My Sansa clip+ won't turn on what so ever

Well, reformatting hasn’t changed anything.  Still won’t mount as a writable device, and I only ever get a “Sandisk” and ‘flower’ occasionally–but it never goes any further.   Not sure what else to try. 

@wilberfan wrote:

As the Designated Geek, a friend handed me her Clip+ yesterday (she knows I have one, too), and said “Fix it, please?”

 

It wont’ boot. 

 

I’ve tried several different combinations of holding down the power button, plugging it in to a linux machine, an OS X machine, etc.   I’ve only ever gotten it to display the ‘flower’ startup logo (that’s what I call it), but it won’t go any farther than that.

 

The OS X machine says it’s a “4.2MB UNDEF Storage Media”.

 

The device has got to be several years old; she doesn’t have much hope for it.   Still, I’d be a big o’l hero if I could get it working again…!  

 

[edit]  Any chance reformatting it would do me any good?  The OS X Disk Utility shows it as format-able…

You tried holding down the center button while connecting it to a pc?

I’ve tried doing that with Linux and OS X.  Havne’t tried Windows 7 yet.   Will have the opportunity later today…

Also when connecting it to a pc, use a rear usb port and connect directly. Some front ports put out too little power. Don’t use a hub or usb extension cable. If using a notebook, make sure the notebook is conneccted to power before connecting the player. Some notebooks cut power to the usb ports when running on battery power, and there isn’t enough power coming from the slot to get the player to connect.

OK.  I’ve plugged it into my WIndows 7 box and it mounts as K:.  However, it tells me it needs to be formatted, but then fails the formatting when requested.  (“Windows was unable to complete the format.”) 

I’ve tried chkdsk from the command line, but that fails, too.  (“The type of the file system is RAW.  CHKDSk is not available for RAW drives.”)

I’ve tried connecting via USB cable with and without holding the center button.  Same result in either case.

Under “Properties” it tells me it’s a “M200Plus”–for whatever that’s worth.

Tried formatting with gparted in Linux–but FAT32 not available.   

Tried to format in Windows 8.1, but same fails as under Windows 7.    It gets about 2/3rds of the way thru the format and fails…  CHKDSK failed with the same RAW message…

Seeing M200Plus is an ominous sign. It might mean the player is toast. You should ask Saratoga about that. I think there might be a way to reset the player, however it might have to be opened. Ask Saratoga first before opening it.

Well, cool.  I think. 

Being new around here, is “Saratoga” a person, or a thing, or a God…?  :wink:

Saratoga is member of this forum. He is also a Rockbox developer, so he has quite a bit of knowledge about the hardware used in Sandisk players.

I’m a big Rockbox fan–have it loaded on my Clip+.  Will he see this thread, or do I need to go find him…?

@wilberfan wrote:

Well, cool.  I think. 

 

Being new around here, is “Saratoga” a person, or a thing, or a God…?  :wink:

Depends on your point of view. :stuck_out_tongue:

@wilberfan wrote:

OK.  I’ve plugged it into my WIndows 7 box and it mounts as K:.  However, it tells me it needs to be formatted, but then fails the formatting when requested.  (“Windows was unable to complete the format.”) 

 

I’ve tried chkdsk from the command line, but that fails, too.  (“The type of the file system is RAW.  CHKDSk is not available for RAW drives.”)

 

I’ve tried connecting via USB cable with and without holding the center button.  Same result in either case.

 

Under “Properties” it tells me it’s a “M200Plus”–for whatever that’s worth.

Dude, I have the EXACT same issue:  “M200Plus”, RAW, chkdsk won’t work, format doesn’t complete, etc.  Sometimes it will come on briefly, the flower logo shows up then nothing. Before this i got the error message not enough space & to format it, so i removed the SD card and the message went away but the device is still inoperable. Disk management says it’s 31 MB (was 8 GB).

I’ve tried everything i can think of short of taking it apart - it still has a charge so I want to tinker with it more. Did you find Saratoga?

@bla3l0ch wrote:


@wilberfan wrote:

OK.  I’ve plugged it into my WIndows 7 box and it mounts as K:.  However, it tells me it needs to be formatted, but then fails the formatting when requested.  (“Windows was unable to complete the format.”) 

 

I’ve tried chkdsk from the command line, but that fails, too.  (“The type of the file system is RAW.  CHKDSk is not available for RAW drives.”)

 

I’ve tried connecting via USB cable with and without holding the center button.  Same result in either case.

 

Under “Properties” it tells me it’s a “M200Plus”–for whatever that’s worth.


Dude, I have the EXACT same issue:  “M200Plus”, RAW, chkdsk won’t work, format doesn’t complete, etc.  Sometimes it will come on briefly, the flower logo shows up then nothing. Before this i got the error message not enough space & to format it, so i removed the SD card and the message went away but the device is still inoperable. Disk management says it’s 31 MB (was 8 GB).

I’ve tried everything i can think of short of taking it apart - it still has a charge so I want to tinker with it more. Did you find Saratoga?

I got distracted and haven’t gone on a Saratoga hunt yet, sorry.   I do take some small comfort, though, that I’m not the only one having this issue!   It gives me hope that maybe it’s come up before…and that there might be a solution out there, somewhere.  ;)

[edit]  Okay, I found him over in the Rockbox Forum, and have sent him a PM.  I’ll keep you advised!


wilberfan wrote:

 

[edit]  Okay, I found him over in the Rockbox Forum, and have sent him a PM.  I’ll keep you advised!

Coulda done that here too. :wink:

Well, here’s what “Saratoga” had to offer:

Try asking in the forums (or maybe on IRC too).  A lot of people have fixed players that are broken in the sandisk firmware, but I’ve never done it myself.  From previous threads, its fairly complex and not always possible so I’m not the best person to help you. 

1 Like

That is unfortunate. Even if it can be fixed, is it worth all the bother? Opening the player, fixing it, then closing the player properly without breaking something in the process is not easy. These players weren’t meant to be repairable. Unfortunately the Clip Sport and Clip Jam are not versatile as the Clip+ and Clip Zip, as the Clip+ and Clip Zip are Rockboxable, and capable of having a huge number of songs in a single database when using Rockbox, and a large capacity SDXC card formatted as FAT32. The Clip sport and Clip Jam are limited to 2,000 songs for the internal memory database, and 2,000 songs for the external card database. These are kept separate. on the plus side though, the Clip sport has 25 hours of battery life listed, vs 15 hours for the Clip+ and Clip Zip. Many people have under 2,000 songs they want on a player though, so for them the limitations of the Clip Sport and Clip Jam won’t be an issue.

@jk98 wrote:

That is unfortunate. Even if it can be fixed, is it worth all the bother?

Of course it is!    ;)    At least, to give it a try . . . .

Well, I thought I might be able to follow this unbricking tutorial on the Rockbox forum, but I completely borked my friends Clip+ when TWO of the three battery wires broke off – at the battery end.

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,29115.msg185581.html#msg185581

Fawk.  

1 Like

@jk98 wrote:

That is unfortunate. Even if it can be fixed, is it worth all the bother? Opening the player, fixing it, then closing the player properly without breaking something in the process is not easy. These players weren’t meant to be repairable. Unfortunately the Clip Sport and Clip Jam are not versatile as the Clip+ and Clip Zip, as the Clip+ and Clip Zip are Rockboxable, and capable of having a huge number of songs in a single database when using Rockbox, and a large capacity SDXC card formatted as FAT32. The Clip sport and Clip Jam are limited to 2,000 songs for the internal memory database, and 2,000 songs for the external card database. These are kept separate. on the plus side though, the Clip sport has 25 hours of battery life listed, vs 15 hours for the Clip+ and Clip Zip. Many people have under 2,000 songs they want on a player though, so for them the limitations of the Clip Sport and Clip Jam won’t be an issue.

Hey man thanks for the follow up, I appreciate it. I’ve gotten distracted with other stuff too but still wondering if this might be worth the effort. It may be several weeks before I check out that link you left for unbricking the Clip+. i was curious tho I definitely do NOT have soldering skills… I might just leave it alone for another month and see what happens.

I’ve been looking into getting another Clip+ , I can’t decide between that or the Jam. In my experience newer isn’t always better. The Jam’s gotten mixed reviews from what I’ve read and honestly, it doesn’t look like it’s built as sturdily as the Clip+; that thing went through the washing machine years ago and worked perfectly afterwards. I think one of the few things going for the Jam is the battery life but that’s about it… :confused:

@wilberfan wrote:

Well, I thought I might be able to follow this unbricking tutorial on the Rockbox forum, but I completely borked my friends Clip+ when TWO of the three battery wires broke off – at the battery end.

 

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,29115.msg185581.html#msg185581

 

Fawk.  

Hey man thanks for the follow up, I appreciate it. I’ve been distracted with other stuff too but still wondering if this is worth the effort. It may be several weeks before I check out that link you left for unbricking Clip+. i was curious tho I definitely do NOT have soldering skills… I might just leave it alone for another month and see what happens. It only stopped working a month ago, I’ve had it since 2009!.

I’ve been looking into getting another Clip+ , I can’t decide between that or the Jam. I might even get another Fuze the only problem being it’s not pocket sized. In my experience newer isn’t always better. The Jam’s gotten mixed reviews from what I’ve read and honestly, it doesn’t look like it’s built as sturdily as the Clip+; that thing went through the washing machine years ago and worked perfectly afterwards. I think one of the few things going for the Jam is the battery life but that’s about it… :confused: