Grr! I wrote a semi-long instructional post on here, but it’s dissappeared! I guess I’ll have to start from scratch.
Your device might have frozen itself the last time you shut it down. I would start plugging and unpluggin my headphones to see if you hear a faint popping sound. If you do, then you you know the device is technically powered on. I would try holding the power button in the off position for at least thirty seconds to see if the device powers off. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to wait for the battery to die (which could take a few days).
If you want to reinstall the fimrware, you don’t really need the screen to do so (since most of the work is done through your computer). Start by placing your power switch in the “hold” position. Then, while holding down either the << button, or the middle button (either one will do), connect the device. Download your firmware from HERE, and extract the zip file to the root directory of your device. By the way, if you have the latest firmware, don’t bother with the automatic update method mentioned on the above link, as it won’t install the firmware unless it detect an older verion of the firmware than what you have. Also, since the last update was so long ago, it’s pretty safe to say there won’t be any new updates in the future. Therefore, it’s probably best to use the manual method.
Please note: unless you’ve opted for the automatic method, you will need to know which hardware revision your device has: v1, or v2. If you have a v1 device, install the 1.x firmware, if you have a v2 device, install the 2.x firmware. If you don’t know which revision you have, you can find out using the Rockbox Utility (you’ll need to connect your player to do this). If when you launch Rockbox Utility, you get an error saying something about your configuration, click OK. Then, in the next dialog box, press the “Autodetect” button on the bottom. If you don’t get the error message, you can get to the above dialogue box by clicking the “Change” button in the top right corner (followed by the “Autodetect” button). If you have a v1, “Sansa Fuze (Stable)” should be selected. If you have a v2, “Sansa Fuze V2 (Stable)” should be selected.
Good luck!
