Battery wont charge

I have an 8 gig sansa fuze. When I plug it into my USB port it charges for like a minute then quits. What do I need to do to charge this thing?

Have you tried a different port?

Preferably a back one on a desktop. If using a laptop, make sure it is connected to AC power.

Charging, then quitting, happens when there is a communications problem.

Charging operations, or battery management, is handled by the microprocessor in your Sansa.  If the processor is busy trying to establish communications, it can halt the charging operation.  The little lightning bolt and rolling battery icon will change to a steady battery indicator, showing some open space in that battery logo.

First, have a look in Windows Explorer by going to My Computer, or use the handy [Windows key] + E trick.  How does the Sansa display?  If it’s in MSC mode, it will show up under “devices with removable storage”, as two flash drives, the first one being the internal memory, and the second the expansion port.  If in MTP mode, the device will show up as a media player listed under “other”.

Let’s get that Sansa talking with your PC.  Remember, the Sansa is the “talkative” one, it’s the PC that’s the moody one here.

Open the Device Manager vis Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager.

Another option, right click on My Computer > Manage > Device Manager.

Another another option, press [Windows Key] + [pause / break key] > Hardware Tab > Device Manager.

Get the feeling that all roads are leading to Rome?  Cool.  Now all we have to do is find the wee yellow triangles of doom!  Look down the tree.  If the Sansa is trying MTP mode, open Portable Device.  If the Sansa is there, right click on it, and select one of the following: Update Driver might “blink” the device into instant happiness (look at the battery icon), or use my favorite, uninstall.  In this case, unplug, and plug in again; the PC should reinstall the device, and you’ll see the charging icon.  I am old school, preferring to reboot whenever I make installation changes, then plugging in again after the computer stabilizes.

If the Sansa is not seen in the portable device category, let’s go fishing, shall we?

Open the Universal Serial Bus Controllers tree.  If you don’t see the trouble triangle, Windows is trying to hide the Sansa from you.  I didn’t promise you that Windows always plays nice; being like an only child, it hasn’t fully learned to be sociable.  Go down one step, to the USB Root Hub listings.

Now here’s the trick: hide and seek.  Open each one of these positions, with a double click, and click on the Power tab.  The Sansa will show up.  Select the Driver tab, and you’ll find the shortcut “update driver”, and the nuclear option, uninstall.  Either method, as shown above, will restore happiness.

Once the Sansa and your computer are communicating, the device will resume charging.

For those of you with power management issues, as in hibernation mode, or laptops, the Power tab here offers you the option of setting the USB port to stay “on” when the Sansa is connected.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Hi Guys my specific question is if i can charge a 8gb sansa view with a generic usb wall charger??  that because i have one of those and when i connect it to my sansa, the device just come up for a few seconds and won’t charge, is there any available configuration to my sansa, i really need it because this travel charger is very usefull !!

thanks in advance !!

I’ve had the same problem, with my 4GB Fuze when the batterys went dead. I tried charging it for 2 minutes then tried a soft reset, and then it worked. So, figure out how to do a soft reset on your model.

I’ve been using a USB wall charger for years with my various Sansas.  It’s always worked great.

I almost never charge off the computer, in fact.

Message Edited by Odd_Bob on 03-29-2009 11:49 PM

@odd_bob wrote:

I almost never charge off the computer, in fact.

 

 Message Edited by Odd_Bob on 03-29-2009 11:49 PM

Me either!

I had the same problem when I charged my Sansa with a usb wall charger, it started charging for a few seconds and then stop charging.  Is it because of the usb wall charger which somehow do not comply with my Sansa and I should try usb wall charger of other brand name?

@heart wrote:
I had the same problem when I charged my Sansa with a usb wall charger, it started charging for a few seconds and then stop charging.  Is it because of the usb wall charger which somehow do not comply with my Sansa and I should try usb wall charger of other brand name?

What are the output specs of your charger? All chargers with USB ports should produce the same voltage (roughly 5V), but it may not output the right current (500 milliamps [or .5A] is what a powered computer USB port produces). Higher current is okay, as the Sansa won’t draw any more than it needs, but significantly lower current may cause charging problems.

@gwk1967 wrote:


What are the output specs of your charger? All chargers with USB ports should produce the same voltage (roughly 5V), but it may not output the right current (500 milliamps [or .5A] is what a powered computer USB port produces). Higher current is okay, as the Sansa won’t draw any more than it needs, but significantly lower current may cause charging problems.

My usb charger do not have any name plate or specs, but it works fine with my other electronic portable devices like cellar phone.  Anyway, thanks for your infnormation.