If anybody can solve this, they win.

Question

I have a 15gb third generation (3g) ipod. Bought in April 2003, fully functional until about april 2006, at which point it stopped turning on all together.
My thought? I made a homemade battery-pack out of an altoids tin, some batteries, and some soldering. It worked really well, providing the right amount of electricity and supplying juice for a good 8 hours---but I thought it may have fried the battery.
So one day, my ipod stopped working. It wouldn't turn on, nothing. I gave up trying to revive it, and stuffed it away for a few months.
But then, last week, I plugged it into my computer and it magically worked--not correctly, but it worked. I managed to download the updater and update the firmware--but then the ipod would only display the apple icon followed by the "connect to charge" icon before turning off.
At the time, I had no idea what was wrong. So I plugged it into the computer, I reset it a thousand times, I went into diagnostic mode, I even opened it up and unplugged and replugged the battery. No dice.
Later I found out here that a firmware update on a 3g must be completed by plugging the ipod into the AC charger. So I got mine back from my friend and did that, still no dice. Even left it charging for a good day and still nothing. Even bought a replacement battery (mine is getting old and unreliable anyway) and still no dice.
Here's what I think happened: somewhere between unplugging the battery and resetting a million times, I disrupted the ipod's ability to finish the firmware update. So I'm unable to access anything--including diskmode--because the ipod simply won't run any firmware at all.
So I'm stuck. Diagnostic mode tells me that everything is a go, but nothing is going anywhere. I'm unable even to get the ipod recognized by a computer in order to format it through windows---at best I can get a bubble to pop up on the computer saying "Device failure"
If you could offer any help it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time
--David.
Windows XP Pro
  Windows XP Pro  

Answer 1

Hi
First, try this
For Window computer
Go to folder “My Computer”
Hope you can see your iPod there and right click on the iPod
Choose “Format”. Ensure the settings are at “Default” and that “Quick Format” is not checked
Now select “Format”
Eject your iPod and do a Reset
Open the iPod Updater and click “Restore”
In case you do not manage to do a “Format” on a window computer, try to use some 3rd party disk utility software, e.g.“HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool”.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=501330&tstart=0
If does not work
Windows users having trouble with their iPods should locate a Mac user. In many cases when an iPod won't show up on a PC that it will show up on the Mac. Then it can be restored. When the PC user returns to his computer the iPod will be recognized by the PC, reformatted for the PC, and usable again. By the way, it works in reverse too. A Mac user often can get his iPod back by connecting it to a PC and restoring it.
Tips
a. It does not matter whether the format is completed or not, the key is to erase (or partly) the corrupted firmware files on the Hard Drive of the iPod. After that, when the iPod re-connected with a computer, it will be recognized as an fresh external hard drive, it will show up on the iPod updater.
b. It is not a difficult issue for a Mac user to find a window base computer, for a PC user, if they can’t find any Mac user, they can go to a nearest Apple Shop for a favor.
c. You may need to switch around the PC and Mac, try to do several attempts between “Format” and “Restore”
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2364921&#2364921