The blog SpillingCoffee.com has a nice little write up about how to fix your iPod that has the sad face on the screen. Before following his directions I would check to see if your iPod was still under warranty. The way he fixes his iPod is by Purposely dropping his iPod to the floor. This has worked for many people that I have heard of. So how does dropping your iPod fix the problem? Good question, diving a little deeper it seems that the hardrive cable the attaches to the motherboard, sometimes comes loose enough where the iPod can’t find the hardrive, causing the sad face to appear on the screen.

This had worked for many, many other people even though Apple’s website (wisely) doesn’t mention this possible fix. I couldn’t quite bring myself to dropping my $300 iPod to the hard tile floor on the off chance that it would spin or wobble on the way down so I did the next best thing: I held it and slammed it onto a pad of paper on my desk (providing some cushion so I didn’t crack the case), charging port down.And like mana falling from heaven, the tunes started playing.

So this worked for him. He actully didn’t drop it to the floor but banged it on a pad of paper. There are other ways to get the hardrive cable good and tight, if you are afraid of SMASHING your iPod. There are many guides about how to take apart the iPod. Here is a really indepth looh at how to take apart a 4th Generation iPod to replace the battery.

DO THIS ALL AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

via SpillingCoffee.com