My iPod has bricked itself again due to the updates. It went to update and locked itself out.

I am trying to update it via another PC and it just seems to refuse. When it gets to "Restoring iPod" the green bar freezes under the word 'iPod' and doesn't move.

As good as OS4 is it is causing far too many troubles for my liking! What can I do?

I feel your pain as my iTouch had the same problem each time I upgraded the OS.
All I can say is keep repeating the restore procedures with pc reboots in between, plus an occasional rest for all the devices. I can't say what the magic trick was when I managed to restore finally, but I gave up trying for a couple of days and then went back to it.....and it finally worked. Needless to say I'm not going to rush into doing the latest update .

I always back up my apps folder as well as everything else now before any interaction with iTunes.

Agreed. You just have to keep trying and eventually the ipod should kick into life.

Are Apple becoming Nokia in disguise?

mine's frozen a few times, nothing too worrying (touch wood!) but iit is frustrating as it seems to do it without warning
or it will just exit an app suddenly
i love my ipod but hey wht's perfect these days???

Can you not plug your iPod Touch into your computer and re-set to original values? Then just re-sync everything over?

DFU Recovery Mode is what you need to use as a last resort if your iDevice is malfunctioning and not being able to be restored. Google it and there's plenty of info out there about exactly how to enter DFU mode, and what to do.

Note that DFU mode wipes all your data from the device, and if you want to revert to an older iOS version (say 3.1.3), then unless you already have it, you'll need to download if from a reputable unofficial source.

There's no reason if you do the above that you can't end up with an as good as new device running 3.1.3.

As soon as you plug it in it realises it is in recovery mode and won't let you do anything else with it.

I'll try this DFU mode thing.

Sounds like it is already in DFU mode. Have you tried the make a new Windows user name trick, and run iTunes from this new user name? ie restore the software from a blank itunes. If it works you can then switch back to your normal user name and sync everything back across.

Yeah, it is already in DFU mode. I shall try this user name trick! I'll get back you in a minute!

EDIT: Unfortunately, nothing changed. Just got Error 21 instead of 14...

Hmm that's a bummer If you have access to another PC you could try the same thing on there. If still no joy, unfortunately you have little choice but to take/send it to Apple.

PS make sure it's an admin username and reboot the computer.

Ahh, I didn't do this last night. I shall try again! :P
If not, off to Glasgow I go. I just love making unnecessary trips...