My Sansa e260 can't talk to Windows.

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1

I think I’m in a bit of hot water. A day or two ago I plugged my sansa in this computer. Windows 7 said it was installing the device. Which is strange because I used it on this computer before. It said that it couldn’t install the device. So I figure there must be a problem with the sansa. I take it over to my laptop and try it there. I’m able to copy all the data off of it and then go to ‘my computer’, right click of the icon there and click on format. I’m done this in the past with no problems. I don’t pick quick format because I was to make sure there aren’t any bad sectors. At the very end it says that it can’t finish the format. Now when I plug it into a windows computer, two generic drive icons appear in ‘my computer’ (usually like ‘J:’ and ‘I:’). When I try to click on them it just says “Please insert a disk” or something. Even with Ubuntu the icons don’t do anything.

I try to do a system reset from inside the player but that doesn’t do anything. When I turn the player on, It says to free up at least 6 MB. Which is funny because I checked and there are no songs, recordings, or anything. It was all erased in the formatting.

On the info screen it says:

Version 01.01.11A

Memory 0 MB

Free 0 MB

Songs 0

Voice recordings 0

FM recordings 0

I changed MTP to MSC (or maybe the other way around) and windows 7 would then call it by name (like “San Disk Sansa e260” instead of just “Unknown Device” ) on the little installation dialogue box. Which is encouraging. But of course the problem persists.

So did break my player forever? Is there some kind of major comprehensive reset I can do?

Thanks!!

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Looks like the device is communicating, based upon your description.  In MSC mode it will show up as two logical drives, with the internal memory being the first, and the microSD post as the second.  In MTP mode, it will ID as one device until you access it via Windows Explorer.

As you have a Windows 7 platform to work with, you can set the device to MSC mode and check the volume for errors.  This can be found via the manage option in My Computer, or by using the command-line chkdsk utility in Windows.

Version 01.01.11 is the earliest e200 firmware.  Perhaps, you could install the latest firmware, version 24 here.  I would try using Recovery Mode, as you can also format the device using the units internal format command.

Since you speak Ubuntu, I can assume you’re at least somewhat proficient at tinkering.  The only case where the device can be zorched is if the reserved partition is formatted in Recovery Mode, and then Ubuntu is the tool of choice, using e200tool.

To recover the device, shart with it turned OFF, and slide the HOLD switch atop the e200 to the right (orange showing).  Press and hold the REC button on the laft side while connecting (or initiate a recovery mode session by powering up the device with the REC button still depressed, then connect).

A word of caution!  Looking at the device using Windows Explorer, you’ll see a new icon, 16MB FORMAT.  Do NOT attempt to format the partition using the Windows Format command, as it erases critical data!

Double click on the 16MB FORMAT icon to open the reserved partition.

From the thread I linked above, download the two files and unzip them.  Place these two files in the open window, the pp5022.mi4 and BL_SD.rom files, and add a new twist: right click and select New Folder. Rename this folder sansa.fmt and leave this empty folder along side the two firmware files.

Slide the hold switch back to the left, and unplug.  Your e200 will update and reformat in one step.

If all else fails, time for some meat-and-potatoes work.  The NAND flash module in your machine is on a daughterboard.  This can unplug!  Remove the rear cover, and look at the top, a black raised rectangle.  Within this, you’ll see a grey foam block.  Give it a gentle downward press to reseat the circuit board connector.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

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Bob, you are the MAN! Thank you very much for your help! My sansa has sprung back to life! Earlier today I had it open and I straighted one of the connectors for the stereo jack and now I no longer have to push the plug to one side to get it to contact properly. Two problems solved in one day! :slight_smile:

Thanks again!