I can't restore my iPod (3G 40GB XP)

[stpauler]

Long story short, I shouldn't have an iPod. I'm irresponsible with its care.

The main problem is I'm trying to do a restore to the iPod and the software isn't finishing the job and is leaving it in "Disk Mode".

Back-up info, well, I shouldn't have a computer either, I downloaded some stuff with spyware and while trying to remove it, I blew up my Windows XP. I had to reinstall everything on my computer and lose about 60GB of music. Sigh. But, it's back, up and running and a lot more disk space. I guess I shouldn't have left the iPod plugged in when I was doing that because it started to do a restore when I loaded the iPod software. The iPod got messed up and has been in "Disk Mode" since. I've tried reinstalling the software a couple times, I've tried to manually reboot the iPod, I've tried just plugging it into the electrical outlet, and I've tried to do the restore that came with it as well as the new 10/20/04 restore from Apple.com. I also read to try and format it from Windows Explorer but it wouldn't let me. When I attempt to do the restores, the updater gets to "Your iPod has been restored to factory settings and is restarting. Please leave the iPod connected and wait while it completes the restore process." ands then just stops.

Any advice/suggestions would be really appreciated, in the meantime, I'm going to go cry in a corner.

Thanks!

[stpauler]

bump

[toothpaste]

what exactly is "bump"??