Badges

Notes

  • iPod Nano 4th Generation Teardown Oct 13 @ 5:47 PM

    Quote from robbinstony:

    Chris,

    Isn't your reply contradictory to goal of iFix?

    To make less e-waste by fixing what we have and not trashing it.

    I see that at some point iFix will have to decide to either give detailed 'teardowns' or forget doing them.

    I too tried to follow these steps to try and dry out a Nano that I found in the rain. I tore the connectors. Now I am wondering whether there are replacement parts for this or if I just made a bunch of 'e-waste'.

    Creating a guide for anyone to use to take fix a device is difficult and time consuming. It will take us weeks to figure out the best way to take apart a device so that we don't destroy it in the process. However, people are often interested in what is inside a device. We use the "Teardown" section for this. We do not have a safe way of taking apart the device yet but we want to show people what is inside. We warn people not to follow these steps because we were interested in what was inside and did not know how to do it safely. We will create guides for the iPod Nano 4th Generation in the future but are busy with other things. We try very hard to tell people the difference between a "Guide" and a "Teardown." We have many detailed guides for fixing things but the teardowns are meant to "provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions."

    #

  • iPod Nano 4th Generation Teardown Sep 17 @ 9:53 AM

    Quote from Madhatta87:

    I found another website that explains the process of taking the Nano 4th gen apart much better than here. Perhaps ifixit can refer to it and make it more clearer to other people how to take them apart much easier than described above.

    http://www.rapidrepair.com/guides/nano4g...

    Sorry ifixit, but your description wasn't as clear here and i ended up breaking the click wheel cable. don't want others like me to do the same thing here cos your website does have great guides, just this one wasn't as great.

    The teardown is not meant as a take apart guide. In the introduction there is a warning "Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions" and on step 8 "We'll be working on finding a better way to get into this iPod, but for now we'd recommend keeping your new Nano in one piece."

    #

Discussions

Replies

  • Re: Starting a Repair Service Jun 16 @ 4:08 PM

    LOL, no when I mean starting an OS from scratch I mean formatting a hard drive and installing the OS with the correct updated drivers. Writing code for an OS has nothing to do with being a service technician.

    The reason I recommended PC's over iPod's is because where I was from, it was easy to find free or extremely cheap ($5 - $20) PC's that people were getting rid of either because they were broken or upgraded and wanted to get rid of it. When I first started doing stuff I didn't really "build" PC's, I modified old ones with new parts. I had a working computer and plugged in broken parts to find out which ones worked and which ones didn't. I really only worked with computers that I got for free because I wasn't trying to make any money.

    I really don't have much advice if you want to go the iPod route. I think it will be much more difficult to find cheap or free parts. The parts also aren't really interchangeable which will make things more difficult, but idk I really haven't looked much. Post on Craig's list that your looking for old/broken iPods and see how many responses you get :)

    An iFixit tour would be very boring. We are not a repair shop, we are a parts store, so we just have many shelves of parts and some testing stations.

    #

  • Re: Starting a Repair Service Jun 16 @ 2:40 PM

    Hiya Timmy!

    I had a side hobby of fixing computers when I was in high school. I had always tinkered around w/ my comps, built a few (I started in PC towers which are a lot easier to work with than laptops) and maintained them in healthy condition. Most of my family and friends knew I was good at fixing comps and would ask me for help.

    Through word of mouth I had friends of friends ask me to do simple things like upgrade ram, install a new hard drive or to fix the general problem of "it runs slower." I generally charged "whatever they thought fair" which sometimes was a lot and sometimes was just lunch. I was more interested in playing w/ electronics and helping other people than making much money off of it.

    I'd recommend learning to fix "computers" and "electronics" instead of just "macs" and "ipods" because they're pretty similar and experience in one will help with the others.

    One of the first questions you have to ask yourself is, "Do I know what I'm doing?" Have you messed around with hardware before? Replaced RAM? Installed a new Video Card? An OS from scratch? Scanned for viruses or spyware?

    I'd say you need experience in all of those things before your going to be of any use as a technician. I recommend starting on PC's because they're much easier to work on, get parts for and PC technicians are way more in demand.

    Depending on where you live getting cheap parts may be easy or very difficult. I'd recommend Craig's list. You can also try contacting a local electronics recycling place and see if they're willing to give you things people throw out (you can find some amazing parts in other people's "trash"). Look for any cheap/free electronics. Swap parts and try to fix them if they are broken. Put together the fastest machine you can. You can sell the comps you fix or (what I did) give them away to charity. My high-school also had a class in Computer Repair where we butchered and assembled comps which was a lot of fun.

    If you want to make a "business" you have to build up a reputation. At 13 people aren't going to trust you with their expensive electronics unless they know you or know someone who you have helped. "Advertising" will get you nowhere but being friendly and helpful to your grandparents (or people that age) will give you tons of business.

    In summary, learn to fix computers on your own and offer to help other people with their computer problems. If your nice and useful you'll find the business finds you ;)

    #