I have a Clip+ 4GB that hasn’t been used in about two months. I attached it to laptop to recharge. When I start the Clip, the screen doesn’t go past the Sansa “flower” logo. I’ve held the power button down for the 15 seconds recommended to reset the clip but still nothing. A couple times the screen will say it’s refreshing my media, but the progress bar sits at may 10% and doesn’t move. I have a 4GB MicroSD card inserted. I’ve been trying to get it to start to see if resetting the USB mode will enable WinMedia Player 12 & WinAmp to see the files.
Well, it’s been three years and I still have the same problem.It either hangs at the flower or hangs at the updating music database. The latter is interesting as there are only 40 songs on the 4GB device.
Does it boot without the SD card?
And how about if you hold the power button for as much as a minute? Some people have reported that this can help/do the trick.
I popped out the ADATA 4GB MicroSD card and it turned righ on. Holding the power button did nothing but give me a sore finger.
And does it work if you try a different card? Seems it’s either this card or the SD slot.
If you remove the card, connect it to your pc and format the player(deleting all the music on it), disconnect it, turn it off, then try to turn it on, will it come on? If so the problem was your files and not the player. Your tags might be messed up, or in a format the player can’t use.
I just tried it again with no microSD. Booted up in under 5 seconds (wish my PC could do that). As I don’t have a an SD carrier or any other microSD devices, I’ll just suffer with only 4GB of music.
Thanks for your help.
I DL’d a SD formatter program from the SD Card web site. Unfortunately, my PC sees the Sansa as an external device and not an external drive, so the software won’t format the microSD card. Windows just wiped the microSD card so it’s now worthless.
How about reformatting the card directly in your computer (that is, not still in the Clip), via a computer SD slot or a USB card reader?
If the usb mode on the player is set to MSC(settings, system settings, USB mode) the computer will see the player as an external drive(and its card slot as a separate external drive) and not as a device.
@realgomer wrote:
I DL’d a SD formatter program from the SD Card web site. Unfortunately, my PC sees the Sansa as an external device and not an external drive , so the software won’t format the microSD card.
Hold the left (REW) button while plugging into the computer. Continue holding the button until it comes up in Windows Explorer. This ‘forces’ MSC mode. It will now come up as 2 separate ‘drives’ (not devices), the first one being the player’s internal memory; the 2nd will be the memory card slot (or card if one is inserted).
@realgomer wrote:
Windows just wiped the microSD card so it’s now worthless.
That’s what formatting does, erases everything. I doubt it’s worthless.
No, it’s completely clean. Nothing is left. Using Explorer it shows a 4GB card with zero bytes available and zero bytes free.
'Hold the left (REW) button while plugging into the computer. Continue holding the button until it comes up in Windows Explorer. This ‘forces’ MSC mode."
I thought the center button does that, or will either one work? On the Clip Zip is it the center button the left button or either one being held down while connecting to force MSC mode?
PS. I found this.
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/61/~/enabling-or-forcing-msc-mode-on-your-sansa-player
And, can you re-format it again?
@realgomer wrote:
No, it’s completely clean. Nothing is left. Using Explorer it shows a 4GB card with zero bytes available and zero bytes free.
And, can you re-format it again?
Interestingly enough, I was able to format the microSD using my cell phone. The phone recognized it right off. When I put it back into the Sansa, the player locked. Removed it, it worked. I guess maybe the micro slot has crapped out.
I’ve read here of issues with cards formatted on cellphones. You might try reformatting the card again on your computer directly, using the SD Association’s Formatter tool.
@jk98 wrote:
'Hold the left (REW) button while plugging into the computer. Continue holding the button until it comes up in Windows Explorer. This ‘forces’ MSC mode."
I thought the center button does that, or will either one work? On the Clip Zip is it the center button the left button or either one being held down while connecting to force MSC mode?
PS. I found this.
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/61/~/enabling-or-forcing-msc-mode-on-your-sansa-player
Thanks for the heads-up, JK. Just goes to show that because my players are always in MSC mode, I’ve never had the need to ‘force’ the issue. I didn’t remember they changed the button press assignment on the newer models. 
I have same problem but removing microSDHC card didn’t helped. Note i’m on linux.
After forcing MSC mode player did something like dual boot (booted once, sansa lettering, then flower and again lettering and flower, then stuck) and result is same. There is no reaction when plugging on pc (same behaviour when booting normally, when not connected to PC).
