Hidden IPod Diagnostic Mode

Written by Amatocianmonk
2008-07-23

The Hidden IPod Diagnostic Menu

There is a hiddon menu on your iPod that is used by apple to diagnose internal issues that your iPod may have. This hidden menu allows you to run various tests on your iPod, such as checking the hard drive, making sure the screen works, and testing the headphone jack. On my iPod, the diagnostic menu looks like the screen on the left. It gives users the option of running automated tests, or the tests individually.

How to access the menu

To access this special mode of the iPod, you need to first restart it so that you can tell it to boot in diagnostic mode. Contrary to what many people believe, restarting (aka reseting) your iPod does NOT delete your songs or remove any data. That only happens when you Restore your iPod. Reseting is just like turning your computer off and back on.

• For the 1 - 3 G iPods
  1. Hold Menu and Play/Pause simultaniously
  2. After it resets, but before it starts back up again, simultaniously hold down Rewind, Fastforward, and Select
• For the rest of the iPods
  1. Hold Menu and Select simultaniously
  2. After it resets, but before it starts back up again, simultaniously hold down Rewind and Select
• For the iPod Touch and iPhone
  1. Hold Menu and Sleep simultaniously
  2. Unknown, if you know, please leave a comment.

The iPod will beep if it is above the 3G iPod, the iPod will now be in diagnostic mode.

The Diagnostic Mode

When in diagnostic mode, you have several things to do

Older IPods

On the older iPods (1 - 3G) you have the following options:

• 5 IN 1
  This runs the LCM, SDRAM, RTC, FLASH/CHECKSUM, and FIREWIRE tests
• Reset
  Tests if the iPod is able to reset
• Key
  Tests if the buttons work. You need to press each button within 5 seconds of starting the test for it to pass
• Audio
  Plug in a pair of headphones and it tests if the audio subsystems work.
• Remote
  This tests if your iPods remote (if you have one) works.
• Firewire
  Checks the iPods firewire port
• Sleep
  Puts your ipod to sleep
• A 2 D
  Power test. The result should be something like this 3.7V 0X000000E2 CHG OK FW 1 BAT 1.
• OTPO CNT
  Tests the scroll wheel.
• LCM
  Screen test. Use this one to show off
• RTC
  Stands for "Real Time Clock". This tests it.
• SDRAM
  Tests the iPods RAM.
• Flash
  This tells you the firmware on your iPods flash memory.
• OTPO orvWheel A2D
  Tests Analog to Digital input from your scroll wheel. Reset to exit this test.
• HDD Scan
  This is a long test, it scans the harddrive looking for errors. When there are issues with ipods, this test is the most common one to fail.
• Run IN
  Tests iPod chip sets.

Newer IPods

On the rest of the iPods (excluding iPhone and iPod Touch), you are presented first with this screen:
It's pretty obvious, press Rewind have it do the tests automaticaly or press Menu to pick which tests to do.
Once in manual test, you have seven options, here is the breakdown of them:

• NTF Runs the auto-test and executes the following
  • Graphic self test
  • SDRAMQuicktest
  • Checksum
  • RTC
  • USBtest
  • Keytest
  • Wheeltest
  • Headphonedetect
  • Accessory Test
  • ChargeADC
  • Backlight (brightness)
  • Color
• Memory
  
  • SDRAM - Same as with older ipods, checks the RAM
  • IRAM - Unknown
  • FLASH - Same as with older ipods, checks firmware on flash memory
• IO
  Input/Output Tests
  • Comms - This tests the communication ports of your iPod including USB, FireWire and Remote. If the Remote is not connected to your iPod at the time of the test, you can expect a NG (no good) for the HP (headphone-port).
  • Wheel - This option has two tests, Keytest and Wheeltest. Push each button once to pass the Keytest. The Wheeltest just gives you a coordinate of where your finger is on the Click-Wheel.
  • LCD - This option has two tests, Backlight (0 to 255; 128 is the default) and Color. Much like a VRAM test, the Color test will run through a series of colors, patterns and gradients.
  • HeadphoneDetect: This test checks the Hold Switch and Headphone port.
  • HardDrive: This option has four tests.
    • HDSpecs will tell you everything from hard drive temperature to serial number.
    • HDScan scans your iPod's hard drive. This is a great way to see if you have a healthy iPod and if your hard drive is fragmented. This test will take a few minutes so be patient.
    • HDSMARTData returns SMART data for professional repair applications and personnel.
    • HDRW tests the ability of your hard drive to RW (read and write data).
• Power
  There are different tests here on different models. The available ones are:
  • A2DTests - Power tests, similar to the one on the old ipods
  • Sleep - Checks sleep
  • PhilipsID - Checks power system
• Accessories Test
  Test accessories
• SysCfg
  Sadly this doesnt allow you to configure the system, it just tells you what the current system configuration is.
• Reset
  Kinda obvious, it resets it

What to do in Diagnostic Mode

So now you are in the secret diagnostic iPod mode, what do you do? Well unless there is an issue with your ipod that you are trying to solve, all that there is to do is to show off to your friends or mess around exploring the mode.

- Erardi, 2008