itunes auto-ejects my iPod classic immediately after mounting

greetings,

a very strange problem started today...

i have a 120Gig iPod classic, software version 2.0.1

i have 3 macs of different:

1 macbook pro about 3 years old with 10.6.6 and iTunes 10.1.2,

1 macbook pro also 3 years old with 10.6.7 which is my work computer, iTunes 10.5,

1 powerbook 1.5Ghz G4 with 10.4.11, iTunes 9.2.1 which is my music server connected to my stereo.

i also have a mountable partition on my iPod to transfer files between computers when needed.

i keep my iPod set to "manual syncing" in iTunes so i can plug it into any computer to play my music when away from homw.

today, when plugging in my iPod to my MBPro with 10.6.6, the iPod showed it was connected to a computer and the iPod mounted on the desktop, like normal. then, i manually started iTunes. the iPod appeared in iTunes but wouldn't play anything when i tryed to play songs. the display on my iPod sad "ejecting" and then behaved as though it was no longer connected to my MBPro. the iPod partition was now unmounted in the finder. however iTunes still showed the iPod and all the songs on it. i ejected the iPod in iTunes and tried again. i watched the iPod screen and saw that after connecting to iTunes it display "syncing" for a moment, then gave an message that it was being ejected...

i repeated this on my powerbook, where it normally syncs to, with the same symptoms.

i tried resetting the iPod, cycle hold switch then hold select and menu until the apple logo appeared. the iPod reset and i tried again with the same results...

i rebooted my computers, reset the iPod again and continue to get the same behavior on all 3 computers... clearly an iPod problem... iTunes indicates the iPod software is up to date...

checking the console logs for iTunes error messages, the only messages that shows up with iTunes is "CGSGetWindowBounds: Null window" repeatedly. this appears in 1 computer, don't see error messages when connecting the iPod in the other computer....

since i cannot keep my iPod mounted to any computer with any version of iTunes, i'm not sure what to do to fix it since the simple reset option doesn't work.

i searched the iPod discussion forum and didn't see anything that looks like this.

has anyone seen this before?

any suggestions about what to try next?

i appreciate any suggestions...

thanks-