Ipod Mini not responding, stuck on folder/exclamation point screen

Hey guys. I have been trying to put some music on on my cousins gf's ipod mini.

I did it when she first got it, a months ago, and it worked fine.

She has since left left it in her back seat, and hadnt fiddled with it much.

Well now the screen just shows up the folder with the exclamation point. Ive tried the ipod reset, the switch the hold, menu and select at the same time.

it resets, and just goes back to the folder ! screen.

I tried using the ipod update software, installed it, and plugged in the ipod, and the ipod isnt recognized, and it wont let me flash/upgrade the software, the "update" and "restore" buttons stay greyed out.

Any ideas folks? Ive about run out of options, as im not too familiar with these yet, just starting to use my 60gb video.

Should she just take it to the apple store, and see what they can do?

run the ipod restore software loaded on your computer

it sounds like you deleted the program which runs the ipod, i did this at first with my mini

if that doesnt work, the battery may be worn out, and if you havent tried restarting it with the power plug in try it, it helped me. personally, I punched the back of my 40gig 4th gen ipod and it worked again, so maybe the HDD is off balance, so try that. if extreme measures are needed, open it up using a guitar pick, and there is a whole sticky on how to do that.

The folder with the exclamation mark usually indicates HDD failure. You may have to get it replaced...

chew63 said:

The folder with the exclamation mark usually indicates HDD failure. You may have to get it replaced...

Click to expand...

Bingo

Take it into your Apple store and let them help you out, it will be a lot easier since they are trained for this and if it's convenient it will save you a lot of time.

Not necessarily.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61003

so if reset and plug-in doesn't work, it's still either HD or battery-related.

Take it to the Genius Bar.

ya i tried the restore software, and the software wouldnt even recognize the ipod, it wouldnt let me restore or upgrade the software.

currently the ipod updater gives me "ipod service error" when i try to load it with the ipod plugged in.