Blinking Apple...will not power, show in iTunes or recover

Question

My son's 4gen iPod touch will not turn on, show up in iTunes, power up, sync or recover. Here is what it does and what I've tried:
1) plugged in to AC power, a black screen w/Apple in center blinks;
2) plugged into computer, same blinking. iPod does NOT show up in iTunes or in "Safely Remove Hardware" at bottom of computer;
3) Unconnected, the blinking remains;
4) I hold the home and on/off buttons, blinking apple remains;
5) Hold the home key while plugging USB to computer, same result;
I occassionally get the battery indicator with a very slim red line, but after hours both attached to computer or to AC, it does not power up. In fact, the battery indicator lasts only a few seconds before it disappears.
Oh, and it also does not show up as attached in My Computer.
I'm at a loss. Ideas?
If I EVER get it to work, I'll post here the way I did it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

You can try to put it on Recovery mode then restore it..
Press or Hold the power and home keys 10 seconds.
Screen goes black, now release the power button
Make sure you do not release the Home key until
your iTunes says "We have detected an itouch
in recovery mode."
After this its simple all you
got to do is a simple restore using your iTunes