Ipod Help

[vivaotravez12 0]

I decided that the 4GB might be a little bit bigger than my 256 MP3. Received it today. Menu and everythign was there. Go plug it into my CPU, hoping to download songs already in my shared folder. Go abouts what I normally do with the old MP3, and unplug. Now, any button I press, the Apple appears, then a folder and an (!) appear right after, then screen goes blank. Did I break something already? How can I fix?

Thanks

[kovalchuk71 212]

It means some of your song files are corrupted or you got a dud hard drive

[vivaotravez12 0]

Well, the songs worked fine on the old MP3, and the menu and stuff was there before I tried to upload. I also remembered that when I was trying to send the files to the F Drive, something about Format came up. Not sure if that means anything.

[illpaseo116 0]

are you using iTunes to manage your mp3 files?? If you're just dragging your mp3 files onto the ipoid on your desktop, you're just copying them to a folder on the ipod (the ipod stores any kind of data, like a drive, not just songs).

If you're not using itunes let me know and i'll give you the rest of the steps.

Also, are you using a mac or PC?? An ipod can only be formatted for one platform at a time, maybe you have a problem there. let me know so i can help you further

[freq019 0]

I'd say use itunes it'll allow you to format your ipod and then dump music to it.

[vivaotravez12 0]

I'm using a regular PC right now, but am expecting a Powerbook in anyday now.

I had songs already stored in my shared folder. I plugged in the Ipod. I opened up the shared folder and picked the songs I wanted to have on the Ipod. I did what I normally do, right click, sent to, removable f-drive. Somewhere during this process a window about formatting appeared, I honestly don't remember what I clicked, maybe this is where I made a mistake? I know it had something to do with format. But, if i get this fixed now, and it's formatted for this PC, can i reformat or whatever for the Powerbook in a few days? God, I'm confusing myself.

[Z-Unit14 0]

I think that you must use iTunes to put songs onto the iPod, I may be wrong tho. When you installed the iPod updater that comes with the iPod it should have installed iTunes as well. It may be that your iPod needs reformatting to use with the PC.

[this guy 0]

Wait for your powerbook to arive. For the time being just use your old mp3 player and when you get your powerbook, you will have to format your ipod to it(erasing all data on it). Then when that happens, everything will be ok and you can manage everything through itunes.

[vivaotravez12 0]

How do you format an Ipod? I can't get into anything on the Ipod, it's just the folder with an explanation point side of a triangle, then goes blank. And you said when you format your ipod, it erases all data on it. If I accidentally formatted it earlier, by ALL DATA, this includes all of the programs and menu buttons, ect? If so, that's probably what I did, how do I get those back? Thanks for the help so far.

[this guy 0]

When you plug your ipod into your powerbook, a window will appear that will ask you if your want to format your ipod. Click yes and yes to erasing all data then you can easily manage all your music from itunes. And yes it erases EVERYTHING when it re-formats and you can't get them back. Best advice is wait for your powerbook and use your old mp3 player for the time being.

[vivaotravez12 0]

I'm not sure if I explained it wrong, or I'm reading your response wrong. Either way, let me try to rephrase or you can confirm. When you said, "you can't get them back," do you mean all the songs and anything downloaded? Or, do you mean every last thing on the Ipod, programs, ect wheres I can't access anything but viewing the foldre and explanation point. I'm going to take your advice and not screw with it until the Powerbook comes though unless someone else has advice or suggestions. If this is true, new question. Does anyone know anyway of getting the functions back? I searched around on the internet and found that people with the same problem diagnosed a fried HD. Would that be eligble for a warranty replacement?

Thanks again.

[this guy 0]

It erases EVERYTHING. By everything I mean EVERY LAST BIT OF DATA. No you cannot recover them once deleted. I do not know about your other question but you might want to look at http://www.ipodlounge.com/ for further info and answers.

[vivaotravez12 0]

Thanks for your help.

[illpaseo116 0]

you HAVE to use the itunes program. Copying them like you did is storing the song files on the ipod, not putting them on there where you can listen to them. Since you're gettin the powerbook, just wait and do it on there. Itunes will already be installed, just update it with the cd that came with the ipod. Like the others mentioned, if you format it for the PC, then switch to the mac, you'll clear the ipod and have to start over.

[tokes 0]

Another thing is theres 2 different types of USB ports. 1.1 and 2.0. I think the 1.1 port is slower. On my computer I only have 1.1 ports on front and 2.0 ports in the back. If I plugged my ipod into the 1.1 port and tried to upload songs I got the same message as you.

[Nigel 0]

It sounds like you used windows to format the whole iPod, including all the key components. I don't know why you did this because when you plug in your iPod, something should pop up from Apple or iTunes that asks you to format your iPod to get it to work with windows. You MUST use iTunes to transfer songs on to the iPod, you can't just go into windows explorer and just paste songs onto it like a flash based mp3 player.

Now you have a corrupt hard drive with all the key components missing that you can no longer recover, fill out a form on Apple for a warranty replacement.

[vivaotravez12 0]

I took it back to where I purchased it, and had it fixed. If anyone ever encounters a similar problem, you can restore all of the Apps. Just install the new version of Apple Restore.