Rockbox did not kill my ipod

[rare_g]

Hi-

After procrastinating for the longest time, I finally decided to install Rockbox on my old 4th Gen 40GB iPod.  I used the bootloader and it installed great.  I added a FLAC file to test it out and it worked and sounded great.  Needless to say I was quite excited. 
So I decided to load some more music to the iPod.  I started transferring files and while it was doing its thing, I got distracted by my 2 year old daughter and forgot about the file transfer.  Anyhow, about 45 - 60 minutes later I get back to my desk and see that the iPod has an empty battery symbol in the display with a little lightning bolt on it. 
Great.  I thought I ran the iPod completely out of its battery so disconnected it from the computer and plugged it into the wall charger.  Unfortunately, it appears that the iPod is dead.  It has been plugged into the charger for at least 3+ hours and all this time it has had nothing but a blank screen.  There isn't even a 'battery is charging' type of symbol.  it appears to be completely useless.
I am going to leave it charging all night but if it does not recover I am gonna be pissed. 
Does any one have any suggestions on how to remedy this malfunction?  Or am I screwed?  I know that Rockbox is tough on the battery life but for it to be completely dead without any response from even the wall charger is a little disappointing.   Is it possible the iPod short circuited?  I did not detect any burnt smell from the hardware so I don't think that's the issue. 
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.  Fortunately my D2 kicks ass so I am not without a player, but it would be nice to still be able to use the iPod.   
Thanks in advance!
mike

[Llorean]

Rockbox isn't "hard on the battery." It actually is quite capable of getting better battery life than the original firmware.

After charging overnight, turn the hold switch on and then off again then hold Menu+Select. Hold this, and try not to wiggle your fingers (to trigger the wheel) for about 30 seconds. If it doesn't work try it a few more times. Eventually your iPod should reboot and be fine.

[rare_g]

Thanks for the tip.  Much appreciated.  I will try that in the morning. 

I'll let ya know how it goes....

UPDATE:  It is working again!  Thanks!   

It is strange though... I got it to power up no problem but then when I powered down, it showed an empty battery with an exclamation point in a triangle.... So I went ahead and toggled the hold switch and pressed menu+select and it powered up no problem and it shows a fully battery on the display.   
But whatever.... point is it is functioning again and I greatly appreciate your assistance!  Thanks!

[AlexP]

I've edited the thread title so as to not worry people with no reason.

[froggyman]

i had that exact same problem a couple of months ago (before i new about rockbox)!

I wish i would have known that, but oh well i was able to send it into apple to get a brand new iPod video U2 edition!

[djnforce9]

I asked about this problem (or rather I found out that it was related to this) in a thread I made. I was told that it was a bug in the apple bootloader itself where it reports a dead battery followed by a blank screen when there really isn't a problem. Doing the reset as you did of course fixes it. You wouldn't notice it as much with the original firmware because it goes into standby instead of completely shutting down so it's less likely you will be powering up and loading the firmware again.

So yeah, I guess if you see the dead battery icon, reset the ipod and try again (make sure it's not plugged in via USB when resetting or you'll always get the dead battery icon I find).