My 4 year old Sansa clip seems to have given up. I plugged it into my PC as usual but it could not be seen in my computer. The clip just froze with the connected screen still showing but not animated. I managed to turn it off and on again with a message that the “FAT is corrupted and to please…” the rest of the message didn’t show. Now if I turn it on after a long button press it stays on for a second and switches off. No response at all to any button pressing. No response to PC connection except a promt to format again. I opt to do that but it fails. Tried pressing and holding both buttons for 20 sec and longer with no response. It is fully charged.
What could have caused this and more importantly, how can I recover it please ?
If there is a card in the player, try removing it. Try connecting the player to your pc while holding down the center button on the player. If you can’t format the player using the pc(format fails), perhaps you could try deleting all the files on the player. Then after disconnecting the player, you might be able to format the player using the player menu-setttings, system settings,format.
I am afraid that does not work. The only response I can get is holding the power button on for a few seconds, releasing, then pressing again for it to light up for about a second and then switch off. I try this with the card in and out which makes no difference. I don’t even get the message anymore. If I do this while connecting to the PC the sansa logo just freezes when it comes on. Very frustrating.
Anyone please ? I charged it like you suggested with a mains adapter but now it just will not turn on at all. When I plug into the PC it detects it asking for a format. I click “yes” and I get the message “windows could not complete” so I am in the dark.
If this has died I will be reluctant to replace it as this just happened with no warning.
The only difference between MSC mode and the standard mode is that when you connect the device to your computer when it’s in standard mode, it displays under Portable Devices in Windows Explorer. When you connect your device to your computer in MSC mode, it’s displayed under Devices With Removable Storage.
Thanks, I had a look and non of those suggestions fixed the problem. Still zero response from it when plugged into the PC. Even tried uninstalling and re-installing in device manager with no joy.
So I have gone though every option and nothing has worked. How can I put my trust into buying another replacement ? One minuite working, the next for no reason dead. Pretty much a piece of junk
How can I put my trust into buying another replacement ? One minuite working, the next for no reason dead.
Anything today, electronic or otherwise can fail (even right out of the box). You got 4 years use out of it. For the price, I’d say that’s a pretty good return on investment.
I resisted adding to this topic for a few,days. I have owned my Clip Sport (now 2) since Sept 2015.
I have not experienced any malfunctions and I am enjoying playing my favorite tunes and learning how to best take advantage of all the many useful features.
I even figured out how to overcome the lack of sorting by “genre” in FW 1.27 (and 1.28).
I decided to buy another Clip Sport for my second favorite genre. (And I picked a different color for easy music sorting).
Maybe one more Clip Sport (red = disco?) will take care of my music listening needs for a few months?
Oh, his player is 4 years old(it was used for 4 years?) The battery is probably worn out. It is not so easy to replace the battery in the Clip Zip. Considering a portable player used frequently Imo probably lasts on average for something like 18 to 24 months(a guess on my part), getting 4 years of use out of it is doing quite well. Having said that, My Clip+ is over 6 years old and still works fine except that the clip broke off a few years ago, and the battery life is probably only around 6 hours or so now.
Well the problems started when I tried to direct a BBC podcast download in explorer to my Clip. It just hung for ages and then I was informed when trying to power it up that the FAT is corrupted. Then it just got slowly worse, powering on for a second and off again but I can’t see this being a battery issue. The connections inside look ok.
I have a Marantz cd player from 1991 still going strong. Why should it be acceptable for this to not work after nearly 4 years ?
Can anyone reccomend another brand/model that is more reliable ? I could buy this one again on Ebay but again, you never know how much life a used/refurbished one has.
Corrupted FAT means that you need to format the player. If you can’t turn it on though, and can’t get it to connect even while holding down the middle button while connectiong, then you may be out of options.
Portable music players are very different from home components. Home components tend to last much longer, although a home CD player has a laser that is weakening with use, and a motor that will eventually wear out. Most portable items have a built in battery that is difficult to replace, and often difficult or expensive to find a replacement that will fit.
A refurbished player might be trouble from the start, or it might be okay. Refurbished items are typically those that are used and then returned. Someone might not have understood how to use it properly then returned it, or it might be truly problematic. Some people buy two or three refurbs, figuring that at least one of three might be problematic. Do you like to gamble?
Players over $200, especially those that have use an easily swappable battery tend to last longer than cheaper ones, although paying double the price or more likely won’t get you double the longevity.
So all in all a pretty unreliable thing to buy. I had a zen stone that went through the washer twice and survived. If only they still make those. So much better.
So all in all a pretty unreliable thing to buy. I had a zen stone that went through the washer twice and survived. If only they still make those. So much better.
They are purposely designed to be disposable. Would you be willing to pay at least double the price for a player that lasts twice as long? Most people wouldn’t, as technology keeps advancing over time. There are stories of Sandisk Clip players surviving a cycle in a washer, although probably much fewer survived through a cycle in a dryer as well. If the battery doesn’t wear out first, then it might be the display, or perhaps a chip in the player or a button breaking. Portable players get much more rugged treatment than a home component that just sits on a shelf. Portable players are occasionally dropped, or at times may be exposed to water or sweat. Pressure might be applied against a headphone plug plugged into the player damaging the player’s headphone jack. With the harsh treatment portable players get, it is amazing that they last as long as they do. If you want a player that is military grade and will survive though almost anything, perhaps it might cost 4 to 8 times as much?
