iPod Problems Connecting To WinXP

Note: Posted this question in the WinXP area a week ago; got zero response, so now posting to you guys. Hope this is not the wrong thing to do.

(Running WinXp on AMD Athlon 1800+ CPU, 512 MB RAM, 60GB HDD, connecting to iPod through USB2 Dock. 30GB iPod)

Problems started when I tried to upgrade to the 2.1 iPod Software - now my WinXP PC has trouble recognizing the iPod. Seems to be 'visible' if the pod's in the dock when the PC boots, but if the PC's running, & you plug the Pod into the dock, nada.
WinXP freezes when I try to do anything, then, too, which is unusual - I never see XP hang.

What I've tried so far:

-Took the iPod back to the Apple Shop - hopeless response; some waffle about how awful MusicMatch is, and told to contact Apple Tech Support (there is no e-mail tech support by Apple.)

- Uninstalled MusicMatch (had been using this to manage files), and uninstalled all the iPod software from the PC.

- reset iPod (the 'press Menu & Play/Pause together' routine)

- re-installed iPod for Windows software from CD that came with iPod

- note: when installing the iPod For Win software, plugged the iPod into dock when asked 'To configure iPod', and then everything stopped (at '0% configured') for a good 3-4 minutes, and I thought it was hanging, but then suddenly proceeded. (Not too sure if the thing actually configured.)

- 'Restored' iPod with the 2.0.1 Updater (figured I'd try to get back to original situation). This worked, I think - actually stopped progressing at the 'Leave your iPod connected while Restore completes' stage for ages (30mins?), at which point I 'Ended Task' and used the 'Safely Remove Hardware' option in XP's System Tray to disengage iPod.

- then downloaded and ran the 2.1 Updater, which also seemed to stop progressing after a while, so similarly disengaged iPod.

(Despite the problems, iPod Manager displays 2.1 as 'System On iPod' so I  _think_ it's updated. If not, how do you get the 'Update' process to complete?)

- Installed iTunes (for Windows) 4.2, as advised.

Now, as stated, if I boot the PC with iPod in dock, it seems to be OK. Bit of a pain to have to re-boot every time I want to manipulate iPod stuff, though, and now a new problem: it's telling me that my iPod 'needs to be configured'. When I click the 'Update' button I'm presented with, however, nothing happens.

iTunes takes ages to launch, also.

I just figure iTunes should be able to connect to the iPod whenever I plug it into the dock, no?

Should I be getting  Firewire card, rather than using USB?

Andy V.
Melbourne
Australia