I bought a refurbished Sansa e280 v2 from NewEgg with the intention of running RockBox on it, as it is now listed as stable.
I initially turned it on and had some fun listening to the default music. It seemed to be working just fine. I noted that according to the software, the firmware was V3.x, confirming that it is a v2 model.
I downloaded the RockBox Utility this morning and tried to install it from Windows XP. It wouldn't detect it. I looked into the firmware to change the USB mode, but it wasn't there. I found somewhere on the forums here that if you turn on the Lock switch and hold down the left arrow while plugging it in, you will enable the right USB mode. Sure enough, it worked. I was able to see the files on the Sansa.
I ran the Rockbox Utility. It was not able to autodetect the Sansa, so I assigned it as a "Sandisk Sansa e200v2 series" with the right drive letter and told it to do a complete installation. During the install, it asked me for a firmware image. As indicated by the instructions, I downloaded a copy from here (
http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=e200&thread.id=13548) and proceeded with the installation. Everything succeeded.
When I disconnected the Sansa from my PC, it popped up a message "Updating Firmware". I waited. It said the update was complete and it turned off.
When I pressed the power button, it came up with the Rockbox logo and somethign alogn the bottom saying "Bootloader v1.c" or something. It goes by too fast to see. Then the screen went totally white and stayed that way. Uh oh.
If I hold the power button down, it will turn off after a few seconds. But when I turn it back on, it shows the same Rockbox screen, followed by the white screen of death.
I turned it off and plugged it into the PC again. It brings up the Sandisk Sansa logo and stays there forever. After a minute or three, Windows reports "USB Device not recognized" and "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems."
I tried to reboot holding down the RECORD button. Rockbox would display the boot screen, then flick to another page implying that it was re-writing some files (goes by too fast to see) then goes back to the White Screen of Death.
I removed the back and removed the battery. I've been fighting with it, plugging it into a Windows 7 x64 system and pressing different buttons in an effort to get it back, but it generally goes back to the Sansa screen indefinitely.
I finally managed to get it to boot the Sansa flash. It seems that if I detach the battary, turn on the LOCK switch, hold the left arrow, plug int he USB and get VERY lucky, it will sometimes go into the Sansa screen. It's realyl iffy, so I haven't figured it out.
From this Sansa firmware, I have tried to:
- Format the disk. Makes Rockbox report there is no firmware to load. Otherwise, the same.
- Restore the original Sansa flash as instructed here (
http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=e200&thread.id=13548). I downloaded the flash and placed it in the root directory. Then I disconnected. It reported "Updating Flash" then "Flash Updated" but it would still come up with the Sansa logo and freeze.
- Re-install Rockbox and the bootloader. Succeeded, but still has the same bootloader problems.
I am suspecting that the firmware I got from Sandisk is not right. Ir maybe I somehow have some funky hardware. I'm pretty much stuck.
What do you think, sirs?