Why won’t the iPod Touch play in Bose SoundDock speakers anymore

ipodipod-touch

I have owned and enjoyed the Bose SoundDock speakers for a number of years; during this time it has worked great with my iPod Mini, Video iPod, and iPod Touch. The speakers have an iPod dock that you seat the iPod in and the audio is played through the speaker.

These speakers predate the iPod Touch by many years and won't recharge the iPod Touch when plugged in. That's fine, I mention it because whenever I plug in the iPod Touch into the speakers the iPod Touch shows a message that recharging isn't supported.

Recently, when I dock my iPod Touch in the speakers the warning that it can't recharge comes up, but no sound is played through the speakers. Instead, the iPod Touch's existing speakers play the music. Plugging in my Video iPod still works as expected – the sound comes out of the Bose speakers.

I've tried undocking and redocking, wiggling it once docked, and so on, but I am unable to get the iPod Touch to play through the Bose speakers. Any idea what's going on here? This is frustrating since I use these speakers quite often…

EDIT: Some further clarifications. My iPod Touch is a 2nd-gen iPod Touch (if that matters). It is, and has for some time, running software version 4.1. I have not tried updating to 4.2 or restoring the iPod's original settings. Also, the speakers continue to work with my iPod Video, so I'm pretty certain the problem lies somewhere with the iPod Touch and not the speakers themselves.

Best Answer

Since it’s practically impossible to diagnose a problem like this without physical access to the iPod and the SoundDock, I’m going to give you a few ideas of what I’d try to do:

  • If you have access to another iPod, try that of course, if that works, we’ve found a problem with your particular iPod.
  • If you have access to another SoundDock… well, put your iPod in those and see if the problem lies in your SoundDock.
  • Since the last two were two obvious (and you probably thought about them), let me tell you that you can go to an Apple Store with both devices and try the above combinations there. I’m sure that you will find another SoundDock in an Apple Store to try your iPod and that they also have iPods so you can try your Sound Dock. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
  • In any case, the remaining obvious alternative is to restore the iPod, either to factory settings (and later using a backup) or to restore a backup (so you don’t lose everything).
  • The final idea, is to try 4.2, but that should be the last step. You don’t want 4.2 to introduce new “undiscovered” problems on top of your old problem.

Sadly, there isn’t much else we can do from here. The can’t charge or incompatible device message is “ok” most of the time (I had that problem too with a car adapter), but it worked anyway.

I’m sorry I can’t come up with a better idea.

Just had this same problem... I fixed it by spraying a Contact Cleaner on my Ipod/ITouch.. and it works after... sometimes, Dust or Dirt will cause bad connection between the Unit and the Sound Dock Port *

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