Reviving an old iPhone?

[rorebhoy]

I've an old iPhone 5 that I found in a drawer recently. The battery was obviously dead and wouldn't recharge. I've tried all ways of getting this back to life.. Following internet advice I've tried to update through itunes. It recognises the phone in recovery mode but then gets stuck during the updating with 'waiting on iphone' and no movement on the progress bar. I've tried different USB cables and ports and even a different laptop. Any way to bring this back from the dead?

[Rorschach]

Not a clue.
Why do you want to revive a phone with a dead battery?

[rorebhoy]

The phone comes back to life as it were when connected to itunes, so don't think it's completely knackered. Was just going to use the phone as an mp3 player for the kids - seems a shame not to be able to eek some further life out of it...