Garyi,

Indeed. I've tried the reset procedure several times. I'm sure it's a system software thing too. It sort of resets, and will even try to play at times but it seems to "play" through the tracks at an alarming pace! No sound through the 'phones though.

The PC recognises the ipod. I've reinstalled iTunes. I've reset the ipod but can't (as far as I'm aware) restore the ipod : the update / restore program seems to hang on my Windows.

Maybe a kind of a catch 22 - I could probably get it to restore if it would recognise the ipod but I can't get it to recognise the ipod until it's restored!

Jeff