I recently stumbled upon something very interesting and I'd like to share it with you.
Many people already know that if your iPod locks up you can reset it by holding the middle button and "menu" down until it reboots. This works for the occasional lock-up but what do you do when the occasional becomes common?
You try out the iPod "Diag Boot"!
By holding down the center button and the previous "|<<" button you will enter a diagnostic system. You have to hold down these buttons AFTER doing a reboot.
I have run the automatic diagnostics and this is my result:
Failure Code: 702 with 11 fails
Hmmm... Looks like some of my problems may be due to a bad iPod?
The test then begins a series of interactive tests to test the buttons, wheel, etc... I got as far as the "Accessorize Test" when it asked me to "Please plug FW." I'm guessing it wants to test the port at the bottom of the iPod but I'm not anywhere near my cable so I'll have to wait on that.
If you choose to try the manual tests you will find a large number of things you can check. You can even find out the current temperature of the hard disk!
Did you ever figure out what “failure code: 702″ means? In a variety of net postings I’ve seen results from 9 to 26. Mine was the 26. (See: http://tech.kateva.org/2007/09/ipod-diagnostic-mode-and-failure-code.html)
My iPod 30GB hard drive tests out perfectly with Disk Utility, so I have two guesses as to what this could be:
1. It’s a cache/buffer defect count.
2. It’s a count of sectors on the drive that have been marked as bad. Most drive tests won’t show these because the drive software ignores them, though they may manifest as data loss. If you restore the data from backup (ex. iTunes) then the symptoms vanish, the OS will ignore the bad sectors.
Reformatting the iPod drive doesn’t change the defect count, which again makes me wonder if these are sectors that have been marked as bad.
Any thoughts?
The Fw power check would be a power from the dock connector in which i figured out that there are 2 seperate power in connections. the FW power is the one that a ipod dock(not USB Sync Cable) provides power through. after it tests that it will ask for usb power and that is done through your average ipod dockconnecter usb cable.
i am having a similair problem and apple wont fix it even though they fixed under waranty and put a bad Hard drive in it. However your problem does sound like a bad drive. you can replace it for about $100 did you drop your ipod by chance? and when it locks up does it make a clicking/ginding/and humming noise? that is usualy do to the drive being messed up or the reading arm bent. and scraping the disk. and this should make the sectors corrupt.