Stuck on Refreshing your media

I got a Clip Sport a few days ago and it worked fine for a week, during which time I was using an old 8-mb card.  Then I got a new 64-mb memory card and copied stuff onto it, and as the last few files copied to it, things started to go wrong.  There was a copying error right at the end, and things froze up.  I wound up having to just pull the thing off manually, thinking that restarting ti would help.  But then when I did, it got stuck on “Refreshing your media.”  It’s been like that since.  The one thing that will make it change is if I hit the power button, but all that does is restart it, and it goes right back to the same screen.  It also doesn’t matter if I eject the card manually and even restart after doing so – still the same screen.  Nor does anything happen when I plug it back in (with or without the card) – my computer won’t recognize it.

Any ideas about how to get out of this and start afresh

  1. I think you are meaning to say “GB”, not “mb”, aren’t you?
  2. 64GB (& above) memory cards are formatted differently (exFAT). The Clip Sport cannot recognize this format. You have 2 options . . . return the 64GB card and get a 32GB (or smaller) one instead, which will be formatted as FAT32 (the format the Clip Sport uses). Remember, the Sport is a limited function/featured player and can only see & play up to 2000 songs contained in the internal memory, & 2000 songs on the external memory card. Given this, you will never come close to utilizing the memory space on a 64GB card. 

The other option is to re-format the 64GB card to FAT32. This will allow the Sport to see and play content on it, however as mentioned, the majority of the memory space you paid for will remain unused. Larger cards are a waste of money with this player.

Oops.  Thanks.

But how do I get out of the current impasse, where I can’t do anything, so as to do either of those options?

(Also, am I right in understanding that I can have more than 2000 songs if I use folder view and don’t have more than that many in any one folder?)

Have you tried taking the card out (while the playerf is turned off), and resetting the player?

It won’t turn off, though – it instantly restarts and goes back to the same “refreshing your media” screen.  I tried pulling out just now during the second or two when the screen is blank, but no luck…

A 64GB micro SDXC card formatted as fat 32 is still likely to give problems on the Clip Sport, as Sandisk players in general9except for the older players with Rockbox installed) tend to have issues with cards faster than class 4, and all the microSDXC card(cards 64GB and up) are class 10 or faster. I suggest returning the card if you can, and getting a Sandisk 32GB class 4 microSDHC card. 

Have you tried a reset?  Hold the on button down for a good 30 seconds or more, and then restart again.  Hopefully, this will help.    :slight_smile:

Thanks.  Well, that got it turned off.  But now it won’t turn on again, and my computer refuses to recognize it as any known defice.  Is it now toast?

@amolad wrote:

Thanks.  Well, that got it turned off.  But now it won’t turn on again, and my computer refuses to recognize it as any known defice.  Is it now toast?

Maybe. But you can try to press and hold the power button again for 180 seconds. That has helped in several seemingly hopeless cases with my Sports which were in trouble due to unknown temporary 64-GB incompatibilities. Don’t forget to press the power button again after that to definitely start it (if it will be so kind).

(Also, am I right in understanding that I can have more than 2000 songs if I use folder view and don’t have more than that many in any one folder?)

Yes, you have access to as many songs as you have on your player or card via folder mode. There’s not even a file limit per folder I’m aware of, but with my ~5600 files in one folder on a FAT32 formatted 64 GB card (to enable shuffle all) it shows slow reactions to commands, so having less files in one folder will be better in this respect. Provided you get your Sport to wake up again.

@amolad wrote:

Thanks.  Well, that got it turned off.  But now it won’t turn on again, and my computer refuses to recognize it as any known defice.  Is it now toast?

Maybe. But you can try to press and hold the power button again for ~100 seconds. That has helped in several seemingly hopeless cases with my Sports which were in trouble due to unknown temporary 64-GB incompatibilities. Don’t forget to press the power button again after that to definitely start it (if it will be so kind).

(Also, am I right in understanding that I can have more than 2000 songs if I use folder view and don’t have more than that many in any one folder?)

Yes, you have access to as many songs as you have on your player or card via folder mode. There’s not even a file limit per folder I’m aware of, but with my ~5600 files in one folder on a FAT32 formatted 64 GB card (to enable shuffle all) it shows slow reactions to commands, so having less files in one folder will be better in this respect. Provided you get your Sport to wake up again.

Thanks.  Still no luck, but I’ll go ahead and return it for another.

Do try it again tomorrow morning–these little buggers have a tendency of coming back to life.