30 pin bad on e280?

I have had an e280V2 for many years and it has worked great up until last week.  Suddenly when it’s docked to my IM510 speakers it acts as if it should be connecting to a PC for data and won’t play.  Also, when I connect a working 30 pin cable between the Sansa and my PC, it shows connected but does not get recognized by any machine.

My guess is that there is a short or something between a power connector and the data port that is confusing the player, but I can’t find any useful information.  I don’t see any obvious lint or anything on the female connector, so I’m out of ideas.  Does anyone know if I can get this thing serviced or even buy a new 30 pin female port and change it myself?

I opened up the case but I couldn’t figure out how to pop up the circuit board to get to where the 30 pin female connector was.  If anyone can help me figure out how to swap out this part or fix my player I’d appreciate it.  I don’t like the touch interface on the fuze and with all the playlists I keep on my player I don’t want to buy a clip and burn out my buttons sorting through music.  If only I didn’ t have most of my music through rhapsody I’d just swap in charged batteries as the player is 100% functional other than not being able to sync or charge through the data port.

As far as getting it serviced or professionally repaired, the answer is no. The labor costs, even it it were possible would be prohibitive and cost several times what the player is worth.

As far as doiing it yourself? I doubt that would be possible either, since each one of those 30 pins connect to a connector inside and are really, really small.

You can get to it however; there are the 4 small screws holding the back plate on. After removing this and the battery you will see 4 more small screws inside. These hold the front plate onto the skeletal frame around the circuit board.

You can see the 30-pin port on the left in the picture here:

These guys are built like the proverbial Sherman tank and are still my favorite mp3 player. I have several and one still sees use a few times a week, but eventually everything must die. I believe yours has said Adios muchacho.

You might be able to find a unit that works good but is scratched up on eBay to where between the two you can cobble together a working one and keep your long-time friend at your side. They’re worth the time and effort.

:smiley:

Just saying, I would certainly go ahead and buy a new one. It’s a good excuse too since you already had it for few years already.