Computer not recognizing Fuze as device

I have the 8GB model of the Fuze and an 8GB micro SD card.  It’s been working fantastic since I bought it in December.  I literally have my whole collection of music on here with around 3 gbs of space to spare!  When I plugged in my player the other day to put tunes on the unit, it would not recognize the device.  I use MSC mode, and my computer wouldnt recognize it in either MSC or MTP modes.  I could try and reformat the device but itd be a pain in the behind to copy all my music that was on the main unit on my computer again.  What can I do to fix this and put music on the unit?

Heres what I have tried:

-Reset factory settings
-Resetting the unit by holding the power switch up for 10 seconds
-Restarting my computer

I know that it is not my USB cable connection because I can charge the unit both in the USB port of my Vista and XP computers, as well as charge the unit with an AC-USB charger.   I’ve also tried to look in teh device manager of Windows and my player doesn’t show up there either.  Both Vista and XP don’t recognize the player.

Try a soft reset, which you do by holding the power switch up for 15-20 seconds. Hopefully that should do it.

I’ve done that before.  nothing really happens if its supposed to.  Either the unit powers up or down, and nothing happens on the screen as if it reboots itselg.  Nothing still on the computer recognizing front as well.

What might have changed on your computer? A new security program? Installing other USB devices? Connecting other music players that might get jealous of the Fuze?

One simple thing to try would be to go into Device Manager and uninstall the USB port. 

Start/ Control Panel | System and Maintenance | System | Device Manager (Device Manager is located under “Tasks” in the left hand column of the “System” menu)

Look for USB Host or USB controller and make sure you Uninstall, not Disable. Then reboot, and Vista will find the ports again and reinstall the driver. Then try connecting in MSC.  

For MTP, you could also try a reinstall of Windows Media Player 11.

Sometimes the drivers just get creaky. 

Another thing I forgot to mention.  I can also use my 2gb usb stick in the usb port that I usually put the player into without a problem.  Still trying to see if my player will work, but nothing yet.

I just tried uninstalling the USB port on my Windows XP computer.  Basically what it did was install all the drivers for everything else, and when I plugged in my fuze…NOTHING HAPPEND!  Another thing to note that is odd, right now my battery level is at 50%.  When I plug it in to the computer, the unit does not charge and the battery level shows at 100%.  It also does not have the lightning bolt charge symbol when plugged into the computer.  But when I plug it in to my USB AC charger it charges normally.

Message Edited by ngray87 on 03-31-2009 11:23 AM

Message Edited by ngray87 on 03-31-2009 11:27 AM

Could be a bad cord. The battery connector and the data connector are different pins. Maybe the data connection is bad.

When the Sansa is connected, does its screen show Writing and then Connected? Does anything show up in Device Manager (even the yellow triangle/exclamation point that means its not working)?

What version of Windows Media Player do you have? You need Windows Media Player 11 for the device to be fully functional.

I don’t use Windows Media player in MTP to transfer the files.  I alwasy use MSC.  When i connect the device, it shows writing for a second or two, then it turns to connected with the logo spinning.  There is nothing shown in the device manager either when I have the device connected.  It does not show up.

If it fails to work on 2 different PCs, but charges on both & on the AC charger, I think the USB signal connections are broken, either in the cable, or in the player socket.

You can try a new cable from Amazon or similar, or you can RMA the player via your EBox on the support page.

My player is registered online and its still under warranty.  I also still haev my original reciept from where I purchased it.  Is there a way I can get Sandisk to send me a new cable?  I live in Canada and looking at Sandisk’s website, they wont hip to me if I would have to buy the cable off thier website.  If that’s the case, does anyone know any retailer’s from Canada that have the cabel so I can purcahse from them?  I’ve also forwarded this to the Support sextion of the website.  They have yet to respond.

Message Edited by ngray87 on 04-01-2009 10:05 AM

Message Edited by ngray87 on 04-01-2009 10:45 AM

@ngray87 wrote:
My player is registered online and its still under warranty.  I also still haev my original reciept from where I purchased it.  Is there a way I can get Sandisk to send me a new cable?  I live in Canada and looking at Sandisk’s website, they wont hip to me if I would have to buy the cable off thier website.  If that’s the case, does anyone know any retailer’s from Canada that have the cabel so I can purcahse from them?  I’ve also forwarded this to the Support sextion of the website.  They have yet to respond.

Message Edited by ngray87 on 04-01-2009 10:05 AM

Message Edited by ngray87 on 04-01-2009 10:45 AM

Check Amazon for the Cable. Its usually pretty cheap.

I just ordered a cable from the Sansa store.  It seems back orderd, but hopefully I’ll get it soon.  Hopefully this will be the solution.

If not, the RMA process does work, but it can be a bit slow and has postage costs (from the UK at least).

If you can take it back to a retailer and get a replacement, that will be quicker.

I just recieved a confirmation email after my purchase, and the cable will be shipped instead of BO’d as listed online.

I got the cable last week, and (surprise!)  nothing still works!  I’m now thinking one of 2 things (other than being ticked off).  Either this is a power issue with the usb ports on both my pc’s because my fuze charges fine on the AC USB wall charger I have, or there is a problem with the actuall unit.

I’ve done all the steps listed on the topic of “Computer not recognizing Fuze as Device” and nothing worked.  I’ve also tried powering the unit from the back of the usb ports on my vista OS, and I’d get a brief lightning bolt then nothing.  Even the Sansa Updater says that it cannot detect the device.  What else is there to do other than be patient with the Sandisk Support team for another answer?

Phoning them will be much quicker than e-support.

North America Technical Support
1-866-SANDISK (726-3475) 

It just seems strange to me that you get the writing/connected screens–which suggests there IS contact being made, because otherwise it wouldn’t change–but it doesn’t show up. 

If they can’t fix it in a phone call, get a replacement under the warranty. You’ve gone way beyond what you should have to put up with. 

It’s really sad how much hassle it is for Canadians to get replacements, so I’m hoping you don’t have to go that route (but, you may have no other choice).

Here’s a couple other things you can try before giving up hope…

If you know someone else with a computer, preferrably a full size computer running WinXP (Vista has far too many issues), then try plugging it into theirs (preferably a rear USB port). If it doesn’t work on theirs, and it’s not working on your own 2 computers then I think you will have to get a replacement.

On the other hand, if it does happen to work on theirs then somehow the USB drivers on both of your computers got messed up. Some of the Windows updates have messed up things like that in the past. The easiest way to fix USB driver problems is to download the NirSoft USBDeview software.

With it you can see all the USB drivers that have gotten installed on your computer(s). Without the Fuze connected, run the software and look for the driver for the Fuze. There may be more than one that shows up in the list. You can use the software to un-install the Fuze driver(s). Then close the program and restart your computer.

After it restarts give it a few minutes for Windoz to settle out so that it’s not still messing around with other things. Then plug the Fuze in. If you’re lucky it will install a new driver for it and things will work again.

If that don’t work then I think you’re out of luck and will have to go for a replacement.

So I ran the US checker program, and tried uninstalling both the E250 and the Fuze drivers that were on boht my pcs.  I had the E250 one left over from a previous player.  Rebooted both them and nothing happened.  Then I tried usng it on another computer and nothing happened.  I’ve contacted Sansa support and now I will see what happens.  I had a thought about re-formatting the unit (I have all my stuff as CD’s at home so I wouldn’t have to worry about loosing anything) and see what would happen.  Ill wait however till I get a rely back from the support team and see what they can tell me about the warranty.

Thank You so much. It worked great. Very much appreciated!!:stuck_out_tongue:

So I just got a new Fuze yesterday under warranty in the mail and it works with no problems!  An exchange was no problem afte talking with the support team.  I knew it was the unit and not anything else.