This problem essentially bricks my iPod for a couple days until I'm mysteriously able to access the disk. I've reinstalled (as in, completely erased everything on iPod, then reinstalled iTunes firmware, then full automated install from rockbox) repeatedly and this is very frustrating. It works the first time after installation, but then fails. What's strange is how random the errors seem -- the iPod passed diagnostics fwiw.
There are a few possible outcomes of rebooting the iPod 5.5g I've discovered:
*Hangs with non-backlit Apple icon for about an hour, then shows sad face
*Hands with non-backlit Apple icon (forever?) until battery dies
*Shows non-backlit Apple icon for a few seconds, then sad face or "restore iPod with iTunes" message.
*Shows "very low battery" screen (even though battery is full) - this generally occurs if I try to access diagnostics from sad face
*Very rarely, will go into disk mode. It seems I get better odds if I go into diagnostics mode and then try going into disk mode with "action" & "play" but I am often unable to enter diagnostics mode either, so....
There is no bootloader screen on the iPod ever when booting. At first it just tries going into Rockbox automatically and then never runs again.
I am able to run iTunes firmware fine when I have not installed the bootloader/Rockbox.
My iPod is bricked again, so whenever I'm able to use it again, I will try to install an older version to see if it corrects. I'm surprised to be the first person reporting this, so maybe I'm missing something obvious.
Cheers.