So recently I was at a friends house and saw an orange iPod nano 4g sitting near his TV...
I knew he had recently gotten an ipod touch so I said "Is that your old iPod?"
He responded "Yeah..."
I asked "Is it broken?"
"Yeah."
"Can I have it?"
"Sure..?"
"THANKS! AWESOME!"

So the journey began to figure out what's wrong.
I was heading to school so no time to plug into itunes that morning, so while at school I fiddled with it...
upon switching hold on and off it would give the apple symbol then say "plug into PC" or something along those lines.
Got home that day, first thing did a restore!
Guess what! I see the menu!
...What's this? I can't control the menu?
So the buttons are broken!

This instructable (my first) explains a fix for if your buttons are not working, along with the "spinning the clickwheel" motion or whatever you call it...
Or to put it short

This fixes problems where NO CONTROLS work except hold switch.

ITEMS NEEDED
Broken iPod
Needle, Pin, Razor, xActo, or something else really sharp. I used a small sewing needle i found in my mom's closet...
and a playing card you are willing to cut up
Scissors, Razor, xActo, something to cut said playing card!

Thats it, lets get started

Step 1: Temporary Fix to Test If This Fixes Problem

Look at the bottom of your broken iPod nano...
Like in image 1.

Take your sharp object (pin/needle/xatco/razor) and DRAG IT ALONG THE "CRACK" between the WHITE PLASTIC part of the ipod and the METAL BACK as circled in image 2, KEEP THE sharp object PARALLEL to your iPod! To get this, look at image 3, imagine Gray line is a needle, poking into ipod - you need it at that angle!
Follow a line similar to the one I have drawn in image 3, using a good amount of force - read on...

If you push hard enough your sharp object should POKE INTO the ipod casing...
Just a little bit! You dont need much! Just enough that the White part separates from the orange part a little bit and there is a little gap there!

This may be scary, but trust me... Just push hard, drag as shown in arrow in image 3, and your sharp object should slip into the ipod....... Trust me!

Now, assuming you can see a tiny gap between the white and orange part, guess what...
Your buttons should work.
Try it!! Turn on the ipod, and see if the buttons work now!
If not, make sure it's not on hold mode, then try again!
If still no, I'm really sorry but the rest of the intructable will not work for you because it just continues on this problem.

Congratulations if your iPod does work, however! Yay for you!
Read on though! I'm sure you don't want a needle or razor blade poking out the bottom of the iPod, do you?

Step 2: Cleaning Up....

This part is not too hard.
Take a playing card, and cut off a half inch or so strip, that's all you'll need. - cut along green line in image 1.

Next, lightly score halfway on the strip you cut - that is use a sharp object and lightly drag across the BLUE line in image one!

Now, fold the strip in half, all the way, so the two ends touch and it's now half it's original size.

Next is the most difficult part - but really it's just difficult to EXPLAIN...
Take this folded piece of card, FOLDED EDGE FACING iPOD, and stick the corner in next to your sharp object, then slide the other corner in on top of your sharp object, followed by pushing the card in just about 1/4 of an inch - Read further for help with this step.
Look at images 2 3 and 4....
LIGHT BLUE is the playing card...
PURPLE is the folded edge of the playing card
PINK means playing card that has been inserted into the iPod.
GRAY is your sharp object, in my case a needle
DOTTED GRAY means NEEDLE UNDER THE CARD

Image 2 : Putting the corner of the card in the gap
Image 3 : Slipping other corner in on top of sharp obect
Image 4 : Push in a little bit, till you think its around 1/4 inch.

sorry I can't upload any images... I really wish i could, if you need more help ask Ill figure something out.

Once you've got the playing card stuck in there, go ahead and pull out the sharp object you have stuck in there.

You should now have some playing card protruding out the bottom of the ipod.
Looks nice eh?
...What's that? You think it's ugly?
Well, fine, that's why we still have our scissors/razor/xacto handy.
First make sure buttons are still working. If not, you may need to repeat this with another layer of playing card... meaning, fold it over two times so you have 3 layers of card.

Assuming it works, just cut off the excess as close to the ipod as possible, and tadah, you are done.
Enjoy...
Again sorry i couldnt put any realy pictures, and this is my first instructable....
Post questions, I'll help to the best of my ability.