Q: help needed!

my son locked himself out of his 2nd gen ipod, ive tried to connect to itunes and restore but constantly get a message saying

the ipod software update server could not be contacted

'make sure your network settings are correct and your network connection is active, or try again later'

ive tried for 2 days now at different times of the day and night, does that mean thats its totally buggered now?

many thanks for any advice in advance