iPod video 30GB - locks completely, PC won't recognize it

[Faldrath]

Hey, not sure if this is the right forum to post this but honestly I can't even tell if this is a hardware or software issue anymore.

Here is my tale of woe: I've been using Rockbox, happily, for more than 6 months on my iPod video 30GB (r13967-070723, I know this is old but I never had any reason to update this, since it always worked perfectly). I used Windows Explorer to transfer files, I didn't even have iTunes installed.

Yesterday, after transferring a couple more songs from my PC, I had a "brilliant" idea - why not simply transfer my Winamp playlist to my iPod, that way I won't even have to update my iPod playlist anymore. I noticed the Winamp playlist was a .m3u file, while the ones in my iPod were .m3u8, but I didn't think that would be a problem.

So I loaded the playlist... and my iPod stopped working. It got to the first song, but I noticed that it displayed the file type as .ape, when it was an .ogg file. And the hard drive locked up, to the point that the player was getting warm. And the iPod wouldn't turn off. I reseted it, but the problem persists - I can change volume (even though nothing is being played) and access the Rockbox menu, but whenever I try to access the files, or playlist, or anything that needs HD access, the player freezes completely. Plugging it to the computer is no good - it will not be recognized any longer. I drained the battery completely, but as soon as it connects to the PC again it freezes. I installed iTunes again, but it won't detect the iPod.

Is there anyone who can help? Anything at all would be appreciated, I don't mind formatting the player and losing everything if that is what it takes. Thanks in advance.

[nls]

Try putting it in emergency diskmode and see if your computer will recognize it.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651

[Faldrath]

Oh, thanks, I'll try that when I get home. Out of curiosity, any idea why this whole mess happened? Is there a known issue with Winamp playlist files?

[Faldrath]

Oh, and it worked! Thank you so much!