Lots of issues

Hi.  My problem started when the screen began acting all weird, it was flickering and looked like it had a lot of dead pixels.  I checked the forums, and figured out how to “reset” by holding up the power button for 20 seconds.  I also updated my firmware, and one of the two seemed to help.  However, when I turned it on after that, it had a message similar to this: http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=announcements&message.id=147#M147

I didn’t read that page in time, and instead reformatted it, deleting all my music (I knew it would, it’s all backed up on my computer). 

Now, when I plug it into the computer, it says I have 466 mb of free space, instead of the 8gb I should have.  The info on the mp3 says the the same, and when I tried uploading more than that it said it was full.  

Any suggestions?  I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing.

I’d try re-formatting again. Did you use the Fuze’s on-board FORMAT function in the SETTINGS menu?

First I used the computer format, because it wouldn’t let me do anything else until I did (it was like how it used to be with floppy disks - you’d click on it and it would tell you it was unformatted and needed formatting).  Then I was playing with the settings and did the on-board format, nothing really happened.

When you say you used the computer format, did you do it this way?

Set the player to MSC mode or if unable to, force an MSC connection by starting with the unit off, slide the HOLD switch on, press & hold the left or REW ( << ) button while at the same time plugging the cable into the bottom of the unit (already plugged into the computer). Continue pressing the button until the device powers up.

In Windows Explorer (or My Computer), you player should be seen as 2 separate drives under Drives With Removable Storage , each with their own drive letter. The 1st will be the player; the 2nd wil be the card slot (whether or not there’s a card inserted).

Right-click on the player’s drive icon and select Format… , don’t use the ‘Quick Format’ option. It will only take a few seconds. Remove from the computer, fire it up and see what happens.

Still didn’t work, I’m afraid.

Could you be more specific?

What didn’t work? Formatting the way I suggested, or the results of the format?