Wont turn on past start up screen

Recently my iPod died from low battery and hasn't turned on since.

I've tried to reboot it by holding down the power and home button for 10 seconds, I've tried the iTunes reboot approach as well (when you plug your iPod into your computer and try to force update the device), it didn't work.

However, now ever since I tried the iTunes update reboot, if I press the power button or try the home/power reboot maneuver, my screen immediately turns on and a few seconds later shows the iTunes reboot screen even though the iPod isn't plugged into anything.

Also to add, when the iTunes update reboot failed, it mentioned "error 27" which means a physical issue, from what it stated.

Help? I have some documents I don't want to loose.