logic board.

⟐ Answered February 19, 2024 at 17:19 MST

⟐ Answered February 19, 2024 at 17:11 MST

⟐ Answered February 17, 2024 at 2:29 MST

Also, I might not. There is a line in the display and every once in a while it just freaks out and instead of playing songs, it just skips to the next one. So it might be time for an upgrade. But I think this is the coolest looking iPod case design so I'd prefer to keep it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the answers everyone. What happened last time was that I put a 40GB in it and when I tried to boot it to anything the drive just kept ticking like it was resetting.

If money drops from the sky and I can afford the HD and battery I'll try it again. And Kyle, I will buy from iFixit!

⟐ Answer accepted July 20, 2023 at 17:28 MST

⟐ Answer edited May 14, 2023 at 10:24 MST

My ipod has a problem where it will turn on, but does not boot up past the apple "loading" screen. It retains this display and makes a noise as though it is processing until the battery dies. When connected to the computer with USB, the computer does not recognise the device.

I took it to an apple repair centre and they thought it might be a problem with the dock, but that didn't sound right to me. But they wanted 85 euros just to take a look at it.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Heather

⟐ Commented March 19, 2023 at 13:56 MST

⟐ Answered October 02, 2022 at 18:03 MST

on the screen can someone help me I would love to get this iPod working again

⟐ Answered May 20, 2022 at 13:07 MST

⟐ Answer accepted October 20, 2021 at 11:21 MST

⟐ Answered August 24, 2021 at 18:05 MST

Thanks!

⟐ Answered May 20, 2021 at 11:28 MST

Thanks.

⟐ Commented March 15, 2021 at 4:23 MST

Please help :)

⟐ Commented November 01, 2020 at 14:58 MST

I have a 3rd generation iPod. While replacing the battery, I accidentally tore the ribbon connecting the headphone jack to the logic board. So I ordered a replacement headphone jack. I did the replacement, and at the bottom of the instructions, you wrote this: When reassembling your iPod, be sure that the plastic hold switch mechanism is synced with the hold switch on the logic board. The switch on the board is a small black nub that sits in the slot on the hold switch mechanism.

I can't figure out what you mean by making sure the plastic hold switch mechanism is synced with the hold switch on the logic board. I put the hold switch in the "locked" position, plugged in the ipod to turn it on, and it is still stuck in lock no matter what. How to I make sure it's synced?

Thanks!

Jess

⟐ Answered August 28, 2020 at 18:29 MST