Possible fix for the iPod 'click of death'

This is the exact problem I had, except I took it to the apple store and said, "look it's broken" and they reseated the HD for me. The unseating was the result of dropping it on the concrete floor in my dorm room.

My 4th gen died with the CLICK OF DEATH (wonder where I have heard this term before) and I was not willing to pay for a replacement unit after only 2 years of casual usage.... so I was looking at ebay for a replacement drive.
Surprise surprise...... this worked with my ipod - THANKS HEAPS
I wonder how many people have gone down the Apple replacement option and it was realy just a poor fitting data cable???

worth noting - ive had a lot of success fixing dead & dying ipods by simply opening, unplugging, waiting and reconstructing.

a little extra reformatting and often things will be good as new.

i put it all together on a web page if anyone's interested. link:

http://www.ilovesueb.com/Site/ipod%20fix0r.html

My video iPod died on the 27th day...
Hard drive failure... fortunately Amazon.com took it back and even gave me $10 credit for my trouble. Ipurchased a flash player from a lesser known manufacturer and I'd never go back.

Wow! My 4G iPod has been 'dead' since last March...I'd just been making plans to replace it this summer. Saw this post, figured it was worth a shot. To my suprise, my iPod just booted up normally!

Thanks so much!

Sweet! I read this yesterday on Ars Technica, and I just tried it about an hour ago- and my iPod works again! I can sync and stuff now. And hopefully I'll be able to listen to my music longer than 30 seconds. Yay~

More than likely the fall unstuck the bearings or other parts that were frozen up, while at the same time loosening the cable.

He opened it up, tightened the cable and the bearings are still unstuck.

From reviving hard drives this way (and the freezer method), I must say that his iPod probably isn't going to last all that long.

(referring to comments) I thought that HDDs weren't meant to be slammed down on a table, cos the read/write heads would shatter the platters, so if you were lucky and the heads were parked you may be lucky, but if they were stuck above a platter slamming it down isn't good, right?

I used to have an old Gateway 2000 notebook and I usually had to lift up the front edge and let it drop on the table to get it to boot. Apparently, the jarring effect would "unstick" the hard drive.

strange mine didnt give me the click of death it just ... died and now it has gone off to some strange place so apple can give me a new one ... hopefully before download festival.