Chosen Solution
After opening my classic 6th gen 80gb iPod classic a few times, I’ve found that the menu button doesn’t work. It was working before with the click wheel that was a little wonky, but having replaced the click wheel with a new one, the previous problem disappeared only to be replaced by a different one with the menu button. All the other functionalities of the click wheel work: rotation, pause, forward and backward, center button, but the menu button doesn’t work. This means I can’t reset it or get it into diagnostic mode (as far as I can tell). What can I do in this scenario?
@tightpants you want to check the microswitches on the board. Pushing the menu button does do nothing but activate the switch on the logic board. Sometimes the rubber pads on the switch come off and do not let the clickwheel depress the switch far enough. Check the switch as shown in the pictures.
Switch not activated
Switch activated To fix that you can add either a new rubber tip or something similar to fix that. I used some self sticking felt pads from a crafts store. If the switch works (as shown) and if the clickwheel engages it then the issue is actually one on the logic board.
