From my previous question about my iPod, it's become a little more serious, and I need help?

From my previous question: When I plug my iPod in, it says that it does not recognize that iPod, although it has all my music on it. I’ve been doing it for a while, and it’s now recently been happening. Why is it restoring my iPod to factory settings, and then erasing all my music from it, then syncing it back to my iPod. I don’t understand why it’s doing that.
Now it starts at the grey apple screen that shows up when you restore the settings, then by itself it goes to the language menu, then the screen that shows when you connect your iPod. Then it goes back to the grey screen. That all happens in a matter of five seconds. I know something is wrong with it, but I don’t have money to pay for apple support, and I got it about three years ago. Is there any chance you may know what is wrong with it?
What can I do to fix it?