22 Dec 2008 by Chris     No Comments    Posted under: Gadgetry and IT

2nd Gen iPod Nano Red gets red hot

Two electronic gadget failures on the same day, and in both cases the solution was online. I’ll blog about my Sky+ HD box showing “FAILED” recordings in a moment, but first, my second generation red iPod Nano from early 2007, which this morning showed a “Sad Mac” icon, something I hadn’t seen on an Apple product since an old Quadra 840AV back in the 90s. I assumed it would need some sort of hard reset, but the normal reboot (press the menu and select buttons together for 6 seconds) wasn’t working, so I thought it was probably discharged, and not even recharging via the usual USB connection to my iMac. Acting on some advice online, I tried recharging using a mains-connected dock, and although I got the Sad Mac when I plugged it in, I just left it for a bit.

Fortunately I didn’t leave it for too long, because I’m impatient and wanted to reset it. When I returned after an hour, the iPod was red hot to the touch and I almost burned myself. Gingerly unplugging the mains dock, I let the iPod cool and then removed it, before heading back to the web to Google this new turn of events. And wouldn’t you know it, there seems to be a rare but documented fault with 2G iPod Nanos bursting into flames because of faulty batteries. Whether this is my problem or not, I’m not sure, but I knew that having an Apple Store here in Cambridge would turn out to be useful one day. I’m off down there when I get a spare hour, and will report back below.

UPDATE (1):
“Do you have an appointment at the Genius Bar, Sir?”
“No, I have a faulty iPod which I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Ah, sorry, you’ll need an appointment, would you like to book an appointment on this computer?”
“Er, not really. Would the appointment be like, er, now?
“Well, if you book in, it’ll tell you”
“Can’t you just ask one of your colleagues if they’re free?”
“Look, just type your name and details here Sir …thank you… and… sorry, there’s nobody free until next week”
“What do you mean? If I’d bought this from John Lewis I wouldn’t be asked to come back next week by a bloody iMac”
“Look, I tell you what, I’ll see if I can interrupt one of my colleagues in the back room and maybe they can take a look”
(A couple of minutes later)
“Hello again Sir, well, this is not a unit corresponding to the serial numbers of those with reported problems, so I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do, as it’s out of warranty”
“OK, but can it be fixed?”
“That’s not something we can do. But I can give you the number of AppleCare, here we go. They might help.”
Moral of the story so far: buy Apple products, because they’re great, but buy them from a retailer which cares about its customers, not the manufacturer direct…

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