so my ipod just randomly wont work

i plugged it into a wall charger and when i looked at it like 5 mins later where the lighting bolt/charging symbol should of been there was a plug symbol. as soon as i unplugged it even though it was charged it shut off.

when i plugged it into itunes nothing happened. so i put it into recovery mode by holding the sleep/wake button and home down then releasing sleep/wake and keeping home down. itunes found it but when i try to update and restore it cant get past "preparing ipod for restore"

it comes up error code 1601. i have tried uninstalling and reinstalling itunes that didnt help. i tried letting it die completely then charging it that didnt work. i took it to apple there is NO water damage.

can ANYONE help me?

i am wondering if a patched Windows 7 could have anything to do with it not being able to restore.

its not "jail broken" nothing has been modded or customized.

PLEASE HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!