Find an iPod motherboard/main board
How can you tell if you need a new motherboard?
Some observations:
Screen is blank (could be a screen but is often a motherboard)
Sync problems (iPod won't sync to iTunes)
Sad iPod face (sometimes this is the hard drive, sometimes it is the motherboard)
On iPod Video, if you get the message (in 3 languages) "Use iTunes to restore" this is...
in the best case, a low battery (charge up or replace)
in the worst case, a broken main board
On iPod Mini:
If you know the hard drive is good, the sad iPod face is telling you the main board is bad. For Minis, buying a new motherboard is more than (or almost more than) buying a working Mini. They run ~ $35 so it's really not worth doing.
How do you know the hard drive is good? If you can see the iPod on your computer as a hard drive, and can write to it manually (drag a file to it and see if it saves). If you can see the iPod as a drive, but you can't sync with iTunes, you probably have a busted motherboard.
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