Well, I thought I might be able to follow this unbricking tutorial on the Rockbox forum, but I completely borked my friends Clip+ when TWO of the three battery wires broke off – at the battery end.
Hey man thanks for the follow up, I appreciate it. I’ve been distracted with other stuff too but still wondering if this is worth the effort. It may be several weeks before I check out that link you left for unbricking Clip+. i was curious tho I definitely do NOT have soldering skills… I might just leave it alone for another month and see what happens. It only stopped working a month ago, I’ve had it since 2009!.
I’ve been looking into getting another Clip+ , I can’t decide between that or the Jam. I might even get another Fuze the only problem being it’s not pocket sized. In my experience newer isn’t always better. The Jam’s gotten mixed reviews from what I’ve read and honestly, it doesn’t look like it’s built as sturdily as the Clip+; that thing went through the washing machine years ago and worked perfectly afterwards. I think one of the few things going for the Jam is the battery life but that’s about it…
Clip+, Clip+, Clip+! From a functionality perspective, the advantage of the Jam is the battery capacity. Apart from that, though, the Clip+ has uncrippled capabilities, including much better file capability.
Just created an account to say thanks to the answer to the OP’s question- as I just had this exact thing happen- picked my clip plus up at lunch and it wouldn’t turn on- was scouring the internet for a replacement, but they are so hard to get hold of now! (I still swear by Rockbox for all my Audiobook consumption)! This fixed it! So pleased!
And so, your player won’t turn on at all on its own, and only will turn on when connected to your computer? How about if you attach another external power source, such as a portable charger or a wall AC-USB adapter, to the player?
I’m wondering if it’s a detached lead to the player’s internal battery–this was an issue with some of the original Clips. If so, you could try carefully prying the player’s case open and reconnecting the lead, using conductive glue or soldering.
Good to hear that you were able to identify the issue–congratulations!
I’ve never taken apart my Clips before, but I think that you are right as to which wire is which. But I would be sure, needless-to-say.
To help, I found the following thread of someone taking an original Clip apart, to replace the battery–the wires are as you thought. I assume that the wires are the same for the Clip+, but you can search at the anythingbutipod community forum for other threads to confirm, as well as to see what other people did to fix a wire or do a battery replacement.
I know that I likewise have seen threads of people taking the Clip apart, including prying the case open with a guitar pic or credit card. Either at the forum at anythingbutipod.com or at rockbox.org.
I’ve had my Clip since 2012, give or take a few months. It has worked great, but now I think it is dead. Yesterday, I put in a 16 GB SD card and connected the player to my soundbar. It played well, shuffling songs. When I turned off the soundbar I thought I also turned off the player. I came back a few hours later and my player was displaying “GOODBYE” on the screen. When I tried to restart the player it never came back on. I held down the START button for over 30 seconds, but nothing happened. I connected the player to a charger for a few hours, again, nothing. I connected the player to my PC, but the PC said that it couldn’t recognize the player. When I tried to format the player I got a message that it couldn’t be formatted. Maybe when the player was showing me “GOODBYE” it really meant goodbye. So if anyone has a solution…
A player sometimes has come back to life after being left to charge connected to an AC power source. I doubt that this would help here, but, hey, stranger things have happened . . . .
@miikerman wrote:
Just a thought, but: are you holding the on button down long enough, to reset? It can take 20-30 seconds, or more. Also, you can try forcing a connection to your computer and see if that helps: with your Clip off and your holding the player’s center button down, connect the USB cable between your player and computer. Finally, people have reported that leaving your Clip plugged into the AC power supply (via a USB AC adapter) or your computer (if a laptop, try one of the back USB ports, which can be more powerful than the front) for a few days (not just hours) can trickle-charge the Clip’s circuitry so that you can start it. Good luck!
Thank you Miikerman. I had tried the reset procedure with no luck. Then I tried holding the center button down while plugging the Sansa Clip into the computer’s USB port and it came back to life! Once connected, I saw that the battery still had 73% charge.
It stopped playing after a playlist had ended, and just wouldn’t come back on again. Maybe it had heatstroke. I was using it in 97 degree weather while doing yard work.
