Warrenty Replacement?!?! :ss

My adorable Fuze needs a warranty replacement. It’s only been 2-3 weeks since I recieved it and it had minor problems from the beginning, but I thought it just needed a new firmware or something, but it still doesn’t go away even after I installed the latest firmware, so, :sssss I’m treating it *very* well, it’s always in a case, and I’m cherishing it caz it’s very cute!  But for instance, it suddenly stops playing or shuts down in the middle of a song, and when I try to turn it back on, it doesn’t power up. And sometimes, I get it to work again after pluggging it into a USB cable or when i try again a few hours later. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong as the issue doesn’t seem consistent. it’s just been “moody”, I guess it’s a general electorical failure? How can I talk to someone about this?

Most vendors have a 30 day return policy.  I have used it often at Circuit City and Best Buy.  Amazon is good about this so your vendor will probably be too.  I take/send things back just because I don’t like them sometimes even though they are not defective.  Don’t be afraid to do this as it is much easier to take/send it back for another of the same item than warranty repair.  Every product has a few defective items so give it a shot.  I always put a product through its paces before the return/exchange period.

Yeah I needed to return mine too a few times til I got one that didn’t have problems… on had the headset issue…  another had dead pixels… so far the latest one I got is fine - I would return to vendor and exchange it.

Suddenly freezing in the middle of a song is a sign of a corruption in the music file.  If you remember the song that was playing, try running it again, and see if the Sansa freezes at the same point.

In any case, you can reset the player by sliding the power switch to the ON position, and holding it up for 10-15 seconds, then release.  This performs a soft reset of the device.

You can run chkdsk , a DOS command utility, on the Sansa, and have it attempt to fix the errors, if you connect in MSC mode.

Try loading the file again, and see if your player freezes at the same point.

Bob  :wink:

Thanks for your replies! xoxo

Neutron_bob, hm… i’m certain that the music files are fine and that it has to do with my Fuze. Here’s why.

  • My Fuze ‘quits’ , ‘shuts down’. It doesn’t skip to the next track or freeze which is what should happen if the file is currupted…  what’s happening to my Fuze is exactly what you would expect to see when you suddenly take the battery out of the unit, if that makes sense. When I tured it back on successfully, I get hte database refresh page though there’s been no data I/O. 

  • Let’ say my Fuze quits on me (meaning it literally ‘shuts down’ for no reason) in the middle of Song A, when I transfer the Song A file out of my Fuze to my comp, it plays fine on my comp.

  • It’s not that I always have trouble playing the same songs. Let’s say I can play Song A, B, C on a playlist without any problem, and Fuze shuts down in the middle of Song D.  But tomorrow, it may have no trouble playing Song A, B, and D shut down in the middle of C.

I know about the reset stuff, but is it normal that I have to do it several times a day? I thought the function was for when you make your player go crazy by pressing many buttons one after another without giving it enough time to respond to each command, you know, for when it ‘freezes’. … Isn’t it concerning that my Fuze is only a few weeks old and I already have to use the reset several times a day caz it suddenly just shuts down and doesn’t power on???

And the DOS, command, thanks for hte info, I didn’t know there was a thing like that in this mp3 player. Doing that won’t void warranty rigth? Just making sure… 

Message Edited by moonstar on 12-25-2008 08:18 AM

Message Edited by moonstar on 12-25-2008 08:22 AM

Message Edited by moonstar on 12-25-2008 08:24 AM

I have tested several files that, when played, will freeze the Sansa, and it will power off.  In one case, I had loaded a jpeg image with the file that was much too large.  In other cases, the error happens in transfer to the device.

While listening to your music, make a note if it is misbehaving when playing a particular track.  What can indeed happen is something gets “lost in translation” loading the file to the Sansa.  Sometimes, simply deleting the file on the Sansa, and reloading, the problem is solved.

Be sure that your Fuze has the latest firmware installed.  These machines are very stable, and as successive revisions to the firmware are released, it gets even better.

Your Fuze’s memory can be checked for file errors using the chkdsk utilityfrom the computer.  To do this, we need to have access to the Fuze in MSC mode , where the file system of the Fuze is directly accessible.  Your Fuze can communicate in two USB modes, MSC and MTP.  In MSC, it functions like a flash drive, and in MTP, it is handled as a media device.

Let’s have a look.  With the Fuze plugged in, press [Windows Key] + E to access Windows Explorer, or go to My Computer.  If the Sansa is listed under “devices with removable storage” as two drives, you’re in MSC mode.  If it’s listed under “other”, the Sansa is in MTP mode, and cannot be accessed by the chkdsk utility while in this mode.

Simply unplug, go to Settings > System Settings > USB Mode > MSC, and plug the Fuze in again.

To run chkdsk, you need to know the drive letter assigned to the device by Windows.  In the link above, where it refers to the volume: in the command line, insert the letter for your connected Fuze.  When chkdsk asks you if you’d like to save the results as files, tell it no.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Thanks again.

 I’m not quite familiar with MS-DOS but I know any disk drive (of any file system type) can be scanned for error sectors on Windows (not MS-DOS) and I believe it’s the same thing. You just right-click on the dirve letter that the device aquires, go to Properties, and then the “Tool” tab. There, you can check the disk for error, and you have options like… automatically attempt to recover lost sectors or something like that. But the thing is that doesn’t give you any report of any sort, so, you don’t know if there was any erorrs that could have been causing the issue, LOL! Is that same as what you are talkin about? 

Message Edited by moonstar on 12-25-2008 11:27 AM

Yes, the access from a right click in Windows will help too.

Windows is a basic interface (well, in theory, anyway) that makes the requisite entries for you, just like using the command prompt.  Not all applications of Windows have the same options available, depending upon the utilities installed for Windows access.

For example, it you right click on the Sansa in MTP mode, a different set of options will pop up.  If you are navigating through the Music folder in MTP, and right-click on a music track, Windows will offer to “add the song to a playlist”.  So, the options are tailored to the current situation.

This is why I recommend going to a command prompt for chkdsk , as it reduces confusion.  The desired task will be directly available.  Not everyone will see the option to check the drive when they right-click.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Hey neutron_bob, thank you. I tried check disk but my Fuze still powers itself off, so, I RMAed it to where I bought before the period expires, as I’d have to pay the shipping to SanDisk for their warranty replacement. I hope the ship another soon. I already miss my Fuze… :s Oh well, thanks for your time and effort anyway! I learned a lot! xoxo