Nov 22, '05 05:31:00AM • Contributed by: monickels
Last week, my third-generation 30GB iPod refused to go beyond the Apple logo on startup. It would power up, flash as if trying to go to the menu, but instead it would just show the Apple again. I tried all the usual recovery methods: resetting (hundreds of times and a couple of different ways), disk scans from the diagnostic menu, restoring with the latest iPod software and with an older version, fsck, using Disk Utility to repair and erase, Disk Warrior, letting the battery drain, everything.
Nothing worked ... until I used Disk Utility to reformat the disk with the "Zero Out Data" option (in the Security pop-up) enabled. This, apparently, reformatted the drive in such a way as to account for bad sectors. It took about an hour.
After that, I restored it with the latest iPod software, and to my delight, it booted normally. It now works fine.
