Some helpful hints and common fixes

First thing to try is a cold reset. Don't worry, you won't lose your songs or play lists.
Hold down the Menu and the center button at the same time till the apple logo appears and the screen lights up.

Is the ipod dead? Does it come on at all? Try attaching the ipod to a dock or wall charger. If it works, you may just need a new battery.

Is the ipod making any weird screeching or clicking noises? Or does it coming up to the "Sad Face" icon? If it is, you may have a bad hard drive.

This may sound crazy, but try giving the ipod a good hard whack. Sometimes the hard drive may be stuck and a good hit will make it work again

You can run a hard drive test on the ipod.

To go into diagnostic mode:

1.Turn off ipod by holding down the play/pause button till ipod shuts off.
2.Switch the ipod hold switch to hold then switch it back.
3.Hold down the Menu and the center button at the same time till the apple logo appears and the screen lights up.
4.As soon as it does, take your fingers off the menu and select buttons and quickly push down the reverse and center buttons.
5.Hold them down and it should put you into diagnostic mode.
6.Scroll down with the click wheel till you see HDD Scan. You may need to select memory test first.
7.Run the test. It may take up to 45min.

If it passes it will say good, ok or passed. If the hard drive passes, you are looking at bad logic board.

In diagnostic mode, you can test many other things such as the clickwheel and screen, screen backlight.