Chosen Solution
I resurrected my long-dead 3rd Generation 40GB ipod by installing a new battery. It worked for a few minutes and then died. I presumed the battery had a little charge in it and then ran out. When I went to charge it again, I got the battery with exclamation point symbol. It will not charge. I am not sure what to make of this. Perhaps the charging port isn’t working, but then again when I plug in a charger, it reacts by displayed the sign (so it is registering the cord). Is it worth trying to replace the port? I am using the only power cord I have - an iPhone 4S cord. It is 30 point I believe, which I think is the right one. Any help would be much appreciated before I try to buy another one on ebay to cannibalize the charging port/dock!
Here’s what Apple has to say on this issue: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1378
A bit late to the game, but for everyone else: This iPod does NOT charge over USB. You have to use a FireWire cable and connect it to either your computer or a FireWire wall adapter. Apple did make a cable that allowed you to both charge over FireWire and sync over USB at the same time (iPod FireWire + USB 2.0 Cable, M9688G/A). Hope this helps, regards
