for Christmas last year I bought my brother a new 80gb iPod classic... he recently moved away and gave me his old 20GB iPod color saying that he didn't need it and maybe I could hack it or get some other kind of use out of it.

it was dead so I borrowed a usb cable and plugged into my computer overnight to charge.
the next day I downloaded and installed iTunes... but it would not recognize the iPod AT ALL...

when plugging in the iPod I see display the "do not disconnect" logo and My Computer will show the iPod pop up as a mass storage device for about 2 minutes and then it disappears, even after it disappears though it recognizes that the iPod is plugged in... iTunes still doesn't recognize it.

-I tried every USB port in my computer (all USB2.0)
-I rebooted numerous times
-I reset the iPod numerous times
-I reinstalled iTunes numerous times
-I tried putting the iPod in file mode and back again
-I completely removed all instances of iTunes/Quicktime/etc from add/remove programs, temp files, straggler files, and registry entries, rebooted and reinstalled iTunes fresh
-I manually changed the iPod drive letter mapping in windows (per the instructions on apples site_

all of that did nothing

I found a fire-wire cable and tried that and again windows recognized the iPod but iTunes would not. Frustrated I left the room for a while to watch some TV... when I came back iTunes was open and it had recognized the iPod... it asked me if I wanted to erase the iPod data and sync it with my data... I did so.

Once it was done I disconnected it and the iPod had all my data on it, it seems to work fine. but I still have the connection issues with the PC... iTunes will not recognize the iPod through USB and it will recognize it through Firewire but only if I leave it connected for an hour or so.

FWIW I called my brother and he said it never gave him any problems like that so...

The stereo in my car has an iPod interface so I'm planning on just using this thing as a music hard drive for my car... I haven't tried hooking it up to my stereo yet but any insight into improving the connection to my PC would be welcome.

Have you tried restoring the firmware yet?

Open iTunes, and click on your iPod. Then you should see a button that says "restore." Do that and see if it fixes the problem

If only we had a section dedicated to ipods!

I did try to do a restore but... no change

I also voted for the ipod forum

Have you tried connecting the iPod to another computer?

What firmware version is it? If it's the latest, try restoring it to an earlier firmware and see how it goes

I had some problems with an iPod similar to what you are experiencing. iTunes dind't do didly squat, so I formated using windows and then restored with iTunes.

You could try that but I'm not taking responsibility if something goes completely wrong.

well, I tried USB on my fiancee's computer but it wouldn't recognize it there either, she doesn't have any firewire ports to test that connection.

it works fine on my brother's computer though...

I'll look into the firmware version thing.

You could also see if you get more reliable connections with something like EphPod.

perhaps a bit late, but have you tried changing the drive letter that the ipod is assigned thru the device manager? had the very same problem when i first picked up my 60g video .. seems that ipod likes to assign itself to drive c:, even if your system is already using it.

control panel - administrative tools - computer management - disk management

make sure the ipod is connected and seen by the pc first (as mass storage device) .. it should show up on the list somewhere. find it, then right click "change drive letter" and change it to something easy (i chose "I" for mine) .. once changed, close down the control panel, safely remove the mass storage device, then unplug ipod. once you plug the ipod back in again, itunes should see it. (if not, your usb cable could be arsed)

late, but i hope it helps someone..

He said he's already tried changing the iPod letter