Hi everyone,
Yesterday, I tried updating my Sansa Express’s firmware to 01.01.05 and guess what happened… Upon finishing the update, I tried turning the device on and all that happened was the SanDisk logo appeared for a moment and then the screen went blank. Soft-resetting the device didn’t help.
I reconnected the device to my computer and saw the two drives (for internal and external memory) after switching to MSC mode. There was also a small blue object in the middle of the device’s screen (like a 2D barcode). I clicked on both drives, but Windows Explorer said “Please insert a disk in drive [X:].” I tried formatting the drive for the internal memory, but it didn’t work. Oddly enough, the firmware update utility was still open, so I ran it again. It said the device would need to be formatted, so I clicked the appropriate button to proceed, but then it came back with an error.
I was thinking I would have to send the device back to SanDisk, but then I tried soft-resetting it while it was connected to my computer. <Edit>Actually, I did something else; see my next post.</Edit> After doing this, a “Found new hardware” window appeared and my computer said it had found an STMP3600. After selecting “Yes, this time only” and “Install the software automatically”, my computer said it had installed a “Player Recovery Class”. I tried running the firmware update utility (which was still open) again. It said it would have to format or erase the device, but this time it worked!
Now my device is operational and has the latest firmware. Fortunately, I keep a copy of the device’s Music folder on my PC, so copying back my music wasn’t a problem. (I don’t have any music crippled by DRM.)
If your device is currently bricked, I hope this information helps you fix it. If you have closed the firmware update utility, you may have trouble getting it to reopen. In this case, I would suggest reading this thread and using the utility it refers to. If you have the same problem as I did, you may have to skip steps 2-6, which appear to involve mounting the device in MSC mode.
Thomas
Message Edited by Thomas on 12-28-2007 09:06 AM
Note - November 18, 2008: Those of you who just want to fix your device without reading through over 100 messages, please see this post. It says where to obtain the latest firmware and describes what is probably the best procedure to follow.
Message Edited by Thomas on 11-18-2008 02:47 PM