Gomezy3k,
When you purchase a computer with Windows preinstalled, it is the contractual responsibility of the manufacturer to provide technical support for both the operating system and the hardware.
Quite often in order to cut costs, computer manufacturs will say in their warranty documentation that they will provide tech support for the OS only to the extent of helping you reinstall the OS using the manufacturer-supplied recovery solution.
If you had purchased Windows at retail in a nice pretty retail package and installed it yourself, Microsoft has the contractual responsibility to provide the technical support for the operating system.
Now to the problem....
I assume you are trying to conect the iPod using a USB cable, and the situation is that the system is acting like it is not seeing the iPod.
Things to do:
1. Connect something else to the computer using the same USB port to verify the port is working.
2. Connect your iPod using your iPod's cable to another computer to verify that the iPod and cable are functioning properly.
3. Try to connect your iPod to your computer using the mass storage mode of the iPod. If this works and connecting as an iPod player does not work, then the problem is most likely with the iTunes installation.
4. Completely uninstall iTunes, restart, then do a fresh download of the latest iTunes from Apple.
5. Have a look at this support page at apple.com:
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/
6. Look at this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1717
For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
