clip zip only allowing music, no radio/settings/card

SanDisk MP3 players All other MP3 players
1

Hi there,

a bit of an unusual question I have, hoping to get it resolved before sending this mp3 back. So I’ve had my sansa clip zip not too long, maybe 4-6 weeks. it was working no problem, really loved teh radio option, held just enough music, etc. but very recently it has started to act up. allow me to highlight its main problems:

-upon startup, I am automatically taken to the already playing music screen (has title, artist and progression of track, with album artwork or just background media). there is no option to select ‘music’ or ‘radio’

-the “back” button. the button that takes you to the previous screen, will ONLY function as a previous song button (even weirder, if the music is stuck on pause, then i click ‘back’ (trying, of course, to get to the radio screen, or at least let me pick the song!) then it will find a new song and AUTOmatically start playing it.

I am stuck in this hell of music that I can’t control~! Can anybody help? I know it’s a very odd problem, not one i’ve found others have experience after looking around this site… I know that there is HOPE, because just once I “format” 'ed the drive when it was plugged into the computer, and after that (deleting all my music), it took me to the home screen where I had access to radio, settings, etc (and the back button actually took me to the previous screen :0~!) but after not too long (maybe half a day, using it twice) when i pushed power it took me straight to the currently playing screen, with no option of getting out.

any advice you all had would be wonderful! I really enjoy this mp3 player aside from this huge mess and don’t want to have to return/exchange/get a new one, but i mean, I need the FM stations, and I have to be able to at least choose what song I’m going to listen to. hopefully someone here can help! a thousand thanks!!

2

Let’s see if we can cure this little guy’s troubles.  I see you have formatted the device already.

The best thing to do is first soft reset the device  by holding the power button depressed for about 30 seconds, then release.  Plug in the Zip to the USB port.

Download and unzip or decompress the firmware file from here.  Follow the manuall installation instructions  in the thread.

There’s one difference here: don’t worry about the USB mode part, as you can install the firmware in either MSC or MTP mode.  If you are connected in MTP. you will see no drive letter assigned to the device, double click on the device, then select Internal Memory.

In either case, drag and drop the clipza.bin file to the root directory of the device, then unplug.  The firmware will install automatically upon disconnect.  I have a feeling that the original firmware may be corrupted on your Zip.

Let us know how it goes, or post any questions you may have.  I’ll be back in a little bit…

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

3

The main menu items you can’t access aren’t turned off in the Customize option, are they? Thie option allows you to turn off main menu catagories you typically don’t use, like Books, Sports, etc. That way they won’t show up and you don’t have to scroll through them. Maybe you turned them off accidentally.

4

thank you! so far so good. day 3 and music, radio is still there! thanks so much. I could’ve swore it had the latest firmware on it, but i definitely have never dragged the .bin file into the clipzip on the computer…

good to know reinstalling firmware can be a good reset if any problems arise!

many thanks!