itunes is ignoring ipod and windows doesn't recongise it, am desperate.

*Checking hard-drive for errors*
Hold Menu+Select on the iPod for about 6 seconds until it resets, then hold Menu+Play as soon as the Apple logo appears, again for about 6 seconds to put the machine in disk mode. Connect to your computer, closing iTunes if it opens. Browse *My Computer* and right-click on the drive for the iPod, click Properties, then click Tools. Under Error-checking, click *Check Now*. Under Check disk options, select *Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors* (Optional - takes ages but a good idea if you've reason to suspect physical damage). Click Start. Mac users should run *Disk Utility / Repair Disk* for the equivalent process. This should find and correct any errors in the logical & physical structures of your iPod's hard drive. Once these have been fixed you can reset the iPod (hold Menu+Select ) and should stand a better chance of a successful restore.

Since you say you don't have regular access to a computer I'm wondering if you have all your music stored on the computer you are planning to use for the restore. Restoring wipes all content from the iPod which might not be what you want to happen at this point... Check out this post from Zevoneer for some iPod recovery options.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6273675&#6273675

Most of the tools will rely on a valid iPod library but the manual recovery method should work regardless, albeit with limitations.

tt2