Repair guide · iPod 4th Gen and iPod Photo
iPod 4th Gen and iPod Photo front panel replacement
This guide covers the white plastic front of the iPod 4th Gen (A1059), which we call the front panel, and of the iPod Photo (A1099), the faceplate. The clear window over the screen is part of it. A replacement comes bare, so the hard drive, logic board, screen and click wheel move across until only the empty panel is left, and the battery, which has to be pried off the old panel, is replaced with a new one. The two models' panels differ, so buy the one made for yours. A replacement front fixes cracks and deep scratches, not electronics faults. There is no soldering, and it is a Moderate job.
Which front fits: 4th Gen or Photo?
The two aren't interchangeable: the Photo's front has one fewer board-screw hole and won't snap flush on a 4th Gen back, and a 4th Gen front is not a verified fit on an iPod Photo. Both come bare, without a click wheel or screen, so you move yours across (the 4th Gen panel's order form also offers a click wheel). The U2 edition is black with a red wheel, so a white front on it is a color change, not a stock repair. Not sure which you have? Identify your iPod
Before you start
- Is it the front you need?Light scuffs on the plastic window can often be polished out. A cracked or deeply scratched window over a good picture needs a replacement front. A replacement front can't fix the screen itself or any electronics fault.
- Have a new battery readyThe old one is glued to the panel and should not go back in once it has been pried off.
- Check for a swollen batteryA center button that sits low or feels jammed is the usual sign that the battery behind the wheel is swelling. If so, unplug the iPod, stop charging it and never press on, bend or pierce the battery. If the iPod is very hot or smells, don't open it: put it on a non-flammable surface away from anything that can burn, keep dry sand nearby, let it cool and contact us. If the battery smokes, sparks, hisses, pops or suddenly puffs up, cover it with all the sand at once, then get out of the room for half an hour and air it out. If it's still burning or you can't smother it, call the fire service. Don't touch the iPod until the half hour is up. If it is swollen, it is replaced in this repair anyway; handle it with the care in step 9.
- Set up the benchWork on a hard, non-flammable surface with a soft cloth on it, and keep a container of dry sand within reach.
- Run the battery downIf there's no sign of swelling, use the iPod until it is nearly flat first: the battery and the logic board both come out here, and a discharged cell is less likely to overheat if it is damaged.
- Ground yourselfStatic can kill the logic board. Wear an anti-static wrist strap, or at least touch bare metal first, and work on an anti-static mat.
Tools
- Plastic opening tools, one wide and one thinFor the case clips and the click wheel. The panel comes with one plastic pry tool.
- Plastic spudgerFor the connector bars, the battery and the screen. No metal against the plastic front or any ribbon.
- T6 Torx screwdriverFor the logic board screws: six on the 4th Gen, five on the iPod Photo.
- Anti-static wrist strap or matThe logic board comes right out in this repair.
- Tray for screws and a soft clothKeep the screws in the order they came out.
- Wall chargerFor the test before closing.
Step by step
New to opening this iPod? How to open the iPod 4th Gen and iPod Photo (13 steps)
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Step 1: Unplug it, switch it off and lock Hold
Disconnect any cable, charger or computer first. Switch the iPod off by holding Play/Pause until the screen goes dark, then slide the Hold switch to locked, so its orange bar shows.
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Step 2: Release the case clips
Our opening guide has the detail. In short: with the screen up and the dock connector toward you, start on the right-hand long side with the wide plastic tool, its edge tilted toward the steel back, and free the five tabs on that side. Then the two clips beside the dock connector (lightly past the thin steel there), the five tabs on the left-hand side, and the top edge.
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Step 3: Turn it over, open the back, unplug two things
Holding the two halves together with your fingers, turn the iPod over so the screen faces the cloth, dock connector away from you; don't let the front drop away from the back. Lift the back along one long side like a book cover and lay it flat beside the front half, inside up; the orange headphone ribbon still links them, so never pull the back straight off; if it tightens as the back opens, stop and ease the back closer to the front. Ease the small white battery plug out of its socket on the logic board by its body, not the wires. Then lift the headphone ribbon's connector straight up off the board and set the back aside.
Yanking the back away before the headphone ribbon is free can tear its socket off the logic board.
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Step 4: Take out the hard drive
Raise the drive at the dock-connector end; its orange ribbon stays attached at the far end. Holding the drive, pull the ribbon's connector straight off the drive's pins, rocking it gently if it sticks, and set the drive on the cloth.
Don't bend the drive's pins.
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Step 5: Release the drive ribbon at the board
Peel back the black adhesive strip over the ribbon's connector on the logic board, flip the connector's black bar up (it swings through 90 degrees toward the ribbon) and slide the ribbon out.
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Step 6: Open the latches and unscrew the board
Flip up the two black bars over the screen ribbon and the click wheel ribbon; the wheel connector's lock sits on the side away from where its ribbon enters and tilts up a quarter turn. Then remove the black T6 screws: six on the 4th Gen, five on the iPod Photo. Keep them in the order they came out.
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Step 7: Slide out the wheel ribbon
With its lock open, draw the click wheel ribbon gently out of its connector.
Never force it: this ribbon tears easily.
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Step 8: Lift out the board, then the screen
Raise the board at its large end, slide the screen ribbon out of its open connector, ease the unplugged battery cable clear of the board's end and lift the board out onto the anti-static mat. Then lift the screen by its edges with the flat end of the spudger, never pressing on the glass; a little mild adhesive may hold it.
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Step 9: Lift the battery off the panel
The battery is glued to the panel right behind the click wheel. Slide the plastic spudger under one edge and pry upward slowly, working round its edges. Use no heat, nothing metal, and never bend it; keep a container of dry sand within reach. If the battery gets hot, starts to smell or begins to swell while you work, stop prying, leave it where it is on the non-flammable surface with the sand ready, and contact us.
Put the old battery straight onto the non-flammable surface, away from the iPod, the tools and anything that can burn, and tape over its contacts now. Never reuse it: once a glued battery has been pried out, a new one is the safe choice. If it got bent or dented while you pried it, or it feels warm, leave it there beside the sand and keep an eye on it until you take it to a battery drop-off, never the trash or a recycling bin.
Never press on, bend or pierce the battery. If the battery smokes, sparks, hisses, pops or suddenly puffs up, cover it with all the sand at once, then get out of the room for half an hour and air it out. If it's still burning or you can't smother it, call the fire service. Don't touch the iPod until the half hour is up.
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Step 10: Free the click wheel
No screws hold the wheel: double-sided tape or adhesive holds it in the panel, with a small plastic tab. Note how the tab, the ribbon and the wheel's ground tab or strap sit before you free it, and use plastic tools only, with no metal against its ribbon or the panel. If it doesn't come free with gentle, even pressure, stop and contact us; you can also order a click wheel with the 4th Gen panel. Our click wheel guide has more on this part. The panel is now empty.
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Step 11: Build up the replacement panel
Fit the click wheel into the replacement panel in the same position, ribbon routed the same way, pressed down firmly so it sits in the panel the way the old one did, with its ground tab or strap making clean contact with the frame. Slide the battery (a new one, see step 9) into its recess rather than pressing it straight down, its cable left free to wrap past the board's end again. Lay the screen in, the same way round as it came out.
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Step 12: Refit the logic board
Hold the board above the panel, slide the screen ribbon squarely into its connector and press the black bar down. Lower the board into place, with the battery cable running round its end as before. Slide the wheel ribbon fully home and close its lock, then turn the screws back in, starting each by hand.
On the iPod Photo look twice at the screen connector: sitting nearer the middle of the board, it is easily left half in.
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Step 13: Drive and plugs back
Slide the drive ribbon into its board connector, press the black bar down and lay the strip back over it. Push the ribbon fully onto the drive's pins, the same way round as before, and seat the drive on its plastic guide pin.
Lay the back beside the front. Headphone ribbon next, jack-board end first: that end sits under a small black latch on the jack board's underside, you can't see it, and it slips out easily while the case is open. If you aren't sure it is fully in, reseat it now, while the logic-board end is still unplugged: take out the jack board's two silver T6 screws, turn the board over, flip the latch up, push the ribbon fully in, close the latch and screw the board back. Then press the ribbon's connector straight down onto its socket on the logic board. The Hold check in the test confirms both ends: the lock icon must come and go with the switch. Plug the battery in last.
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Step 14: Test everything before closing
Rest the back loosely in place, switch Hold off and connect a wall charger. Check that the screen shows a clear picture, that the wheel scrolls and every button responds, the center one included, that a song plays in both ears through headphones, and that the lock icon comes and goes with Hold. Then disconnect the charger: it must keep running on its battery.
If something doesn't work, disconnect the charger, unplug the battery, reseat the ribbon for that part (screen, wheel or headphone), and plug the battery back in last before testing again.
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Step 15: Snap the case shut
Line the halves up and press them together from one side across to the other with even pressure until every clip catches. Then check the dock opening: nothing should block the connector.
If it won't snap flush, stop: check the front is the one for your model, and look for a ribbon caught at the edge.
Close it up and test
- The front sits flushAn even seam all the way round, with no gap at the corners.
- Everything worksScreen, wheel, every button, Hold, sound and charging, on the charger and off it.
- No screws left overEach one went back into its own hole.
If it doesn't work afterwards
- The wheel or center button does nothing
- Disconnect the charger and unplug the battery, then check the wheel ribbon is fully in with its lock closed and look along it for a tear. Battery back in last. Click wheel not working
- The screen is dark, white or shows lines
- Reseat the screen ribbon before suspecting the screen: charger off, battery unplugged, drive lifted out (step 4), ribbon squarely in, bar closed, drive back, battery in last. Black screen
- A lock icon shows
- The headphone ribbon isn't fully in at one end. Disconnect the charger, open it and unplug the battery. Lift the ribbon's connector off the logic board first, then reseat the end under the jack board (two silver T6 screws out, board turned over, latch up, ribbon fully in, latch closed, screws back), press the connector back down onto the logic board, and plug the battery in last. Hold switch not working
- The front won't snap flush
- A Photo faceplate won't snap flush on a 4th Gen back, and a 4th Gen front isn't a verified fit on an iPod Photo: check you have the one for your model.
- It won't start at all
- Try a reset on the charger first (slide Hold on and off, and then press and hold Menu with the center button until the Apple logo comes up). Still dead? Disconnect the charger, unplug the battery, reseat every connector you touched (drive ribbon at both ends, screen and wheel ribbons with their bars closed, headphone ribbon: lift it off the logic board, reseat the jack-board end, then press the board end back down) and push the battery plug firmly back in last. Still dead even on the charger? Get a free repair quote: static or a slipped tool can damage the board. Not working after a repair
Questions
Does the replacement front come with a click wheel or a screen?
No, it comes bare. Move your wheel and screen across; on the 4th Gen panel's page you can also add a click wheel to the order.
Will a 4th Gen front panel fit my iPod Photo?
No. Our pages list it as not a verified swap: the 4th Gen front has a sixth board-screw hole, and the Photo's screen connector sits elsewhere on its board. Buy the faceplate made for the iPod Photo.
Can scratches on the window be polished out?
Light scuffs often can. A crack or a deep scratch needs a replacement front.
I have a U2 edition. Will a white front match?
It fits, but the U2 came with a black front and a red wheel, so a white one changes its look.
Will a replacement front fix my screen or buttons?
No. It is housing only. A damaged picture needs a replacement screen once a reseat of its ribbon hasn't helped. Dead buttons point to the click wheel, though on these iPods a center button that stops working is first a swollen battery; the board comes last.
Can you do it for me?
Yes. Choose We Fix It on the front panel's page and mail your iPod in: we fit it and send it back. Turnaround is typically 3 to 5 business days, with a 1-year limited warranty.