Clip doesn't start, but connection to PC is OK.

I have a strange problem.

My Sansa Clip 2GB felt on the ground. It was nothing to me, it wasn’t the first time. It was turned OFF. Few hours later, I decided to turn it on - I couldn’t.

I thought that, the battery was out, so when I came home, I plugged it to my PC. I got the connection without any problems. It started to charge - “It’s OK” - I thought. But few hours later - I unplugged it. And I still can’t turn it on.

It works, even play music, when it’s plugged to any source of electricity, I can transfer files without any problems, but I can’t turn it on, when it’s unplugged.

Any suggestions? Maybe someone know how to open the cover and get to battery?

Sorry for my English - It’s in poor condition, but I do my best/

The first thing I would try, if you haven’t already, is to reset the Clip by pressing up the power/reset switch for 15 seconds.  Then try turning it on.

Unfortunatelly, I’ve tried  it - it doesn’t work.

The funny thing is that - the “reset” works, when player is plugged, but it doesn’t when it’s not.

Thanks for trying to help me :slight_smile:

I think your battery wire is broken,  unfortunately.

I thought about it.

Any way to open the player? I would handle to assemble it, but I don’t have any idea how to open.

As you probably know, the case is not made to be opened.  However, people have done it–you may want to do a search in the Clip forum at anythingbutipod.com for posts where people have done so. 

Fortunatelly, I’ve opened it, without any damage, probably I am the first :slight_smile:

But, as we thought, the black wire is unplugged. Any ideas? The solder is necessary?

Message Edited by lemisz on 09-29-2008 11:09 AM

Message Edited by lemisz on 09-29-2008 11:36 AM

Any chance that it’s just the on/off switch that’s broken?

Message Edited by PromisedPlanet on 09-29-2008 02:47 PM

No, the switch works when the player is plugged. Now, I have disassembled player (without damaging it - “I am the mastah”) - two of the wires - black and red aren’t on their places. I mean the wires between the battery and the player. I am afraid that the solder would be needed - what would be very hard, because the wires and the places for them are VERY small. Am I right?

Solder is needed.

Right, silly question.

Any ideas how to solder it? How to get that MINI “ending of solder tool” (i don’t know how is it in english - dictionaries don’t know to, i think.)

I mean that, the standart solder tool is too big.

Did you check at your local electronics store (such as, in the U.S., Radio Shack, which also sells on-line)?

Yeah, I’ve found. It even isn’t as expensive as I expected. I didn’t even knew where to seek, but Allegro (Polish “Ebay”) is wonderful :slight_smile:

Thanks for all your help. I’ll write soon, when the solder would be done.

Eh, I’ve just made the solder. It is made correctly, but it still doesn’t work. Any ideas?

Did you find a broken wire?

The danger with soldering is that it isn’t quite like “glueing” the connection.  Soldering involves heat, and one must be very careful that the solder point (connection) is not heated any more than is necessary to melt, and flow the solder.

The connection may also be a “cold joint”, meaning that the connection moved before the solder cooled and solidified, which means a bad connection.

One must be very careful that excessive solder is not used, and that melted solder isn’t dragged across neighboring pads, making a short circuit.

Carefully inspect your connections, and then see if the device charges the battery.

Bob  :wink:

So Yes, I had the same problem and have resolved it.  Just to be clear for those about the open the case, if the unit powers on when connected to power or usb, but not while free-standing, then it is likely that it is the battery wire.  You can open the case as it is snapped together, but this must be done carefully to minimize damaging the case.  A good idea is to have a set of very small flatheads, or precision screwdrivers.  Start by inserting the thinnest screwdriver head into the base of the unit, and rock it back and forth so that you can slide the next size up driver in the gap.  Continue to do this, and leave one driver in the base as you work the other around the corners.  You may want to review where the “clips” are that hold the unit together, right near headphone and data ports (so don’t jam in screwdriver here). 

When you have it apart, it is likely that the red wire is disconnected, and you can simply use the existing solder by heating it up.  Make sure the solder iron has a very fine tip so that you hit only the space on the board where you need to connect the wire.  The trickiest part for me was stripping the red wire, a cheap little one-size-does-all wire stipper did the trick.  The right tools again and a steady hand saved a lot of frustration.  

I did not remove the board from the unit before soldering, but many suggest it.  Hope this helps.