I have an iPod Mini First Generation that is unresponsive to the click wheel. I have swapped in another click wheel and its worse. Both click wheels have wear on the front and I have no reason to believe they worked when I acquired them. I have restored the Mini and when it is docked it will sync and seems to run perfect.
Is there any tricks or techniques to take apart/fix or clean the click wheels? After researching it seems the click wheel is the most expensive part. Do they fail or am I going down the wrong road and its the logic board?
Any Mini experts out there? Thank you,
MaxTek
The most common problems with click wheels is the user... In that they attempt to repair the iPod themselves with some battery kit with lousy instructions and break the solder joints on the connector. Look closely at the small connector on the bottom of the click wheel ribbon cable. Chances are that at least some of the solder joints on the connection are broken.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to not put any stress on the orange ribbon cable when removing the connector. Always use a small screwdriver to pry against the white connector, NOT the ribbon.
It could also very well be the logic board. I have a couple mini boards with damage to the connector on the logic board side, and they generally have the most trouble scrolling.
Could you describe what the click wheels do when you install them?
Finally, if you want get rid of the mini or the click wheels, please let me know. I buy, sell, and repair iPods.
Kyle-
One clickwheel is only responsive on the right arrow and the other is completely unreponsive. I know what you mean about the molex cable. I will get out my magnifying glass and check the solder joints. Thanks for the tip.
Do you have a clickwheel for sale?
It appears both clickwheels have bad solder joints. Has anyone attempted to resolder the solder joints of a clickwheel molex plug?