Folder Icon with Explanation Mark?

Right my number 2 iPod
(4th Gen Click Wheel 40GB)
has suddenly started displaying a litttle folder with an explanation mark.
I'm not seeing anything relevant in the discussion forums- searching takes ages- which time I did spend, no joy- but maybe I'm just not seeing the relevant post!
To clarify-
1. I've tried the whole connect to computer & reformat thing as suggested by Apple it keeps telling me it can't seat (was that the word- I forget- I took it to mean it couldn't connect to the iPod)
(failed!)
2. I've tried opening it & disconecting the hard drive & reconnecting (worked with the sad iPod icon on my 20gb one)
(failed)
3. I've searched online for repair solutions- nothing relevant- all seems like point 1 above
(failure to find anything new)
my question is... (tah-dah!)
HAS ANYONE HAD THIS ISSUE AND GOT IT WORKING??
A link to any Posts would be great Thanks!

As I was told the hard drive was totally stuffed- I've posted a question with more relevance now- about expanding the hardrive memory!

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After reading through the forums I've found a few discussions and users that have similar problems as me but haven't seen anything that deals directly with my issues.
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Chank wrote:
After reading through the forums I've found a few discussions and users that have similar problems as me but haven't seen anything that deals directly with my issues.
After upgrading to Leopard last night, it ran sluggishly for about 15 minutes. I got impatient and decided to restart.
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mark. I can get it in to disk mode but my laptop
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Folder Icon with Explanation Mark?

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