I-pod Help

Any techno Wizards out there who know anything about fixing Ipod Minis. I have a 1st generation ipod mini. It had been working fine for over a year and then after updating it, I can no longer use the play button or the menu button on the click wheel .I have tried restoring it which involved losing all my music, and i have also tried re setting it using menu and the middle button which i was able to do .
Any one got any ideas of how to fix it ? I rang apple and they just told me to update my ipod as it is more than likely a software error after explaining that thiis was the route of the problem , they said i could send it to them and they would sort the problem out for me.

Just thought i would have a last gasp post on blonde before forking out for a repair job.