OS freeze on shuffle every 5-15 minutes, battery sensor problems.

Question

My 30gb 5th gen ipod has been through a lot in the few years I've had it, I've dropped it multiple times walking, biking, running on the treadmill - It's never broken save a few scratches in the protective glass and has only occasionally needed a software reset.
However, in the last few months I've noticed that when I put it on song shuffle mode, the ipod OS will freeze in the middle of a song or while switching songs. A software reset (toggling hold switch, holding middle + menu button solution) always does the trick, but when I have to do this every few songs it becomes a real hassle. Not to mention it loses my shuffle progress and sometimes time/date settings.
At first I thought it was a problem with static electricity, (it's winter and it's very dry inside now) So I used my dock speakers while on the treadmill instead of headphones so I didn't have to touch the ipod nearly as often. However, even sitting in the dock without touching it at all it will freeze. In the worst cases I've had the soft reset won't work unless I also plug/unplug the ipod into a power source.
I'm sure this is simply due to the shock the ipod harddrive has had on its various drops, but it doesn't seem to be limited to specific files on the ipod (going back and playing the same song that it froze on after resetting doesn't cause another freeze, it seems purely random.) I'm going to see if I can do a checkdisk function on my ipod harddrive while it's plugged in via USB.
One more thing I've noticed is that sometimes even after charging for a day or more in my dock, when I start running the ipod on battery it will show the "battery empty, shutting down system" message after only an hour or less, even when the onscreen battery display is at 50% charged or more. I do charge my ipod a lot and don't usually run it to empty before recharging, that's probably the issue.
Suggestions or solutions for these problems that don't involve buying a new ipod or refurb would be appreciated.
EDIT: used chkdsk in windows - no errors found.
Message was edited by: laserowl

Answer 1

Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.
If the lock icon in the top left corner of the window shows that the keychain is locked, click to unlock it. You'll be prompted for the keychain password, which is the same as your login password, unless you've changed it.
Right-click or control-click the login entry in the list. From the menu that pops up, select Change Settings for Keychain "login". In the sheet that opens, uncheck both boxes, if not already unchecked.
From the menu bar, select
Keychain Access ▹ Preferences ▹ First Aid
If the box marked Keep login keychain unlocked is not checked, check it.