Not that you shouldn’t do it (update the firmware), but it will not solve your freezing problem. Freezing during the database refresh is caused by the player not being able to read the ID3 tags of the files.
If you are experiencing a problem “out-of-the-blue”, look at any files you might have added recently. Copyright, or DRM issues means the permission codes attached to the files that allow you to play DRM-encrypted files have either expired, or for some reason aren’t being communicated to the player. Again, updating the firmware will not help this. You will probably have to delete these files and then re-send them over with the proper permissions from whatever source you are getting them from.
If you are able to get into Recovery Mode, you have a v1 player. V2’s do not have a Recovery Mode. And you’re right, just entering Recovery Mode will not do anything. It is a back-door way of getting into the player so you can format or install firmware when you can’t normally. One warning though, in Recovery Mode you will see a 16mb partition and Window will ask you if you want to format it. DON’T DO IT!!! You will brick your player forever.
