I have my 40G Ipod about 18 months. Cannot remember the date but about 8-10 months ago the battery started behaving strangely.

After a full charge (AC Adapter or Firewall makes no difference) I will get full battery icon and Ipod will play songs for about 60-90 minutes. All seems well and battery icon may reduce by 15% from full.

Then "suddenly" (without any battery warning alarm) the Ipod will turn off - effectively die.

When I turn it on again I get the Apple log, the clock is 0:00, the battery shows empty (but will slowly increase towards 2/3 charge again). But it will not play. Sometimes it just switches off again and other times I get the "low battery" and then off.

I'm no expert but it is like a "short circuit" makes my Ipod die. This never happened in the first 8-or-so months and does not happen to friend Ipods.

I've tried restoring and updating the Ipod firmware. Both have made no difference.

Am I doing something silly or is the Ipod sick enough to take for repair? Really appreciate sound advice.

Stephen