u/DeltaRicc

Ok I am not trying to be snotty or stupid, I understand the Chinese watches are not historically considered long lasting. But seeing this thriving community and attracted by it, I am wondering if any of these brands can sport the #BIFL tag. I am pleasantly surprised by the reviews stating the high quality of some brands and want to know if any of that translates into longevity and reliability as well. I consider the Japanese brands like Seiko, Citizen of Orients #BIFL as they can last a long time with some care and maintenance. Would like to know if any experts care to weigh in.

I finally got all my parts here to upgrade the iPod 5.5 30 GB I bought almost couple years ago. Here's everything I bought for the upgrade just for reference:

1. iFlash uDual microSD Adapter iPod - https://www.ebay.com/itm/406141475509
2. Sandisk 128 GB MicroSDXC UHS-1 https://www.ebay.com/itm/203914554350?var=504677454341
3. 3800mAh replacement battery https://www.ebay.com/itm/326233724535

Now I did meet a couple of issues before hitting the wall. I followed the ifixit guides, removed the original parts and replaced them with the new ones. I then was hit with the sad face and very low battery bootloop and then with more digging found out that I needed to format the microsd card to fat32 before proceeding. All the mainstream tools - AOMEI, guiformat are now not offering the fat32 feature in the free version so that was a dud. Couldn’t figure out how to use gparted. Finally stumbled upon DiskGenius which worked - so future modders please take note.

Anyway after that I proceeded to install the microsd card and still met the same issue. Here are the different items I tried:

1. Cleaned all connector pins with isopropyl and connected everything back: Still on bootloop.
2. Left new setup on charge for an hour: Still stuck in the bootloop.
3. Replaced the new battery and iFlash adapter with old battery and drive: Ran as before with everything functioning.
4. Replaced the old battery with new one and kept the hard drive: Had to put on charge but everything functioned. This ruled out the battery being faulty.
5. Plugged the microSD card to my laptop: I was able to test by copying files on and off it. I think this means the microsd card is functional.
6. Old battery + iFlash adapter: Back on the bootloop.

This is the wall I hit and have come to the conclusion something is going on with the iFlash adapter and the Microsd card. Would love some guidance on this. TIA