When I switch on I now get the red cross accompanied by a clicking/unwell noise.
On holding down centre & menu buttons, it moves to the apple picture but when I press the play/pause and centre buttons to reset I just get the red cross again.
MacBook
What you describe (including the noises) sounds like the iPod's hard drive is faulty.
On holding down centre & menu buttons, it moves to the apple picture but when I press the play/pause and centre buttons to reset I just get the red cross again.
That describes putting the iPod into Disk Mode, which is a good thing to try. If you can't get passed the error screen, the hard drive is probably bad. Here's the Disk Mode procedure, to confirm that's what you tried
How to put your iPod into disk mode - Apple Support
If you want to continue using the iPod, you can consider replacing iPod's hard drive with commonly available flash-based storage, in the form of compact flash card or SD card. This web site has relevant information
on iPod can't get rid of red cross
