sinkoman
Party Escort Bot
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Quick note, Joule reccomended I make this post, I really see no purpouse, as anybody with half a brain could search the net and have their iPod fixed in an hour 
Anyway, what to do if you ****ed up your iPod.
So, you tried to install Podzilla on your Video iPod, and now it won't boot? Changed every string you could find in iPW's hex editor to the word "Cheese"? Or is your iPod colors image files just corrupt?
Well then um... Yeah.
Some programs you'll either need or want:
iPod Wizard (THE tool to customize your iPod. Available at www.ipodwizard.net)
Apples iPod firmware restore tool (for updating or restoring your firmware. You'll need this if you plan on modding your iPod. Available at http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/)
HP's USB drive formatting utility (not necessary unless your iPod won't boot. A usefull tool for formatting external USB devices. Available at http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/download/20306.html)
iPod key combinations you're going to need to know:
Hard Restart [Menu + Middle Button *hold*] (most often used when an iPod is frozen.)
Forced Disk Mode 1st - 3rd gen iPods [do a hard restart, then as it's booting back up, Rewind + FastForward *hold*]
Forced Disk Mode 4th gen, mini, photo/video (5th gen)/nano iPods [do a hard restart, then as it's booting back up, Middle Button + Play *hold*]
First off, the solution really depends on the severity of the matter. The issues i've (personally) run into are:
1. Corrupt image files (fuzzy or inverted images)
2. iTunes/iPod firmware restore tool will not recognize your iPod
and
3. iPod would not boot at all (IE after starting to boot, it goes to an image of a warning triangle overlaying a folder. Will almost always include number 2)
The most common issue [i've seen] is the second (iPod was recognized by PC as an external disk, but not by anything else, ruining all chance of restoring your firmware or adding any music). The most common cause is accidentally modifying the wrong "iPod" string in iPod Wizard's hex editor. There is only one string that actually relates to the word "iPod" on your iPod's home screen. The rest are for things such as USB connectivity.
Fortunate for you, this is VERY easy to fix.
2. -------------
Make sure your iPod is disconnected. Now put it into Forced Diskmode. A checkmark should be displayed on your iPod, reading "OK to Disconnect". Now connect your iPod.
the iPod firmware restore tool should now recognize your iPod, proceede by clicking "Restore".
Not too hard 'eh? This really isn't a major problem, happens to me all the time. Note that you WILL lose everything on your iPod, but it's a small price to pay to get it working again
1. -------------
I know that this is commonplace on nano's (I know for a fact, because I do it all the time to mine). You most likely tried to edit a nano's firmware images with iPW, compiled the firmware, then without exiting iPW, changed something, and then compiled AGAIN.
This is as simple as uninstalling the botched firmware (the one with the messed up images), installing a fresh one, then restoring with the fresh one.
If you don't want to lose all your music, do the following.
Boot up iPW, and there should be a little box in the top right hand reading "iPod Wizard Essentials". Connect your iPod, hit refresh till it's recognized (make sure the right one is sellected in the dropdown menu), then hit the button labeled "downgrade".
This'll modify your iPods SYSinfo file to think that it has an older firmware than it really does. Now open the firware restore utility. Notice that the button labeled "update" is now selectable. This is because of your modded SYSinfo file. Now just hit "update" and it'll restore everything, but you won't lose your files.
Not done with this one yet.
A few precautions you ALWAYS wanna take to be sure that this doesn't happen again (happens to me all the time, and I get so pissed off knowing that I lost all those images).
First and FOREMOST, always keep a clean firmware somewhere on your PC, so if you botch your modded one, you can just restore to your fresh one. This is as simple as duplicating the fresh firmware's directory, usually named "iPod" in "Program Files".
Second, always keep your fimware image files backed up. It's as simple as pressing the "Save All" button, but it'll save you a ton of aggravation.
THIRD!!! Whenever you're working with iPW's image import function, be sure to CLOSE IPW AFTER COMPILING! So, say you import your images, then compile, and have some more you want to add.
DO: Compile, then EXIT iPW. Now open iPW and feel free to change some stuff up. As a general rule of thumb, restart iPW after you've made any firmware changes (after compiling of course).
DON'T: Compile, then change some stuff up, then compile again. THIS WILL INVERt AND PIXELIZE YOUR IMAGES!
3. -------------
Ok, this is the most serious i've ever encountered. The most common scenario is a botched iPod Linux or Podzilla installation.
Hook up your iPod to your PC. If your PC will recognize it, then you can continue on. Don't worry if it tells you to insert a disc when you double click the image, just go to the next step.
Boot up HP's USB Disc Formatting utility. Select your iPod from the dropdown menu, and click format. Default settings will work fine. DO NOT DO A QUICK FORMAT!
Formatting should take only a few seconds. If it returns any sort of error, just keep trying till it works.
Now open up the firmware restoration utility. It should recognize your iPod. Hit restore, and let it do its thing.
Now we know that when we see the words "Make sure your iPod is supported!!!" plastered all over the iPod Linux wiki, we know that our iPod is well... Supported.
Customizing/Modding your iPod -------------
I'm only going to go over this in brief, as there are a ton of guides over at www.ipodwizard.net that can help you out.
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS KEEP A FRESH FIRMWARE COPY SOMEWHERE ON YOUR PC.
Read solution number 1 to find out how to do the formentioned.
The first thing you have to do, is load up your firmware into iPod Wizard. To do this:
Hit "Open Updater", and browse to the .EXE file of the firmware you want to edit.
In the little dropdown window to the right of the "Open Updater" button, select your iPod model and hit "load". This will set the firmware data for the iPod you selected into iPW.
Ok, onto bussiness.
The safest and most satisfying mods you can make are graphics mods. This consists of replacing images embedded in your iPods firmware, with images you've made.
Here's how I do it:
I find an image I want to change in the iPod Wizard dropdown menu
I save the image to a folder called "Backups", just incase I need to replace it.
I then save another copy to my desktop.
Now, I open photoshop and the image I want to replace the default one with. I then open the default one, and compare them side to side, to be sure that i've chosen an image that will represent the default, that the one i'm replacing it with will properly resize to the default images size (don't try to fit a rectangle into a square), and to make sure that the image will look good resized.
Next, i'll resize the replacement image to the size of the default one, then save a copy to my desktop.
Now, you open iPod wizard, scroll to the image you were trying to get changed, and click "Import Bitmap".
Import the bitmap, and make sure it looks right.
Now press the button labeled "Write". This will save all changes to the loaded firmware. Note that there is no firmware "undo".
Now connect your iPod, and let iPW recognize it. Press the button labeled "Downgrade Firmware".
Open up the iPod firmware restore utility, and hit update.
When your firmware is finished updating, you're good to go!
Anyway, what to do if you ****ed up your iPod.
So, you tried to install Podzilla on your Video iPod, and now it won't boot? Changed every string you could find in iPW's hex editor to the word "Cheese"? Or is your iPod colors image files just corrupt?
Well then um... Yeah.
Some programs you'll either need or want:
iPod Wizard (THE tool to customize your iPod. Available at www.ipodwizard.net)
Apples iPod firmware restore tool (for updating or restoring your firmware. You'll need this if you plan on modding your iPod. Available at http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/)
HP's USB drive formatting utility (not necessary unless your iPod won't boot. A usefull tool for formatting external USB devices. Available at http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/download/20306.html)
iPod key combinations you're going to need to know:
Hard Restart [Menu + Middle Button *hold*] (most often used when an iPod is frozen.)
Forced Disk Mode 1st - 3rd gen iPods [do a hard restart, then as it's booting back up, Rewind + FastForward *hold*]
Forced Disk Mode 4th gen, mini, photo/video (5th gen)/nano iPods [do a hard restart, then as it's booting back up, Middle Button + Play *hold*]
First off, the solution really depends on the severity of the matter. The issues i've (personally) run into are:
1. Corrupt image files (fuzzy or inverted images)
2. iTunes/iPod firmware restore tool will not recognize your iPod
and
3. iPod would not boot at all (IE after starting to boot, it goes to an image of a warning triangle overlaying a folder. Will almost always include number 2)
The most common issue [i've seen] is the second (iPod was recognized by PC as an external disk, but not by anything else, ruining all chance of restoring your firmware or adding any music). The most common cause is accidentally modifying the wrong "iPod" string in iPod Wizard's hex editor. There is only one string that actually relates to the word "iPod" on your iPod's home screen. The rest are for things such as USB connectivity.
Fortunate for you, this is VERY easy to fix.
2. -------------
Make sure your iPod is disconnected. Now put it into Forced Diskmode. A checkmark should be displayed on your iPod, reading "OK to Disconnect". Now connect your iPod.
the iPod firmware restore tool should now recognize your iPod, proceede by clicking "Restore".
Not too hard 'eh? This really isn't a major problem, happens to me all the time
. Note that you WILL lose everything on your iPod, but it's a small price to pay to get it working again 1. -------------
I know that this is commonplace on nano's (I know for a fact, because I do it all the time to mine
). You most likely tried to edit a nano's firmware images with iPW, compiled the firmware, then without exiting iPW, changed something, and then compiled AGAIN.This is as simple as uninstalling the botched firmware (the one with the messed up images), installing a fresh one, then restoring with the fresh one.
If you don't want to lose all your music, do the following.
Boot up iPW, and there should be a little box in the top right hand reading "iPod Wizard Essentials". Connect your iPod, hit refresh till it's recognized (make sure the right one is sellected in the dropdown menu), then hit the button labeled "downgrade".
This'll modify your iPods SYSinfo file to think that it has an older firmware than it really does. Now open the firware restore utility. Notice that the button labeled "update" is now selectable. This is because of your modded SYSinfo file. Now just hit "update" and it'll restore everything, but you won't lose your files.
Not done with this one yet.
A few precautions you ALWAYS wanna take to be sure that this doesn't happen again (happens to me all the time, and I get so pissed off knowing that I lost all those images).
First and FOREMOST, always keep a clean firmware somewhere on your PC, so if you botch your modded one, you can just restore to your fresh one. This is as simple as duplicating the fresh firmware's directory, usually named "iPod" in "Program Files".
Second, always keep your fimware image files backed up. It's as simple as pressing the "Save All" button, but it'll save you a ton of aggravation.
THIRD!!! Whenever you're working with iPW's image import function, be sure to CLOSE IPW AFTER COMPILING! So, say you import your images, then compile, and have some more you want to add.
DO: Compile, then EXIT iPW. Now open iPW and feel free to change some stuff up. As a general rule of thumb, restart iPW after you've made any firmware changes (after compiling of course).
DON'T: Compile, then change some stuff up, then compile again. THIS WILL INVERt AND PIXELIZE YOUR IMAGES!
3. -------------
Ok, this is the most serious i've ever encountered. The most common scenario is a botched iPod Linux or Podzilla installation.
Hook up your iPod to your PC. If your PC will recognize it, then you can continue on. Don't worry if it tells you to insert a disc when you double click the image, just go to the next step.
Boot up HP's USB Disc Formatting utility. Select your iPod from the dropdown menu, and click format. Default settings will work fine. DO NOT DO A QUICK FORMAT!
Formatting should take only a few seconds. If it returns any sort of error, just keep trying till it works.
Now open up the firmware restoration utility. It should recognize your iPod. Hit restore, and let it do its thing.
Now we know that when we see the words "Make sure your iPod is supported!!!" plastered all over the iPod Linux wiki, we know that our iPod is well... Supported.
Customizing/Modding your iPod -------------
I'm only going to go over this in brief, as there are a ton of guides over at www.ipodwizard.net that can help you out.
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS KEEP A FRESH FIRMWARE COPY SOMEWHERE ON YOUR PC.
Read solution number 1 to find out how to do the formentioned.
The first thing you have to do, is load up your firmware into iPod Wizard. To do this:
Hit "Open Updater", and browse to the .EXE file of the firmware you want to edit.
In the little dropdown window to the right of the "Open Updater" button, select your iPod model and hit "load". This will set the firmware data for the iPod you selected into iPW.
Ok, onto bussiness.
The safest and most satisfying mods you can make are graphics mods. This consists of replacing images embedded in your iPods firmware, with images you've made.
Here's how I do it:
I find an image I want to change in the iPod Wizard dropdown menu
I save the image to a folder called "Backups", just incase I need to replace it.
I then save another copy to my desktop.
Now, I open photoshop and the image I want to replace the default one with. I then open the default one, and compare them side to side, to be sure that i've chosen an image that will represent the default, that the one i'm replacing it with will properly resize to the default images size (don't try to fit a rectangle into a square), and to make sure that the image will look good resized.
Next, i'll resize the replacement image to the size of the default one, then save a copy to my desktop.
Now, you open iPod wizard, scroll to the image you were trying to get changed, and click "Import Bitmap".
Import the bitmap, and make sure it looks right.
Now press the button labeled "Write". This will save all changes to the loaded firmware. Note that there is no firmware "undo".
Now connect your iPod, and let iPW recognize it. Press the button labeled "Downgrade Firmware".
Open up the iPod firmware restore utility, and hit update.
When your firmware is finished updating, you're good to go!
