Without looking at the other topic, mostly due to the condition of lazyness, i'm going to guess right off of the bat that it is a hardware issue. If your laptop has suffered any kind of damage, effecting the USB part of your computer, or any internal damage, there probably won't be much you can do besides getting it repaired or using another computer.

Exactly. My thoughts exactly. If its overheating, it must be some kind of internal ware and tare.

It could just be your laptop being damaged, which isn't much comfort sadly. It's possible the heat is making your processor attempt to slow down to try and cut down on the heat, or has just damaged it somehow. Unless it only happens when you plug in your iPod in which case it sounds like there's too much current flowing through the USB, this could be either due to damage to the USB systems in your laptop so that it sends too much current or damage to your iPod making it draw too much current.

Try attaching your iPod to another computer, if this has no issues it would seem that it's the computer at fault.

Hope this helps.

Good to see you back if only for a while CX2!