Duncan, thanks for the tip that you have to be really quick in depressing the three reset buttons once the battery is connected. it got me up and running again. i had been trying this technique for a number of days but with no success. guess i wasn't quick enough. you supplied info, insight, and empathy which is more than i can say for a number of so called moderator experts who throw out terms like "just soft-reset". not everyone is a tech
head. additionally many of the users on this site are brand new and only here given the recent event of the 30gb failure -- myself included.