iPod syncing problems - could it be the USB driver?

Hello.

I've been having problems syncing my ipod. Reinstalling Windows and restoring the iPod haven't helped. It's a 60gb 5th gen ipod and my laptop has plenty of memory.

What happens is that the laptop takes about 5-10 minutes to recognise the iPod. When syncing begins, tracks take an average of about 10 seconds to sync each.

I can usually sync around 25 songs before an error message tells me that the ipod couldn't sync because 'The disk could not be found'. Clicking 'sync' then continues the process.

As you can imagine, with 5000 files, this is pain-staking.

And now, it seems to be mixing up the cover art. Some tracks don't have a cover at all. The majority seem to be randomly mixed up.

Any ideas what I can do? I tried to charge a friend's Blackberry recently my laptop and a message said that there was a problem with the USB driver running slowly. Could this be it? I just wanted to check before I start looking into driver problems.

If so, how do I rectify it? Do I try the recovery CD again?

Thank you!