IPod shows red X on the screen and turns off by itself

Question

my 80GB iPod was just sitting on my desk when all of a sudden it turned off. i tried turning it back on, the apple sign shows, then a big red "X" mark shows on the screen and below it shows a link to apple's support page - "www.apple.com/support/ipod".
I clicked everything i can and nothing happens, i plugged it in the computer and iTunes shows nothing. I tried reseting it many times but it'll just show the same red X and turn off again... is my ipod broken for good or can i fix this?

Answer 1

Hey, I had the same problem and did everything I could think of to fix it (apple store, resetting it, draining the charge). Then I started freaking out because I didn't want to spend the money on a new hard drive or a new iPod. So I did a little searching and found this on another forum:
"Some times when you drop your ipod the lens inside skips. (kinda like a record player) reset your ipod by holding the middle and menu button until you hear clicking. then with one hand hold the ipod firmly and hit the side of it onto the PALM of your other hand. Sometimes this jumps the needle back into place but not all the time."
I didn't drop mine like mentioned ablove, it just happened, but I've been frustrated and was going to try anything to not spend another $200+. I used the palm method, and it didn't work. But then I hit the side of the ipod on the ground (carpet of course) about two or three times. It made a funny noise and then turned on and started working like before. What a relief. Hope this helps.