Q: my ipod classic suddenly stopped responding

Thank you Brendan.  As it turns out, I was able to get the iPod woken up before I received your hints.  What worked for me:  the iPod froze with the screen illuminated, so I  simply let the battery run down. After I recharged it a bit, it worked.  The important thing here was that the screen was illuminated, so that the battery would completely run down over night, and I could do something fairly quickly.

c--