Fuze scroll wheel stuck, is this common?

I have a black 4GB Fuze, and love it!  I bought my g/f one on her b-day, and after about 4 weeks the wheel locked up, literally!  I contacted Sansa and they replaced the unit with a new one.  The replacement has done the same in less than one week, so I contacted Sansa Support again.

Sansa tech support was great, and I know they’ll help me out again with this.  Has anyone had this issue, and am I just that unlucky with the two particular units?  The wheel, like stated, takes two fingers and almost enough pressure applied to the point of pushing the forward/back buttons.  Even if it turns it won’t scroll, and the buttons won’t work when pressed.

This happened this evening to my one-week old black 4GB Fuze, but it did one better–it won’t turn off.

Yeah you got me there…

try opening it up and see what hte problem is. probably something stuck or something preventing it from moving.

Yeah, I would, but since it is the replacement to the original I don’t want to void the warranty with it by opening it up.  When the wheel does turn, it just doesn’t feel like anything is stuck behind it.  It’s just frozen in place.

I have a 2GB model and last night, the wheel froze and wouldn’t turn. I know that nothing has been spilled on the unit and I keep it in a plastic case for safe keeping. It feels like it is mechanically jammed, as I can try and turn it, and it will move about 1-2 ° in either direction. When the wheel is locked up, you can still access the scan fwd, scan bkwd, mute, and menu buttons on the wheel @ 12,3,6, and 9 o’clock respectively. I tried to slip the edge of a toothpick and then a piece of heavy paper around the edge to see if something was in there blocking any free movement, but nothing came out. This morning I turned on the unit and it worked fine. Wheel turned fine just like new. Now it’s locked up again. This leads me to believe that the problem is internal, and not some kind of debris stuck in the unit. I emailed support to open a case file today, and hopefully I’ll receive an answer soon. Anyone else having any trouble with this happening to them?

Same think happened to my kid.  She must of spilled something in it or something, so I had her take a q-tip and alcohol and rub it around the wheel.  It cleaned it up and it started working again.  Alcohol is fairly safe for electronics and will evaporate fully.  I don’t recommend “bathing” it in alcohol, but as a solvent it’s pretty good and pretty safe.

Yeah it will void the warranty by opening it up, since it is under warranty you can have it replaced since it is a mechanical issue and firmware wont do anything about it. :wink:

The third one we got as a replacement has worked for the last few months without issue.  The thing I did notice with the first two that went bad were that the wheel seemed to sit more flush with the unit.  The blue “glowing” gap was pretty small.  My wheel was kind of raise up slightly, and you could set the blue glow more, plus it felt different when turning my wheel.  The third unit we got as a warranty replacement was identical to my unit, and thus no issue.  So I don’t know whether or not that is the issue as far as the wheel goes, just something I noticed when I first bought her unit.

I wouldn’t take it apart at all, like stated.  The unit has a 1 year warranty, so I would register it with Sansa right away, save the reciept, and contact them ASAP if the unit is under 1 year old.  Sansa really helped out excellent, and gave outstanding customer service each time.  Love the Fuze, and Sansa!

Because I did also have the same issue, but when it comes with the scroll wheel it usually a mechanical problem, it doesnt have any physical damaged and it is under warranty I have it replaced. :wink:

thanks for this advice.  My scroll wheel, too, became stuck.  I tried the alcohol and now it works!!

This kind of issue is actually a mechanical one. Since all sansa products have one year manufacturer’s warranty and 30 days store warranty, I suggest you replace it immediately with the store or with sansa whichever is applicable to you. sansa people has always been very helpful with these. In case you don’t know their support number…1-866-726-3475.

i dont have this problem but sometimes after having it in my pocket for a while it slows down  and ive had mine since april 2009:robotindifferent: