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The ipod has to be one of the most successful gadgets to come out this century and like most small electronic gadgets they will break down from time to time. If you purchased your ipod from an authorised Apple dealer and your device is still within its warranty period then lucky you, all you need to do in this eventuality is ship it back to Apple and they will repair or replace it free of charge.

However, if your warranty has expired or like me the ipod you purchased is one of the thousands that every day are traded second hand then talking to Apple is going to be as effective as talking to a brick wall. OK, that may be a little harsh, their support staff will talk you through basic diagnostics over the phone however if it does need to be sent in for repair, the bill for this will be not far off the cost of buying a new ipod (second hand anyway).

Lucky for you then that just like most Apple products, the ipod is exceptionally well designed both internally and externally and provided you can diagnose the fault then home repair is an easy option.

You will know there is a problem with your ipod when it either doesn't power up, it isn't recognised by itunes, it won't play music, or it displays the sad face logo on its screen. Before you even think of getting your screwdrivers out there are a few steps you should take first and I will assume at this point you have already left it charging overnight and your problem isn't simply a flat battery.

The first thing to try is the 5 R's which are detailed at length on Apple's support site. Briefly these are

Reset - flick hold on and off then hold down the menu and select buttons (centre button and top of wheel)

Retry - try plugging your ipod into a different USB or firewire socket on your computer

Restart - restart your computer

Reinstall - get the latest version of itunes and reinstall your ipod from this new version

Restore - restore your ipod from itunes

There is another method you can try if none of the above works, firstly put your ipod into drive mode by using the reset method and then straight away pressing the play/pause button. This forces the ipod to act like a standard external hard drive and it will become visible in Windows. Next select the ipod in the Windows view, right click and select format (WARNING this will erase everything on your ipod). Then open itunes and keep your fingers crossed! If it was just a problem of corrupted software on the ipod, itunes will go about reinstalling everything and your ipod will be

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