My 2G Fuze has been working fine but yesterday locked up and went into Refreshing Media mode with 10% complete. It won’t reset from the on/off switch and I have tried to get it into MSC mode by putting the lock on, holding the rewind button while plugging in the USB cable but the Fuze is not being recognized by the computer. The battery has now discharged to the point that it will not remain on, but every time I turn the Fuze on it immediately goes into Checking Media mode, jumps to 10% complete and then doesn’t move. There is no music recorded on the internal memory and I have tried removing and replacing the media card with no change in behavior. Any suggestions?
Try the “force MSC mode” procedure while it it shut down. It can’t go into this mode if it’s on and stuck in the database refresh cycle.
Thanks for your quick reply and the suggestion.
Here’s what I did:
Disconnected from the USB port
Turned the player off
Moved switch down to “Hold” revealing orange dot
Held down the |<<
Plugged in the USB cable
As soon as the USB cable was connected the splash screen came up, then the “menu” screen came up (music, video, FM, etc) followed immediately by the Refreshing Your Media window with 10% completed.
Any other ideas? Am I not following the procedure correctly? I don’t want to have to remove the battery because I killed my last Fuze when I pulled the ear plug jack off the board trying to remove the cover. But this one won’t do me any good if I can’t get it to reboot.
As many posts as I’ve found about this issue it seems to be a common problem so I’m hoping there is a simple solution.
Sounds like you’re doing it correctly. But if it is not making a data connection when powered on with the USB cable plugged in, and starts its normal start-up procedure instead, it could mean that the cable is bad. Do you still have the cable from your other unit? Try it.
If not, they’re sold pretty cheap on Amazon and the like. Just don’t get one for an iPod; they’re wired differently and will fry your Fuze. The same cable is used for the e200 series Sansa player as well, so you can search for it as well as the one for the Fuze. The generic ones work OK, but might not last as long so you may want to pick up a couple.
Tapeworm, thanks for the help but don’t give up on me now.
It happens that I recently purchased some generic cables so I tried one with no change.
I really appreciate your willingness to help. Do you have another suggestion?
Try a different USB port and/or computer?
Tapeworm, different port and different computer and same results. More ideas?
Thanks!
You said it won’t reset from the On/OFF switch. What exactly happens, if anything? You hold the spring-loaded power switch in the uppermost position for 30 seconds, release and then slide it up momentarily to turn it on. Does it resume the database refresh thing?
What if you do this, but immediately after holding it up for 30 seconds slide the switch down to the LOCKED or HOLD postion, then press & hold the REW button and plug it in. Does this make any difference?
@tapeworm wrote:
You said it won’t reset from the On/OFF switch. What exactly happens, if anything? You hold the spring-loaded power switch in the uppermost position for 30 seconds, release and then slide it up momentarily to turn it on. Does it resume the database refresh thing?
With the device on and displaying “Refreshing Your Database” holding the on/off switch in the upper position for 30 seconds causes the display to go black after about 7 seconds. It doesn’t display the “goodbye” screen it just goes black.
What if you do this, but immediately after holding it up for 30 seconds slide the switch down to the LOCKED or HOLD postion, then press & hold the REW button and plug it in. Does this make any difference?
With the device on and displaying “Refreshing Your Database” I held the on/off switch in the top position for 30 seconds (screen went black after about 7 seconds). After 30 seconds I slid the switch to the hold position. I pressed the rewind side of the control and plugged the device into the USB port. It displayed the Sansa opening screen, after the four color flower petal image displayed it displayed the opening menu as described above and immediately switched to the “RYD” screen.
You are holding down Rewind as you connect, right? Not just pressing it and letting it go before connecting.
The data connection to the computer is not being made. You shouldn’t see the Sansa logo at all–just Reading/Writing/Connected. So it’s either the cord (replaceable) or the port (uh-oh). Are you sure the cord is OK?
Is there an echo in here?
Thanks for your interest.
I am holding the rewind button down as I connect. I have tried two different cables and multiple USB ports on two different computers. The behavior is always the same.
Since I get the power up screen when I plug in the USB cable I would assume that some connection is being made to the computer or else it wouldn’t power up and go to the “Refreshing Your Media” screen. It is obviously getting power because when I disconnect the USB after the battery was discharged it says the battery is too low and it is turning the system off.
With the reset attempts I have been making the battery has now recovered some charge so it is behaving as expected on the charging side but there is no change in the RYM screen that it is displaying.
I really hate replacing it especially with the bad reviews I’ve been reading about the Fuze +. I hope someone knows the magic step I need. Keep suggesting and I’ll keep trying 
The cord makes two connections: power and data, through different pins.
You are getting the power connection but not the data connection. Which is why we keep asking about the cord.
But you have tested two cords, so take a look at the port. Are there bent pins?Think you can unbend them? How about blowing some compressed air in there to get out any dust?
To fix the Refreshing Media problem, you’ve got to make the data connection or somehow get past that Refreshing Media Screen. Have you tried leaving it connected all night? I don’t hold out much hope, but maybe it’s chewing on something really tough that it would get past in some hours of trying.
If you can just get to the regular Fuze interface, you could take out the microSD card and Format the Fuze, which would get rid of problem files. You’d only have to do that once. Then, even if you have a broken port, you could load your music onto the card with a USB reader, still using the cord just to charge. It’s a workaround. But it will only be a solution if you can get past Refreshing Media.
Or go to the Sansa Outlet store and get one of their last 4G Fuzes for $39.99 . Yours just might be RIP.
Black,
I did leave it on all night with no change in its behavior. I also found a number of posts with the same problem but no solution other than using the reset switch or booting into MSC mode - neither of which works for me.
As for the SD card, that’s the only place I keep any music and it has stayed hung all night without the card even installed. Regardless of whether it’s in or out of the device, it behaves the same.
I looked at the device and don’t see any apparent problems with the port. You might be right. I might need to get a new one while I still can.
Thanks for the info!
