Ipod Mini not recognized anymore by laptop

[Chronon]

Well, the iPod's hardware evidently works.  It seems like something went awry with your laptop.

[h.finn]

Oh yes Chronon, ipod always worked
and, obviously, Rockbox's sound is faaaaaaaaar superior to iTunes
even with a Mini
still....
...
i'm puzzled
H.

[Llorean]

Sometimes things break at times that make it look like it's related to something that it's not really related to.

[G4Oblivion]

^I agree with Llorean.

In the future use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option, if you don't already.
Although, rare it can cause problems when you just yank out your iPod from your computer.

Question: If he formats the iPod would it have a chance of it being recognized again?
I don't know much, but doesn't formatting kind of reset the device?

[Chronon]

It has already been restored.  This means a new partition table and freshly formatted partitions.  There's nothing Rockbox-related left on the device now. 

[h.finn]

Yeah
All that's true, in fact.
I always use the "safely remove" option
and I "restored", which basically means I reformatted the ipod and no trace of Rockbox should have remained on it
and that got me nowhere with the laptop
and the mini is the ONLY device not recognized anymore by the laptop
very, very bizarre
obviously I reinstalled Rockbox on the mini
being so much better than itunes
H.

[Chronon]

It is a strange set of symptoms.  If I was in your position, I might be tempted to try booting the laptop with a Linux LiveCD to see if using a different OS has any effect on ability to mount the iPod.