Repair guide · iPod Video 5th Gen
iPod Video 5th Gen click wheel and center button replacement
On the iPod Video 5th Gen, the click wheel is the ring you scroll with, and Menu, Play/Pause, Previous and Next are switches on the logic board pressed through it. The center button is a plain plastic cap in the middle, with its own switch on the board. This guide covers both, on the 2005 model and the Late 2006 5.5 Gen (model A1136, every capacity). A new center button needs only the front panel off: that alone is a Moderate job. A replacement click wheel goes further, because its ribbon plugs into the logic board: the board comes off the metal frame too. Every wheel and every button fits every iPod Video 5th Gen; the color only changes the look.
Which wheel or button?
The iPod Video wheel has 821-0372-A printed on its cable. The wheel from an iPod Classic 6th/7th Gen (821-0545-A) looks just like it and its cable even plugs in, but neither works in the other's iPod. A replacement wheel comes without a center button: move yours across or order one. The center button is only a cap, with no electronics, so a new cap can't help a button that clicks without doing anything. Not sure which you have? Identify your iPod
Before you start
- Check for a swollen batteryA swelling battery can make the wheel scroll by itself or stop working. Dark marks on the screen, a screen that lifts or bows, or a bulging case usually mean it is swelling (a seam that opens on its own is more often bent clips): unplug it, stop charging it and replace the battery first (our battery guide shows how, and how to recycle the old one). Never press, bend or pierce it. If the iPod is very hot or smells, don't open it: unplug it, put it on a non-flammable surface away from anything that can burn, keep dry sand close, let it cool and contact us.
- Make sure it's the wheelSlide Hold off and reset it first (Menu and the center button together, about 8 seconds, until the Apple logo). The wheel is the likely part when the ring, the buttons and the center all fail together, or work only now and then. If only the center button fails, a replacement wheel usually won't help: a button that sinks, sticks or stops clicking most often has a rubber dome that slid off its spot on the board (no new part needed, see step 7), and one that clicks but does nothing points to the logic board. Opened before? Check the wheel's ribbon, latch and ground tab first.
- Run the battery downIf there's no sign of swelling, play the iPod until the battery icon is nearly empty (these iPods show no percentage). A cell with little charge left is less dangerous if a tool slips.
- Bench and staticA hard, non-flammable surface with the anti-static mat, dry sand within reach, and the wrist strap on. Work where a small button can't roll away. 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 and air it out; stay away for 30 minutes. If it's still burning or you can't smother it, call the fire service.
Tools
- Plastic opening tools (two or three)One comes with the part. A second keeps the seam open as you work.
- Thin plastic picksFor the clips along the seam.
- Angled tweezers or a small plastic toolFor the ribbon latches and the ground tab. With metal tips, keep clear of the battery ribbon's contacts.
- Phillips #00 screwdriverFor the six frame screws.
- Small dish for screwsSo none of the six goes missing.
- Anti-static wrist strap and matThe logic board comes right out for a wheel swap.
- Soft, lint-free clothFor the case halves and the screen, which picks up dust easily.
Step by step
New to opening this iPod? How to open an iPod Video 5th Gen (12 steps)
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Step 1: Open the case
Unplug any cable, then switch the iPod off and slide Hold to locked. Free the clips with plastic tools: both long sides, then the top (shallow beside the Hold switch, where the screen sits close), then the bottom. Raise the back only about an inch, since two ribbons still join the halves. Our guide to opening the iPod Video covers this in detail.
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Step 2: Unplug the battery
Find the battery's orange ribbon where it plugs into the logic board toward the bottom end. Raise its small brown latch straight up by 1 to 2 mm, evenly at both ends, and slide the ribbon out.
Never push that latch sideways or pull it off: the connector can lift off the board, and our fix for that is a replacement logic board.
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Step 3: Separate the back
Lift the hard drive by its edges and tip it back toward the bottom end, supporting it so it never hangs by its ribbon. Under it is the headphone jack ribbon's connector: flip its brown tab up (it swings about 90 degrees) and slide the ribbon out. Set the back aside, polished side down.
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Step 4: Take the drive off
Flip up the black hinge on the connector at the end of the drive, keep a fingertip on the ribbon and slide the drive away from it. The ribbon stays plugged into the board. Note which way up the drive sat and set it aside.
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Step 5: Remove the six frame screws
Three small black Phillips screws run along each long side of the metal frame, holding it to the front panel. Take out all six and put them in the dish.
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Step 6: Lift the frame out of the front
Ease the frame free around the edge, since a mild adhesive near the middle also holds it, and lift it, with the board, screen and click wheel, out of the front panel. Keep it level: with the front off, the screen comes out of the frame easily. The center button is loose in the front now: pick it out and keep it safe.
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Step 7: Center button only? Do it here
If you're replacing only the center button, you're far enough in: the old button came loose in step 6. Keep the new (or old) button aside; it goes into the front at step 16.
If your button sank, stuck or stopped clicking, the small rubber dome under it has most likely slid off its spot on the logic board: set it back in place, no new part needed. If you can't reach it with the board still on the frame, carry on with steps 8 to 11 (the wheel can stay plugged in), set the dome back, then pick up at step 14, refitting your own wheel. Otherwise go on at step 16.
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Step 8: Take the screen out
For a replacement click wheel, the board has to come off the frame, and the screen comes out first. Flip up the black tab on the screen's connector on the board (it swings about 90 degrees, toward the screen), keeping a fingertip on the ribbon. Ease the screen loose, lift its ribbon off the two small white pegs near the frame's edge, peel any tape rather than pulling, and lay the screen on a clean, lint-free cloth, out of the dust.
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Step 9: Free the ground strap
On the side you took the screen from, a thin silver ground strap is held to the metal frame by black tape. Peel the tape up slowly: the strap is very fragile and must not break.
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Step 10: Peel the wheel's ground tab
Turn the frame over. The click wheel has a thin orange ground tab stuck to the frame, separate from its wide ribbon. Peel up only that tab.
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Step 11: Push the board off the frame
The board is held to the frame by a mild adhesive. Keep the click wheel side facing up and press the board away from the frame, a little at a time at several points around it, so it comes free evenly. The drive ribbon is still plugged into the board: keep it slack and never let it fold sharply.
Never push hard in one spot: that bends the board.
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Step 12: Unplug and lift off the old wheel
Flip up the black tab on the click wheel ribbon's connector (it swings up about 90 degrees) and ease the ribbon out without folding it sharply: there are electronics on that cable. Lift the wheel away from the board.
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Step 13: Connect the replacement wheel
Check the replacement wheel's cable reads 821-0372-A. Slide its ribbon fully into the board's connector, routed the way the old one ran and without sharp bends, and press the black tab down.
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Step 14: Set the board back on the frame
Lay the board on the frame where it sat, the replacement wheel in the old one's place, and press it gently into place around its edges. Stick the wheel's ground tab back exactly where it was: if that tab is missing or out of line, a perfectly good wheel can seem dead. Lay the ground strap back flat and press its tape down without kinking it.
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Step 15: Refit the screen
Set the screen back into the frame, its ribbon pointing the same way, and leave the ribbon unplugged for now.
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Step 16: Put the frame back into the front
Lay the front face down on the cloth and set the center button into its place, lined up with its grooves. Check the screen is seated, then tilt the frame in so the wheel's four tabs drop into their grooves in the front and the wheel settles around the button, and lay it flat. The wheel should sit snug: if it's loose, it may not respond. Refit the six screws, snug but not tight.
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Step 17: Connect the screen
If you took the screen out, lay its ribbon over the two white pegs, slide it fully into its connector and press the black tab down. Then turn the front half over and look through the window: the screen should sit straight, with no edge raised.
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Step 18: Refit the drive and both ribbons
Slide the drive back onto its ribbon the same way up as before and press its hinge down; support it, never letting it hang by its ribbon. Bring the back alongside the front, the way it lay beside the front after you separated them, so the headphone jack ribbon reaches its connector. Tip the drive back, slide that ribbon in and press its brown tab down, then lay the drive flat, bumpers on. Last, push the battery ribbon fully in with its latch raised (only a thin line of contacts showing) and press the latch down.
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Step 19: Test it before you close it
Rest the back loosely on the front, hold the two together and turn it face up. Slide Hold off and connect a charger. Check the screen is clear and evenly lit. Run a finger round the scroll ring, then press Menu, Play/Pause, Previous, Next and the center button in turn: the center button should sit flush and spring back. Slide Hold on and off, and play a song through headphones. Then unplug the charger: it should keep running on its battery.
If anything is wrong, switch it off, unplug the charger and release the battery ribbon before you reseat a ribbon (the wheel's, its tab or its ground tab); the battery ribbon goes back in last.
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Step 20: Close it up
Check that no ribbon is caught on a screw post or at the seam, then press the back on until every clip clicks in.
If it only closes when you squeeze hard, stop: a ribbon or part out of place is in the way.
Close it up and test
- The ring scrolls smoothlyEvery step of the wheel registers, in both directions.
- All five buttons workMenu, Play/Pause, Previous, Next and the center button, each with a clean click.
- The wheel sits flushNot raised or loose, and the center button level with it.
- Everything else worksScreen, Hold switch, sound and charging, and it runs with the charger unplugged.
If it doesn't work afterwards
- The wheel is dead or jumpy
- Reset it first. Then switch it off, unplug the charger, open it and release the battery ribbon. Check the wheel's tabs sit in their grooves and its ground tab is stuck back in place (a missing ground tab makes a good wheel seem dead). The wheel ribbon sits under the logic board: steps 8 to 12 reach it. Battery ribbon back in last. Click wheel not working
- The center button sinks or won't click
- The rubber dome under it has most likely slid off its spot. Switch it off, unplug the charger, open it and release the battery ribbon, then set the dome back as in steps 1 to 7; no part is needed. Battery ribbon back in last. If the button clicks but nothing happens, restart it, then suspect the logic board. Center button not working
- A replacement wheel didn't fix the buttons
- The button switches are on the logic board. If a new, properly seated wheel doesn't bring the controls back, the board is the likely fault. Buttons not working
- The screen is dark or white
- Most likely the screen's ribbon isn't fully in or its black tab is up. Switch it off, unplug the charger, open it, release the battery ribbon and reseat the screen's ribbon; battery ribbon back in last. If the tab has broken, see our screen guide. iPod black screen
- It won't turn on
- Check Hold is off and give it time on a charger. Then unplug the charger, open it and check the battery ribbon: fully in, latch down. Not working after a repair
- It gets very hot or smells
- Unplug it and don't open it again. Leave it shut on a non-flammable surface away from anything that can burn, and contact us. If it starts to smoke, spark, hiss or puff up, use the sand as in the bench setup above. After a repair, a pinched ribbon or a part pressing on the board can cause it.
Questions
Does the click wheel come with the center button?
No. Move your old button across, or order one in black, in white or in a custom color.
Will an iPod Classic click wheel work?
No. The 6th/7th Gen wheel looks the same and its cable even plugs into an iPod Video, but it doesn't work there. Fit the iPod Video wheel.
My U2 iPod has a red wheel. Can I get one?
The red U2 ring isn't sold as a separate part. A black or white wheel works fine; it just looks different from the original. The U2's center button is black.
Only my center button stopped working. Is the wheel the problem?
Usually not. If it sinks, sticks or stopped clicking, the rubber dome under it has slipped and can be put back. If it clicks but does nothing, the logic board is the likely fault.
Can you do it for me?
Yes. Choose We Fix It on the part's page and mail your iPod in. We fit it and send it back, typically within 3 to 5 business days on our bench, with a 1-year limited warranty.