iPod stuck on "charging please wait", or "connect to power", battery?

Up until this week my Ipod has charged succesfully with my computer (which I'll admit can be tempermental with it's usb ports) but now all I see is an image of a battery with an alert symbol and a message that says either "Charging, Please Wait" or "Connect to Power."

At first I thought it was my laptop because my laptop no longer registers that my Ipod is plugged in (it usually asks if I want to scan for viruses) neither does Itunes or My Computer.

I've tried to restart my ipod by holding the menu and select buttons which has always worked for me in the past but it won't restart it just flashes black for a half a second then returns to the screen with the battery. I've connected the Ipod to a wall outlet and that hasn't worked either (I have had this problem occasionally when attempting to charge with an addapter before). Incase my computer wouldn't charge it while asleep I've managed to keep my computer running for an extended period of time (opened word and left something pressing on one of the keys so that it was constantly functioning) all to no avail.

I tunes occassionally recognizes that an Ipod is plugged in tells me it wants to update it and when i ok the updates tells me to unplug and reconnect my Ipod as it no longer detects it.

I'm relatively certain that it's the battery but I would like another opinion as I am away at an engineering camp and currently don't have access to a new battery. I'm not positive how old it is but i haven't had it all that long and the person i bought it from hadn't either.