4GB sansa clip went dead after plugging into USB

So I bought a new sandisk sansa 4GB clip player and it arrived today. I got it out of the package, had a wee listen to it, everythings fine. Then I plugged it into the USB port on my computer to put some music on it. As soon as I did this it went completely dead. I unplug it, try to turn it back on, nothing. Its completely dead. I kept playing with it trying to get it to turn on, but it wont work. But as Im playing with it, its gradually getting hotter. After a few minutes its so hot that if I leave my finger on it for a few seconds its actually painful. So I just leave it alone, fearing that my playing with it might be making things worse. After a while it cools down, and I try to switch on again - nothing.

Help please?

I would call support at 1-866-sandisk and ask for an RMA. Or send/take it back to where you got it for an exchange.

it should not get that hot when charging.  I suspect yours has a faulty battery or charging circuit.

Out of curiosity, how did you plug the Clip in when it hapened? Did you first plug the data cable into the clip and THEN to the PC, or did you have the cable plugged into a PC and only THEN into a clip? Also, did you use the cable supplied with Clip itself?

I’m asking because my brother had quite an unfortunate incident with a USB device. He had the cable already plugged into a PC and he just plugged the other end into a USB device. It ended up frying his USB port (not sure about the device itself tho). Apparently, the miniUSB end of the cable didn’t have that special construction a regular USB plug had - you’ll notice that two of the four connectors (the ones to the sides) in the plug are longer - they’re made so those connectors come in contact before the ones in the middle. The cable he had didn’t have this in the miniUSB end, so that could’ve caused the malfunction.

While the cable that came with my Clip DID have that “special” construction in the miniUSB end, if you used another one that didn’t, and you plugged it miniUSB-last, chances are your clip, or a component inside, was damaged by that…

Just a theory on how that might’ve happened.

As I recall, the USB cable was connected to the computer already and then I plugged it into the mp3 player. The mp3 player was also turned on at the time.

Perhaps I should do it the other way round in future