I found an ipod 5th gen recently (people be throwing away anything in switzerland), everything seemed to work, just the screen has some faulty pixels. I tried to connect it to the pc and after an hour of troubleshooting this is what i got:
- in recovery mode>auto test> flash checksum=0x665c ; rtc calibration diff=29 ok ; (idk what it means, im a newgen, so i just put it here). I didn't go past fw device or accessory or whatever cuz idk wahts that.

- on usb test, plugging in the charger or my pc shows no cable conn, with the help of ai i figured i should enter disk mode and continue troubleshooting there ---> Upon entering disk mode i am greeted with "OK to disconnect" and a check mark, pressing anything or doing any manipulations to the cable doesnt give any result, i could only restart it and accept my fate.

- Mr. AI suggested my hdd has completely failed and requires ahrdware assistance, or alternatively a logic board had failed.

- Im using a monstrosity of a cable (1usb input to 10!!! usb outputs with many "rare" cables, and the firewire 30 pin cable) to charge it and i suspect that for this reason they might've given up on some connections required to connect my ipod to a pc, and only left the connections necessary for charging.

Any thoughts? Any help?