ipod 160GB Classic not recognized by itunes

Thank you for your timely response. I ran the diagnostic test you noted and came up with the following stats:

Retracts - 223

Reallocs - 0

Pending - 0

Power Hours - 12

Start/Stops - 879

Curr Temp - 28C

Min Temp - 16

Max Temp - 50

I'm running the disk scan test now (in disk mode), but as I noted before the original scan showed no errors at all, and I can still run the iPod (independently of iTunes) to play music. Would that be functioning if I had a bad drive or bad sectors, none of which appear to be present?

Does this interim feedback provide additional information for troubleshooting I should try. This whole thing is odd because this particular iPod has never given me problems, has plenty of storage left, and seems to function beautifully in stand-alone mode. It's also my most valuable, as it contains a 2000+ song playlist that I couldn't recover if I lost this iPod for use.

I greatly appreciate the guidance you're providing as I try to muddle my way through this. Thank you again.

Thanks again. Tried your find driver solution; but diagnostics showed I already had the most current driver. I also looked to clean the docking port of the fluff you felt might be the problem, but don't think that's the issue based on my finding noted to you below.

Did try to connect this particular iPod to someone else's machine that had the latest version of iTunes, and the device was immediately recognized within iTunes! Does this shed any further light on possible troubleshooting?

With that said, still uncertain it's a driver or iTunes issue because the other 7 iPod 160GB Classics are all working within that operating environment.

While I continue to be frustrated on how to solve this, your continued guidance and assistance is greatly appreciated.