Repair guide · iPod Classic 6th/7th Gen
iPod Classic 6th/7th Gen click wheel and center button replacement
Also searched as: ipod classic wheel replacement
All about this iPod: The iPod Classic 6th/7th Gen guide
This guide covers the click wheel and the center button cap of the iPod Classic 6th and 7th Gen, the 2007 to 2009 models (80GB, 120GB and 160GB). The wheel lies under the logic board on the metal frame, so the board has to come off the frame to reach it. The center button is only a cap, held loosely in place by the front panel and the wheel behind it, and changing it stops before the board. The switches under Menu, Play/Pause, Next, Previous and the center are on the logic board itself. One wheel and one cap fit every 6th and 7th Gen, so you only choose the color. No soldering. Allow 30 minutes to 1 hour. Have an iPod Video 5th Gen? It has its own guide.
Which click wheel and center button?
The wheel is the same part on every 6th and 7th Gen, thin or thick, and so is the center cap; the 6th Gen and 7th Gen listings differ only in color names. The wheel doesn't include the cap. Apple paired silver fronts with a white wheel and a silver cap, and dark fronts with a black wheel and a dark cap, but any color fits. An iPod Video 5th Gen wheel looks almost the same and even plugs in, yet doesn't work here; it is also thicker. Not sure which you have? Identify your iPod
Before you start
- Look for a swollen battery firstThe battery sits right behind the screen. Dark blotches near the top of the display, a screen that bows or lifts, or a back that bulges mean it is probably swelling. If you see that, unplug the iPod and stop charging it; it needs a new battery before any other repair (see our battery guide), and a swollen cell must never be pressed, bent or pierced. If the iPod is very hot or gives off a smell, don't open it at all: unplug it, set it on something that can't burn, away from anything that can, with a container of dry sand close by; let it cool, and contact us.
- Make sure it's the wheelSlide Hold off so no orange shows, then reset the iPod: hold Menu and the center button until the Apple logo shows. If it was opened before, a half-seated wheel ribbon is the usual cause. When the wheel, its buttons and the center all fail together, the wheel or its ribbon is the usual cause. If only the center fails, a replacement wheel or cap typically won't help: its switch is on the logic board. A swollen battery can also make the wheel scroll by itself or stop working, so check for one.
- Run the battery downIf there's no sign of swelling, play the iPod until the battery icon is nearly empty before you start. A cell with little charge left is less likely to flare up if a tool slips into it.
- Controls dead? Skip the run-downIf the controls don't work and it won't play, you can't run the battery down: take extra care with the metal tool near the top of the back, where the battery sits.
- Ground yourselfA static spark can kill the logic board. Wear an anti-static wrist strap or work on an anti-static mat; at the very least, touch bare metal before you begin. Keep any replacement part in its bag until you fit it.
Tools
- Plastic opening picks (two or three)To hold the seam open; spares help, since the metal wears them down.
- Thin metal opening toolFrees the case clips.
- Phillips #00 screwdriverFor the front panel screws and the board screws.
- Plastic spudger and tweezersFor the connector tabs and for easing the board off the frame.
- Anti-static wrist strap or matThe logic board comes right out for this job.
- Small dish or marked paperKeeps the two sets of screws apart.
- Soft, clean cloth and an air blowerTo lay the screen and the board on, and to clear dust off the window.
- Charger and headphones you know workFor the test before you close it.
Step by step
New to opening this iPod? How to open an iPod Classic 6th/7th Gen (12 steps)
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Step 1: Open the case
Unplug any cable. Switch the iPod off (hold Play/Pause until the screen goes dark) and slide Hold to locked. Open it as our opening guide shows: plastic picks keep the seam open along one long side while the tip of a thin metal tool pushes each clip in toward the front panel, rocking on the steel back's rim. Free both long sides, then the one clip in the middle of the top edge, between the Hold switch and the headphone jack. Leave the bottom edge clipped: it is the hinge.
Don't pry the steel back outward: it dents, and a bent clip keeps the case from closing flat.
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Step 2: Unplug the battery first
Part the top ends a little, no further: the battery ribbon and the headphone ribbon still join the two halves. Now and then the drive comes away stuck to the back half, or the battery plug pops out as the case opens, so check for both, and ease a stuck drive back down into the front half.
Follow the battery's ribbon to its connector on the logic board. Raise the connector's small latch about 1 mm, straight up and level, then slide the ribbon straight out. Note which way up it was. If you use metal tweezers, grip the ribbon by its edges, well back from its contacts.
Never push that latch sideways or pry on the connector. If the connector comes off the board, our fix for that is a replacement logic board.
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Step 3: Free the back half
Lift the back half off the bottom edge and lay it next to the front half, on the side its headphone ribbon runs, tops level, so the ribbon stays slack. Lift the hard drive by the edge away from its ribbon and turn it over like a page, its ribbon end staying put, until it rests beside the front half with its connector facing up. Don't let it hang on its ribbon.
Under where the drive sat, the headphone ribbon plugs into the logic board. Flip that connector's small black tab up (it turns about 90 degrees), note which way up the ribbon sits, and slide it out. The back half is now free. While the back half is on its own, press any bent clip or bowed lip back into line with a fingertip or the flat of a plastic tool; you'll check them again before closing.
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Step 4: Unplug the hard drive
At the drive, flip up the thin black bar on its connector (it also turns about 90 degrees) and slide the ribbon straight out of the connector, parallel to the drive's face, not upward. Leave the bar up. Put the drive down somewhere soft. Its ribbon stays on the logic board.
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Step 5: Take out the front panel screws
The metal frame is screwed into the aluminum front with six tiny Phillips screws, three down each long side. Remove them with the #00 driver and keep them in order: screw lengths can differ from one spot to the next.
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Step 6: Lift the frame out of the front
Lift the metal frame up out of the front panel. The screen, the logic board and the click wheel all come with it, and so does the drive's ribbon, still plugged into the board: keep it clear of the edges. If the frame feels held, a little adhesive may be gripping it: work it free evenly rather than levering one corner.
The center button cap is now loose in the front panel. Leave it there for now, or put it somewhere safe; it is easy to lose.
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Step 7: Only the center button? Swap it now
If the center press felt stuck or stiff, don't stop here: carry on through steps 8 to 11, which reach the pad behind the wheel.
Otherwise, the cap sits loose in its opening in the front panel. Lift the old one out and drop the new one in, the right way up; it is a press fit, with no glue or screws. Then go to step 12.
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Step 8: Take the screen off the frame
Flip up the tab on the screen's connector at the top center of the logic board; it swings about 90 degrees toward the screen. Slide the ribbon out, leave the tab up, then slide the screen and its metal shield out of the frame and lay them face up on the clean cloth.
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Step 9: Lift the board off the frame
Take out the small screws that hold the logic board to the frame, and keep them apart from the front-panel screws. The board is lightly stuck down: ease it off with slow, firm, even pressure from a plastic spudger, without bending it. If it still won't lift with slow, firm, even pressure, stop and look again for a screw you missed; never lever it off. The click wheel lies underneath and comes away with it on its ribbon.
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Step 10: Change the wheel
With the wheel off the board, if the center felt stuck or stiff, look at the small pad between the center of the wheel and the board: if it has shifted, set it back in the middle, over its button.
Flip up the tab on the wheel's connector and slide the old wheel's ribbon out. Its ribbon carries electronics, so don't fold it sharply. Open the connector's tab all the way, push the replacement wheel's ribbon fully in, and close the tab all the way. A wheel ribbon left only half in tops the list of reasons a wheel fails after a repair.
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Step 11: Rebuild the frame
Set the wheel in its place on the frame and lay the board back over it, every ribbon lying as before and none trapped underneath. Refit the board screws snugly; the posts are soft. Slide the screen and shield back in and, with the screen connector's tab still up, push the screen ribbon fully in and press the tab down.
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Step 12: Put the cap and the frame back in the front
Drop the center cap (your old one, or the new one) back into its opening in the front panel, the right way up, if it isn't there already, and check it sits squarely. Blow any dust off the inside of the window and off the screen.
Lower the frame into the front, check along every edge that no ribbon is pinched, and refit the six front-panel screws snugly.
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Step 13: Connect it all back up
Lay the back half beside the front half again, tops level, as in step 3. With the drive's connector bar still up, slide its ribbon fully back in, the same way round as before, and press the bar down; lift the drive slightly to check the ribbon stays in. Then slide the headphone ribbon fully into its connector on the board, close its tab, and lay the drive back in its place.
The battery ribbon goes in last: with the latch still raised, slide the ribbon fully in, the same way up, then press the latch down. It should close with almost no pressure; if it resists, the ribbon isn't straight.
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Step 14: Test before you close
Slide Hold to unlocked and plug in a charger, halves still apart. Keep a finger on the drive and turn the front half over slowly, so neither ribbon pulls. Scroll both ways, then press Menu, Play/Pause, Next, Previous and the center, one at a time. No click sound? Check Settings > Clicker before you suspect the wheel. Check too that the screen is clear, music plays through headphones you know work, Hold locks and unlocks, and it charges. Then unplug the charger: it must keep running on its battery. If it shuts off, the battery ribbon is most likely not fully in or its latch is open; if it already did this before you opened it, the battery itself is worn.
Before you reseat anything, unplug the charger and release the battery ribbon (latch up, ribbon out). Reseat the ribbon involved, plug the battery ribbon back in last, then test again.
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Step 15: Straighten the clips and close
Check the inside edges of the steel back once more and press any bent clip or bowed lip back into line with a fingertip or the flat of a plastic tool. Make sure the drive lies flat and no ribbon crosses the seam. Hook the bottom edge in first, swing the top shut, and press around the edge until every clip clicks in.
If it closes only when you squeeze, stop: something is pinched or out of place, and a pinched ribbon can make a working iPod fail once it is shut.
Close it up and test
- Every control worksSmooth scrolling both ways; Menu, Play/Pause, Next, Previous and the center each respond.
- The center clicks crisplyNot stuck, stiff or off-center.
- The seam is even all roundNo gap at the corners and no bulge in the back.
- Everything else worksScreen, Hold switch, headphone sound and charging, and it stays on when unplugged.
If it doesn't work afterwards
- The wheel or the center stopped working after the repair
- The wheel ribbon is most likely only half in. Open it again, release the battery ribbon first, open the wheel connector's tab fully, push the ribbon all the way in and close the tab, and plug the battery ribbon back in last. Click wheel not working
- Only the center press doesn't register
- Its switch is on the logic board, so a new cap or a replacement wheel won't fix it. Reset first. If it began right after this repair, reseat the wheel ribbon as above, battery ribbon out first and back in last. If it is still dead, the board is the likely fault. Center button not working
- The center button is stuck or hard to press
- Rare on this iPod, and usually alignment: the cap or the small pad behind the wheel's center has shifted. Open it again, release the battery ribbon first and re-center the cap; to reach the pad behind the wheel, follow steps 8 to 11. Plug the battery ribbon back in last. iPod buttons not working
- A replacement wheel didn't fix the controls
- Then the logic board is the likely fault. A free repair quote tells you what it involves. Free repair quote
- It scrolls by itself
- A swollen battery can make the wheel scroll by itself. If the battery is swelling, stop charging it and replace it.
- A wheel that looks right does nothing
- Make sure it is a 6th/7th Gen wheel. An iPod Video wheel plugs in but doesn't work in this iPod.
Questions
Does the click wheel include the center button?
No. The cap is a separate part. Move your old one over, or order a new cap if it is worn or you want a different color.
Will a new center button fix a center press that doesn't work?
No. The center button is only a cap with no electronics; the switch behind it is on the logic board.
Is the wheel the same for the 6th and 7th Gen?
Yes. One wheel fits every 6th and 7th Gen, thin or thick, in any color.
Can I put a white wheel on a black iPod?
Yes. The shape is the same on every 6th and 7th Gen, so it is a color swap. For a matching look, choose the cap to go with it.
Can you do it for me?
Yes. Choose We Fix It on the click wheel or center button page and mail your iPod in; we fit it and send it back. Turnaround is typically 3 to 5 business days.