emery290•21d agoMost Upvoted

Revived a 2005 iPod with a rubber band and a paperclip last night

My old iPod's click wheel stopped working but I didn't want to spend $30 on a replacement part online. I wrapped a rubber band around the wheel to add friction and used a paperclip to gently poke the connection back in place. Somehow it clicked back to life after a few minutes of fiddling. Has anyone else used random household stuff to fix old electronics?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat_moore21d ago

Rubber bands are the true MVPs of tech repair for real. Fixed a laptop trackpad with one and a piece of cardboard last month.

adams.uma21d ago

True MVPs of tech repair" is a stretch lol.

thomas_sanchez21d ago

and honestly sometimes the dumbest fixes work the best. i once had a dvd player that wouldn't eject so i slid a credit card in the slot and pried it open. got it working for like another year before it finally died. those old ipods are tanks though, they'll take a beating and keep going. my buddy had one that survived a full drop down a flight of stairs and only the headphone jack got bent.