[stefanicotine]

I bought my 5G iPod maybe 3 months ago. If that. Anyway, sometimes it won't turn on. I have to hold the Menu button to boot up (and I get the Apple logo). Sometimes it won't shut off. I have to keep trying (Usually the screen just dims and nothing happens). Sometimes it won't play songs. I press Play, and it says it's playing, but the track time and progress bar won't move, and I get no audio. This requires a reset to fix.

I'm getting pretty ticked off. I took it back to the reseller I bought it from and they won't replace it or refund my money. It's in mint condition, not a single scratch, practically brand new. And they won't do a thing. They told me to send it to Apple to get a replacement iPod. But knowing Apple, they'll turn it on and find nothing wrong with it.

Do you have any suggestions? Perhaps a reformat?

And on the topic of reformatting, can I reformat for Windows (using bootcamp or parallels on my intel iMac) and then use it in Mac OS X? I'd really like the ability to plug it into my friend's PC's, but still sync with my Mac iTunes.

[analogika]

Of course a reformat is the first step! This is the first thing any tech will do.

Download the very latest software off iTunes and then tell it not to "update", but to "Restore" the iPod. This will erase everything and reformat it with a completely fresh system, as it were.

You can format it on a Windows machine, and it will work on both Windows and Mac.

Be aware, though, that Windows will often wreak very strange voodoo on iPods. It's Windows.

[ghporter]

Mainly the issue is returning the iPod to a known state. That is why you need to Restore it. DO NOT use a normal formatting tool, like Disk Utility or Windows' formatting tools, use the iPod updater! While you may be able to get the right disk format installed on the iPod, it won't provide the needed code (I'm not sure if it's firmware or operating code that goes on the disk) for the iPod to actually be an iPod.

Did I mention that it's CRUCIAL for you to use the iPod Updater? Just wanted to make sure.

One more point: if you format the iPod for Windows, it will sync songs from both a Mac and a PC, but you can only update the iPod's firmware on a PC. If you format it for Mac, it will only accept firmware updates from a Mac. It WILL NOT be recognized by a PC at all if it's formatted for Mac because Windows can't even see the Mac's HFS file system.