Hi,
The problem could be the drive. I was going to buy a drive from a dealer on eBay but the ad stated that the drive would only work in the iPod and nothing else. I emailed the seller and he stated it had to do with the drive. He stated he would be getting some in that would work with the Dell. If I remember he stated it had to do with the boot sector or something that Apple had specified for the drives?
I hope this helps.
ron