Oh great. My Clip just decided that instead of playing the next track, it would rather hang up. It’s an 8 gigger (FW 2.01.32), bought in March.
I’ve tried holding the power switch for like an eternity and a half, but it doesn’t bother to shut down, still emitting the usual quiet hiss (as to be heard with sensitive earphones). No reaction upon connecting to the computer either (also tried forcing MSC mode, nothing). It’s still hanging there for the time being.
Now, any smart ideas on what else I could do? Can I let the battery run out without it getting deep discharged (= possibly working but useless Clip)?
More drastic measures are not entirely impossible (one advantage of being in an electrical engineering department is that you can bother a technician), but knowing that it isn’t entirely reversible, I’d hate to open up the thing.
I think the samartest thing to do at this time would be to call SanDisk Tech Support. If they can’t get it working right for you, at least they can get an RMA (Returned Merchandise Authorization) started for you to get it replaced under the 1 year waranty.
OK folks… I let the battery run out, which apparently took around 23 hours. Just came back and noticed the Clip was off. Connected the charger, et voilà, it sprang back to life. Seems it’s charging now and the battery is not dead (as it continues to run when unplugged). Phew. Now let’s hope the battery didn’t take it too personal and capacity hasn’t suffered too much.
EDIT: Now it’s been charging for like 50 minutes and already says 64% - the battery indicator is as inaccurate as ever. Something around 50% means it’s almost empty in my experience, confirmed by the voltage readings I got with the “test” firmware on.
EDIT^2: Another hour later, 92%. Now, after about 2h45, 100% but still charging. Looks good.
In the meantime I had to whip out my trusty old G3 with a whopping 512 megs. Oh dear, that’s tight. (The AA based power is quite practical though - the Clip hardware mated with a swappable AA cell, now that would rock. I wouldn’t mind the size increase in the least, the Clip is on the small side for my clumsy European paws anyway, a typical problem of Asian mini-gadgets.) Still better than having only radio though, as it was the case yesterday… (I always carry a “grown-up” radio with me since I have yet to find an MP3 player with good reception performance - the G3 wasn’t great, and the Clip is stone deaf. Of course a 143 x 88 x 28.5 mm³, ~360 g piece of kit - which is not even that large for what it does - makes most any MP3 player seem utterly tiny in comparison…)
The AA based power is quite practical though - the Clip hardware mated with a swappable AA cell, now that would rock. I wouldn’t mind the size increase in the least . . .
Err… nope. It was just something I liked about my old player (and I’m not short of Eneloops either). Besides, that one would last me about a week or so, while the Clip likes to be recharged every 1…2 days when in heavy use. Basically the problem is that I went from something that held about 8 hours of audio and had 20+ hours of battery life (yet more with a spare cell) to something that holds some 128 hours - and thus is more inviting to use - with a realistic ~12 hours of battery life. (The Fuze would have been perfect - save for its nonstandard USB connector… *sigh*)
It was just something I liked about my old player (and I’m not short of Eneloops either). Besides, that one would last me about a week or so, while the Clip likes to be recharged every 1…2 days when in heavy use. Basically the problem is that I went from something that held about 8 hours of audio and had 20+ hours of battery life (yet more with a spare cell) to something that holds some 128 hours - and thus is more inviting to use - with a realistic ~12 hours of battery life. (The Fuze would have been perfect - save for its nonstandard USB connector… *sigh*)