I know this is a Rockbox test build and isn’t supported by Sandisk etc. but I’ve been directed here by the people at Rockbox.
Ok so I have a strange problem. I have a Sansa Fuze v1- I’ve managed to install the fuze build of Rockbox fine and that works perfectly. However, when I boot into the Sansa Fuze firmware, I get stuck at about 10-15% of “Refreshing your media”- only holding the power switch for 10 seconds turns the device off. I can always get back into Rockbox fine but get no further with the Sansa firmware.
I’ve tried updating the firmware manually, but it always refreshes the database instead of updating first so gets stuck at 10-15%. The Windows Sansa utility doesn’t detect the Fuze, even though windows/linux sees it fine and can operate as normal.
I’ve completely cleared the drive (formatted) and taken the sd card out, but it still doesn’t work. So I don’t think it could be a problem with a file that I have placed on it, my guess is that somehow the original firmware has been corrupted (possibly by Rockbox when it was installed). Is there a way to force the fuze to update itself? I’ve tried putting the original firmware on the root of the drive but it just keeps refreshing the **bleep** database, is it possible to disable the database refresh? Or modify the firmware directly via usb?
I’ve used Windows and Linux to format it- I don’t think the problem lies within the drive- rockbox works completely fine with it. I think somehow the place where the Sansa firmware is stored has become corrupted. When the fuze is frozen the battery goes dead very quickly, I assume it must be doing something.
Chkdsk returns no problems, but chkdsk /f returns:
H:>chkdsk The type of the file system is FAT32. Volume Serial Number is 4A98-0F01 Windows is verifying files and folders… File and folder verification is complete. Windows has checked the file system and found no problem 15,538,856 KB total disk space. 3,216 KB in 399 folders. 15,459,424 KB in 2,851 files. 76,200 KB are available.
8,192 bytes in each allocation unit. 1,942,357 total allocation units on disk. 9,525 allocation units available on disk.
Is it possible to access the Sansa’s firmware files and run a diagnostic on those?
Just to double check, does anyone know exactly how the drive should be formatted?
Also, my file structure is now totally different to the original- could that be the problem? when it refreshes the database does it re-write those folders etc? Could someone quickly post the structure/files for me? Or better still zip up their’s and post it?
But I guess you mean that you can get into the Sandisk firmware far enough to format it from MSC mode, but not far enough to play music? Is that correct?
The way you’ve formatted it looks fine. AFAIK if you copy a new sandisk firmware to the root, it overwrites the firmware partition and removes rockbox. If it still doesn’t work I’m not sure what could be wrong. You could ask on the rockbox IRC channel for more detailed information about the sandisk firmware update procedure. That might give you a clue.
H:>chkdsk The type of the file system is FAT32. Volume Serial Number is 4A98-0F01 Windows is verifying files and folders… File and folder verification is complete. Windows has checked the file system and found no problem 15,538,856 KB total disk space. 3,216 KB in 399 folders. 15,459,424 KB in 2,851 files. 76,200 KB are available.
Unless you have a 16GB Fuze, I think thats not your Fuze. I’m guessing its the microsd? If so, removing your microsd might be a good idea at this point until you figure out whats wrong.
You said you removed all the music. Did the player boot the original firmware alright at that point? (without the sd card)
I would format then add the original firmware (not the patched version) to the root and see if it boots with no music (I got a bit lost, you might have tried that already)
Message Edited by summerlove on 09-25-2009 08:49 PM
If you format in Windows, use FAT32 with 32k block allocation size. Do the same for Micro SD cards 4gb or greater. The default 8k block size is too small and may cause problems.
Good spot- chkdsk for the Fuze (4GB) actually says:
F:>chkdsk /F The type of the file system is FAT32. Cannot lock current drive.
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N) YU Volume dismounted. All opened handles to this volume are now invalid. Volume Serial Number is 3C05-0538 Windows is verifying files and folders… File and folder verification is complete. Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
4,055,347,200 bytes total disk space. 598,016 bytes in 145 folders. 3,781,029,888 bytes in 1,163 files. 273,715,200 bytes available on disk.
4,096 bytes in each allocation unit. 990,075 total allocation units on disk. 66,825 allocation units available on disk.
so no problems there.
Ok so I formatted with a 32kb Allocation size, still same problem. And there’s no music or anything on the drive, no MicroSD card no nothing.
Rockbox doesn’t boot because there’s no firmware file (easily fixed though). Sansa firmware gets stuck on refreshing the database. Putting the firmware file on the root of the drive does nothing because the Sansa Firmware freezes at refreshing the database and so never gets around to updating the firmware.
Saratoga - I’ve formatted through Windows, not the player itself, I can only get to the refresh database screen in the Sansa firmware (which happens whenever I turn the player on) and thats it.
If I plug the player into a Windows computer it appears as a Removable disk. When I run the Sansa Updater it checks for updates then hits a screen which says “No updatable Sansa product has been recognized. Plug in your device and wait for more instructions”.
I’ll take a look at the Rockbox IRC and see if anyone can help- in the mean time has anyone got any ideas?
So I fixed it! I accidentally took the cable out without ejecting the device and it went straight into the firmware. Everything appears to be working fine now, strange?
