Clip+ 8GB died almost immediately..anything I can try before returning it?

Got the sansa clip+ 8GB today. Tomorrow it’s being sent back to Amazon for a replacement. Unless there is a magic fix anyone knows of.

I’m pretty sure it’s a catastrophic failure.

What I did…

Charged it, turned it on, investigated menus, set the date and time, lowered the display brightness a touch. Turned it off.

10mins later plugged in headphones turned it on, found a few pre-loaded audio tracks, played 10 seconds of the first, skipped to the second one played 10 seconds of that, skipped to the next track and the unit immediately died. No sound, screen blank, button pushes did nothing, would not turn on, re-charge did nothing PC didn’t react to plugging it in (not recognised as USB device) Very very dead as far as I can tell.

I haven’t tried a reset. I only found out about the method to do this after I’d packed it up ready to go back to Amazon.

Highly disappointed, any thoughts?

This is a pain, curiosity got the better of me, ripped open the packaging tried the reset ‘trick’ …the player now works.

So is this a record…reset needed after the first 20 seconds of use as a music player?

Incidentally the reset trick is not mentioned in the quick-start guide which is the only documentation included

Firmware is V01.01.05F

A reset often can work wonders.  Although apparently not mentioned in the quick start manual, it’s discussed in the electronic manual (see the sticky thread at the top of the forum), p. 8.  Also, feel free to telephone SanDisk’s customer service ( in the U.S.:  1-866-SANDISK (726-3475); and other SanDisk contact information:  http://www.sandisk.com/sandisk-support/contact-us) or to post here.

while the clip+ got good reviews and I agree with them, I had to change my 2 times, means I have now the 3rd one, all in a time frame of 1 week. Some of the sandisk technical support persons are not very helpful at all based on their lack of knowledge, while others are very competent. Looks like you need luck at both sides : the support center and the device itself. If it doesn’t work right away, don’t waste your time, just try to reset and if it doesn’t work, exchange it.

There is probably nothing wrong with the player. Some of the sample files on the player are probably corrupted. Set the USB mode on the player to MSC. Format the player using the player’s menu. Connect the player to your pc and copy music to the player.

Still hasn’t crashed again…think I’m expecting it though!

I did delete the naff pre-loaded tracks.

Only real complaint is that the volume is very very low, tried some classical and I cannot hear the quiet bits (try Ravels Ballero and you’ll see what I mean)

I also have an old bush MP3 player and that must have gone a good 20 decibels louder. 

With firmware V01.01.05F is the European volume rectriction activated?

If this is limited to a theoretical 80dB on peak modulated music, that is plain daft. MP3 dynamic range must be around 80 decibels, so with 80dB peak limit, the quietest bit could end up being 0dB = inaudible.

If the music never hits 80dB, then it won’t just be the quietest bits that are inaudible.

What’s the ‘pre-gain’ menu about?

Try putting the latest firmware on, and choose the worldwide or US selection; the European limits volume.  And make sure the volume setting is set to high.