[PLUG] Ipod shuffle

[John Jason Jordan]

On Fri, 2 Jun 2006 02:51:53 -0700 (PDT)
Jeme A Brelin <jeme at brelin.net> dijo:

> >> Did you try a hard reset?  On my model, you hold down the center button 
> >> and menu button simultaneously for a few seconds and it resets. 
> >> That's always worked when it's locked up.

I tried that, but it did not work either. Later I discovered that you
have to switch the lock button on and off first, then hold down the
Select and Menu buttons. Had I been able to remember the secret code I
might have succeeded in resetting it.

> > Yeah, I am home from tonight's meeting and I plugged it in and went to 
> > mount it. Unfortunately I am unable to mount it. As far as I can tell it 
> > no longer has FAT32 file system on it. To verify, I plugged it into my 
> > Windows 2000 computer, which told me it was not formatted.
> 
> That bites.
> 
> You can use an HFS iPod, if you've configured your system for it.  But I 
> also have my iPod formatted FAT32 just for universality as portable 
> storage.
> 
> You kind of can't blame the kid, though.  He probably did the firmware 
> update (which reformats the disk -- as you should know) on a Mac (I can't 
> imagine he has much choice at The Apple Store).  Definitely make sure you 
> let them know you want it "Windows Format".  There's no reason to get 
> technical about it.  They'll understand what you mean.
> 
> > Well, I have to go back to the university tomorrow, so I'll take it back 
> > to the Apple store. How much you wanna bet they will tell me they are 
> > unable to format it FAT32 and it's my responsibility?
> 
> Well, they MIGHT be able to do it.  But really, you can just download the 
> little firmware update utility and run it from the desktop of one of the 
> computers at the university library.  (I don't think it needs special 
> permissions or to actually "install" to run, so you shouldn't have to 
> worry about the security settings of the host computer.)

Well, I spent an hour on it this morning. Evidently the only way I can
get it back to FAT32 is to use the iPod Updater utility. iTunes will
format an HFS iPod only the first time it is plugged into a Windows
computer. Thereafter it does not see it as a Mac iPod that needs to be
converted. It just doesn't see it at all. I know this because I went to
my Windows 2000 desktop where I downloaded and installed iTunes 6.0
just for this purpose. No way can I get iTunes to see the iPod as long
as it is HFS. 

Then I went to the Apple forums, created a username, and posted my
query there. There have been several replies already, which confirm
that the Updater utility is the only way to get it back to FAT32 now.
And the Updater utility will not install on my Windows 2000 desktop
because it is only SP2. The Updater requires SP4. I've tried and tried
to install SP4 but it always aborts at the last minute. Microsoft has
no idea why. "This cannot happen if your current system is running" is
all their tech support can tell me. Anyone wondering why I want to move
to Linux?

So at this point I have only three options. 1) Go back to the Apple
store and ask them to reformat it "for Windows." 2) See if I can get
the Updater to install on a computer at PSU. 3) See if I can get my
Ubuntu-64 Breezy computer to read/write the HFS file system and just
leave it as a Mac iPod. 

I checked the Updater utility and what you download is an .exe file
that evidently installs the Updater over the internet. Not sure how the
university computers will take that. I could download the .exe file
here and put it on my thumbdrive, but I don't know if that will make
any difference. It will still need to go out to the net and install it
on the university computer.