HELP! iPod 3rd Gen stuck in 10-second spin loop
It's a little complicated, but I'll explain the situation step by step.
I charged my iPod using a 12V dock for the first time in 10 years. The original hard drive spins up briefly every 10 seconds, then stops and remains like this all night. The buttons aren't responding and the backlight isn't turning on. The battery appears to be fine (the voltage between the black and red wires is about 3.75V).
Thinking the hard drive was broken, I bought a CF-IDE adapter to replace it. However, the result was exactly the same: the red LED on the adapter just lights up every 10 seconds and nothing else happens
I tried playback + menu reset, and connecting it to a Mac to switch it to disk mode, but it still doesn't respond.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Posted Dec 3, 2025, 1:25 AM UTC