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:

Ipod Hidden Diagnostic Mode

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

Graphic self test

SDRAMQuicktest

Checksum

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 TestTest accessories

SysCfgSadly this doesnt allow you to configure the system, it just tells you what the current system configuration is.

ResetKinda 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

Anon says:
2008-07-16

This is pretty cool, doesnt do much lol, but really cool to show off with my friends.

Member Amatocianmonk says:
2008-08-13

Yeah, this is mostly just a "Hey, check that out" type of thing

Tabi says:
2008-09-02

So, even though this doesn't look like it's going to be interesting it definitely was. =]
I never knew you could do this.

Garrett W. says:
2008-12-17

"1-3 GB"
... don't you mean "1-3G", where the G stands for generation?

Amatocianmonk says:
2008-12-17

Yes I did mean 1-3 generation ipods, not 1-3 gigabyte ipods, thanks for catching that

Digy says:
2008-12-30

Thanks, I knew about this but forgot how to do. Came in handy when my lil' brother broke his ipod. I used it to check the ipod. somethin' was wrong with the accelorometer, but this test thiing fixed it! Thanks!

Craig says:
2009-01-31

My Ipod keeps resetting in about one minute cycles, stuck on the apple screen. In diagnostic mode, my hard drive does not have the HDScan or HDRW. Does this mean my hard drive is bad?

Amatocianmonk says:
2009-02-03

@Craig
It is possible that your ipod has a harddrive issue. I have an ipod that currently has a damaged hard drive and it keeps reseting after showing the "Dead ipod" logo. However i still have the harddrive option under the IO menu. It gives gibberish output but it is there.
I really have no idea what would cause your option not to be there since the diagnostics are built into the ipod. I would contact apple about that issue

ipod diagnostic says:
2009-03-13

It should be noted that if the ipod refuses to go into diagnostic mode and you hear a noticeable clicking sound, the hard drive is likely faulty.

vikas023 says:
2010-01-22

Hi, my ipod is in diagnostic mode right now. If I press select+menu to get out of it, it restarts and diagnostic mode comes again. I don't want to complete the tests. I want the damn thing to come to disk mode.Could you help?

Mark R says:
2010-01-23

Hi

I got that same HD Info screen you show that says it's 96GB total size on a 30GB drive. I tried replacing the drive with a known good one but it still shows that. Any suggestions what's wrong and how to fix?

Amatocianmonk says:
2010-01-26

@VIKAS023

Putting iPods with a Click Wheel into disk mode

Before placing the iPod into disk mode, you should verify that it is charged.
Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Set it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
Press and hold the Menu and Select buttons for at least 6 seconds until the Apple logo appears.
When the Apple logo appears, release the Menu and Select buttons and immediately press and hold the Select and the Play/Pause buttons until the Disk Mode screen appears.

Connect the iPod to your computer; the screen on the iPod will change and say "Do not disconnect"

If you are having difficulty putting the iPod model into disk mode, set it on a flat surface. Make sure that the finger pressing the Select button is not touching the Click Wheel. Also make sure that you are pressing the Play/Pause button toward the outside of the Click Wheel and not near the center.
If you are still unable to put your iPod with a Click Wheel into Disk Mode, use one finger from one hand to press the Select button, and one finger from the other hand to press the Play/Pause button.
If you have an older iPod model without a Click Wheel

Before placing the iPod into disk mode you should verify that it has a charge.
Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Set it to Hold, then turn it off again.)

Press and hold the Play/Pause and Menu buttons until the Apple/iPod logo appears, then release them. This resets iPod. When you reset iPod all your music and data files are saved, but some customized settings may be lost.
When the Apple logo appears, immediately press and hold the Previous and Next buttons until the Disk Mode screen appears.
Connect the iPod to your computer; the screen on the iPod will change and say "Do not disconnect"

To return it to its normal operating state, you will have to reset iPod.

For more information go to support.apple.com

ronnocv says:
2010-03-11

to vikas023 make sure you are not hitting the restart option in the diagnostics most likely thats not it and if its going back into doagnostics mode when you are useing the keystroke then use the restart mode, if not restart and right away put it into disk mode and restore it.

ewd2010 says:
2010-04-01

Hi,
I have a 3rd generation ipod, the one with the 4 buttons above the scroll wheel. I've been having some control issues with the ipod, and wanted to put it into diagnostic mode to see if it could see any issue. I followed all of the instructions including resetting the ipod and then pressing rewind, fastforward, and select. I have tried this over 5 times, and every time it just boots up to the normal main menu. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, but it will just not go into diagnostic mode.

meg says:
2010-04-08

i did menu select and as fast as possible rewind select and i have a choice of
power sleep audio video lcd io memory touchwheel acel about

my ipod is still in the computer before i did that the do not disconnect was on for two days (still in the computer)
i am not touching it please help!

and if the problem stays i still have ipod insurance!

Amatocianmonk says:
2010-04-08

@ewd2010, I will look into your problem and post an answer here as soon as I figure out possible fixes.

@meg, go ahead and disconnect it from your computer. The only reason it asks you not to disconnect is so that data being transferred is not corrupted, I'm quite sure you have not been transferring data for two days straight. After you do that, do a hard reset and see if that fixes your problem. If not, or if it won't do a reset, attempt to use itunes to restore the ipod.

Janey says:
2010-06-27

Hi, this question may be silly but I have a 160GB ipod and I went to diagnostic mode to fix a problem but after it ran all the test it went to a blue screen and it's still there. Is this another part of the test or should I try something else?