iPod help...

Okay...I'll look for an iPod troubleshooting site...but you know how those are. They suck...pages devoted to {censored} you don't need, and not one word about what you DO need.

I've been trying to reboot my {censored}ing iPod...and all I get is some dumbass icon that looks like a file folder with a triangle and an exclamation point in it. WTF?

I found it.

I guess basically it means "Your iPod is {censored}ed up. Blow it to smithereens".

Ahyup.

Whut yew got thayre is a failure to 'com-mew-ni-cayt'. The iPod can't see an OS folder to work with.

Try connecting it to your computer, and using your computer to reformat the iPod, then reinstall your music.

Get back to me.

Thanks Doc.

Things were simpler in the old days, when a device would say in text what it was trying to tell you, rather than showing some obscure icon.

A warning, though...

If you do that, and you still get the 'exclamation' icon, then one of two things is the case:

1) Your hard drive doth pooped. But you'll probably know this already because you can generally hear the little buggers whirring around when you try to use the iPod. or,

2) Your motherboard doth pooped.

This is a mixed bag, 'cause if you're good with electronics in any way, you can replace it yourself, having picked one up off the 'net. therwise, there are a couple of websites that offer trade-in discounts on newer/refurbished iPods.

My Frankensteined 30G (I built it myself) decided to add insult to Monday's injury by dying the same day. It's schizo, at best.

Just what I need...a major expense the same day I lose my job.

I've been getting that icon on occasion on my cratchety old 3rd gen 15 GB Ipod. It freezes, it turns off, the battery charge disappears, it skips, it doesn't load songs correctly, buttons don't respond, sound drops out of one earphone or gets wonky in general...any thoughts? Can I save my beloved Ipod from certain death?

Oh yeah, and that's one of the reasons I just can't get into Mac stuff in general. There's this shocking lack of text everywhere! Everything is represented by fabulously designed icons, which mean nothing whatsoever to me.

DO NOT FORMAT THE IPOD USING WINDOWS FORMAT UTILITY OR MAC DISK UTILITY.

USE THE IPOD UPDATER SOFTWARE UTILITY AND CLICK RESTORE.

note that this will clear all data, settings and OS.

...Huh?

I got a Creative Zen because it was cheap and did WMA files, but the more time I hang out here, the happier I am that I got it...bought iPods for my wife and daughter, though. So far so good (knock on wood).

I have an iPod mini and a 40 Gbyte iRiver IHP.

I have both a PC and a Mac, but I use the Mac almost exclusively for music.

From my perspective, the iPod is MUCH better for Mac users. The iRiver crashes the Mac finder app during file transfers.

On Wintel systems, both are just fine.

However, the iRiver has some neato features that the iPod doesn't have. For instance, it has a reasonable A/D on board, so you can record straight to it. It also supports WMA. Unfortunately, the iRiver does not support the files from the iTunes music store.

All in all, for my uses, the iPod is better. Nevertheless, when I want to do a quick on-the-fly recording, I have to use the iRiver device since the iPod only has a VERY crude on-board A/D (8-bit).

interesting. I've reformatted two iPods with the Mac Disk Utility and never had an issue. What's the 'problem'?

Tedster, how goes the situation?