Hi. My son's ipod did the same thing with the buttons not working until it ran flat. My husband looked on the net and apparently if you hold down 2 buttons simultaneously for about 5 seconds it kind of reboots it - not a reset that clears everything off it, but just like it does when it runs flat. I can't for the life of me remember which buttons it is, and it may be different for different models of ipod, but google it and it'll tell you. As for the not syncing...unfortunately my son's did that as well, shortly after it started with the not responding, and the only answer we could find to that was to completely reset it via the button on itunes when it was connected and start again from scratch - sorry. Good luck.