2nd-gen. Shuffle problems, related to connectivity (?)

Question

My 2nd-gen. Shuffle worked fine until this morning.
Now, when I turn it on detached from the dock, I get a constant green light on the top (by the switch) and the light on the bottom remains off. When I say constant referring to the top light, I mean not only that it's not flashing but also that it's continuously on (I had it on for a good 10 minutes or so before assuring myself that was the case). Turning it off turns the light off, as it should.
I've tried with no success the simple restore method that Apple offers to alleviate this problem.
Further, when connected to the dock and plugged into the computer: a) the iPod shuffle flashes a green light once and b) Windows does not recognize my iPod. I've tried disabling the iPod service and reconnecting, and I've also attempted to connect the device in safe mode--both to no avail in getting XP to recognize the thing. And yes, the ports are 2.0 (if they weren't how would I ever have had the darn thing working in the first place?). And by "Windows does not recognize my iPod," I mean that I get no response whatsoever from the OS: no device manager indications, no 'Add New Hardware Wizard' prompts, etc.
As for a background that may shed some light on the above problems I'm now experiencing: This morning when I first opened iTunes 7.0.2 and plugged in my Shuffle to sync it as always, the Shuffle showed itself as empty. I then went to restore the software but was stopped cold by the infamous 1418 error (which I found odd as I'd always thought it particular to the 1st-gen. Shuffle). I then reformatted my iPod using widely-distributed instructions and was able to get past the 1418 error, only to have iTunes again halt the restore process, due to a -50 error.
At this point, I said to **** with iTunes 7.0.2 and reverted back to 6.0.5 (which reminded me how much Apple's software has gone downhill recently, but I digress). My iPod was still being recognized in Windows at this point, but iTunes was giving me some whining about how I needed to be using 7.0.2 to use my Shuffle.
The thing is, I don't want to use any version newer than 6.0.5 for a multitude of reasons. So, I plugged my Shuffle into my roommate's Powerbook G4 which has 7.0.2 installed. I intended on restoring the Shuffle in there and then using it in XP as a non-iTunes device (using the third-party software, Shuffler), but the Shuffle wasn't recognized at all. I returned the Shuffle to my computer running XP and again, the Shuffle was not recognized.
As you can see, my Shuffle isn't dead in the sense that it's quite eager to light up, but it may as well be given that I can't use for it anything besides as a hardly-functional paperweight. But such a plethora of things have happened in just one day that it makes finding the culprit behind this all nearly impossible, it seems. At the same time, though, all I need to do is get either a Windows or Mac computer to recognize it so I can format it once more and give the restore process one last chance to complete.
So, any help is much appreciated. And thanks to anybody in advance for their input, though I'll be sure to respond to any suggestions posted here.
(I know this has been a long read, but such complex problems require such a number of words.)

Answer 1

My compliments on your lengthy, but thoroughly accurate saga. You have several issues, many of which we share. So, see if you can glean any assistance from my saga.
1. I simply cannot get iTunes 7.0.2 to run on my Sony Vaio notebook. It crashes seconds after loading and I have tried everything. So, I reverted back to iTunes 6.0.5.
2. When I got a 2G-Shuffle for Christmas, I searched for -- and found in this forum -- a little program that lets you use Windows Explorer to copy music files directly to your Shuffle. It works great. You can check it out and download if you choose at this link.
http://shuffle-db.sourceforge.net/
3. I change songs on my 2G-Shuffle frequently. Every once in a while, my Shuffle starts acting bizarre or it just locks up like yours. Oddly, the solution was to simply delete one song from my Shuffle. I thought it was a bug in the little shuffle loader problem. But lately, I have begun to believe that it just may be firmware bug in the Shuffle itself. Based on all the people in this forum who begin their problem statement with "It worked fine for a month", and they are using iTunes 7.0.2. Well, who knows, and I don't care if Apple has a bug produced by an exact file size. BTW, every time I connect my Shuffle, I get the whining 7.0.2 message and I get to ignore it.
4. There are a lot of posters who cured their connectivity problems by resetting their USB ports. Shutdown and unplug your PC completely. After at least 30 seconds, power back up and don't connect your Shuffle until the system is completely back up.
That's my saga. Let me know how you fare with you trouble.
Good Luck, Bill