iTunes and my iPod touch please help

hi,
I have a problem, with iTunes and my touch.
i bought my touch a while ago from my stepdad and it was working fine.
I jailbroke it and have had no problems.
until now...
i plugged my iPod in because it was dead and it just didnt come up on iTunes or say on the iPod that it was plugged in. It didnt charge.
im really confused what to do with it so if someone could please help me id be really grateful
im also running iTunes and all my music from my external harddrive.
please help!
thanks
jimmyboy15 :major