20GB click wheel iPod not working- or showing up on computer

My wife's late-2003 20GB click wheel is not working or appearing on either of our Mac computers (either in iTunes or Disk Utility) when attached.
It's making a rather worrying sound (as if trying to engage a hard drive maybe?) and will briefly flash the Exclamation Point/Folder icon, then say Disk Mode and a checkmark and ready to disconnect.
Since it's impossible to find the iPod Updater software how do I restore this iPod- or even just get it out of disk mode? I've tried resetting it and had it plugged into a wall outlet for a day or so to make sure it wasn't a dead battery... any thoughts?
It had been working fine (and regularly connected to the computer to update).

You could try to format the iPod in Windows. It does the same thing as restoring and you would need to restore the iPod as normal (using the iPod updater) afterward. This can work when the iPod is recognized by the computer, but not by the updater.
First, put the iPod into forced disk mode.
See: How to put the iPod into disk mode.
On your PC, go "my computer" and right click on the iPod, then choose "format". Ensure the settings are at "default" and that "quick format" is not checked. Now select "format". When that's finished, restore the iPod using the updater.

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