Rockbox Technical Forums

Rockbox General => Rockbox General Discussion => Topic started by: semih on June 11, 2009, 07:25:15 AM

Title: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 11, 2009, 07:25:15 AM
I have a charging problem on my Sansa c250 2GB. when i plug it to my computer(while the device is on or off, it doesn't matter) it doesn't start the original firmware and start charging(While the original firmwares Connected image is showing) like it's supposed to. When i first upgraded to Rockbox v3.2 this didn't happen. But yesterday it happened and i don't recall doing something lately to trigger this problem. i really want to update my songs but i can't because of this problem. Please, somebody help me!
Title: Re: Charging Problem
Post by: j8048188 on June 12, 2009, 08:49:42 PM
Did you also update the bootloader?
Title: Re: Charging Problem
Post by: semih on June 15, 2009, 03:46:27 AM
yes, i updated everything. the problem didn't occur immediately after the update. it was running fine until a few days ago. now that my pc doesn't see my MP3 player no matter what i do, i can't even install a previous build to try if it causes any problems. if i delete the bootloader using Rockbox's file explorer, will it help my MP3 player boot in the original firmware or is this method stupidly dangerous?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 20, 2009, 08:35:43 AM
isn't there anyone who can help me wtih this problem?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: BruceHP on June 20, 2009, 08:48:23 AM
Remove all of Rockbox.  Will it boot to OF, charge or be recognized by your computer, if not, it might be your cable.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: Llorean on June 20, 2009, 08:52:47 AM
How is he supposed to remove Rockbox if he can't get it to connect to the computer? You can't remove Rockbox's bootloader from within Rockbox.

And if he remove rockbox.mi4 and that doesn't work, it would mean his player is even more unable to do anything. It's not a good idea to suggest people break their player worse.

A good question would be, instead, "what happens when you manually boot to the original firmware, and then try to connect?"
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 20, 2009, 11:58:59 AM
how do i boot to the original firmware manually? which buttons of the c250 do i have to press before turning the device on?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: saratoga on June 20, 2009, 01:28:24 PM
how do i boot to the original firmware manually? which buttons of the c250 do i have to press before turning the device on?

I don't know the button on your player, but its in the manual.  Probably one of the direction keys during startup.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: yapper on June 20, 2009, 01:46:11 PM
how do i boot to the original firmware manually? which buttons of the c250 do i have to press before turning the device on?
Press and release Menu (power), then immediately press and hold << until the Sansa OF appears.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 21, 2009, 01:50:55 PM
i booted ÅŸnto original firmware and tried to connect the device to the computer but again, c250 didn't connect to the comÄŸputer but instead it started to charge only. now, what do i do?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: saratoga on June 21, 2009, 01:59:29 PM
Try a different computer.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: BruceHP on June 21, 2009, 02:59:48 PM
Might it be in MTP mode instead of the other mode?  Bad cable?  You might try reformating it.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 22, 2009, 01:34:44 AM
tried it ona different computer, same thing happened. In the original firmware i checked if it was in MSC or MTP mode and it was in MSC mode(the mode that lets you put songs into your player through explorer). I tried it in the other only option "Auto-detect" mode and it didn't work either, it charges but doesn't connect. i might have to try formatting it but on which firmware(rockbox or the original one) should i format it? Does it matter?(i couldn't find a format option in rockbox menu, is it hidden or something?)
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: GodEater on June 22, 2009, 02:54:35 AM
There isn't a format option in Rockbox, which is why you couldn't find it.

Personally, I'm always loathe to format these devices, it's very much a weapon of last resort.

Could you check something else out for me first? With the device connected in MSC mode, do the following :

1) Go to the start menu in windows, and choose "Run"
2) Type in "diskmgmt.msc", and then click "Ok"

In the window which should then pop up, tell us what you see in the bottom half. It should list the disks that windows sees attached to your computer (for example, you might see "Disk 0" and "CD-ROM 0").

Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 22, 2009, 05:07:47 AM
in both the original firmware and rockbox firmware i tried what you described and the result was the same. There is only Disk 0 which is my partitioned hard drive and CD-ROM 0 which is my DVD Drive. I guess that means my mp3 player can not be seen from the computer(i tried on my desktop computer and my brothers laptop, the result was the same). now i ask the veterans of the forum, should i format or should i do nothing?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: GodEater on June 22, 2009, 05:16:01 AM
If your computer can't see the device at all, I don't think formatting it will help. There's something seriously wrong with it. However, I'm not a subject matter expert with the sansa series players - so perhaps someone else might have a better idea.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 22, 2009, 11:15:27 AM
hopefully someone will because i'm about to throw the player out of the window  :'(
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: Llorean on June 22, 2009, 11:22:01 AM
At this point, it sounds like the most likely problem is a bad cable. Cables go bad pretty easily, and a cable that failed in just the right way might be able to cause this sort of behaviour. They're also cheaper to replace than the whole player, in most cases.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: LambdaCalculus on June 22, 2009, 11:30:09 AM
Yes, this is true; the same can also be had for iPods. And as Llorean mentioned, a new cable can be had for pretty cheap.

semih: Buy a new Sansa cable and try that out. If it resolves your problem, then that will confirm the cable was bad. If not, then you do have something seriously wrong with your hardware, in which case you should consider replacing it.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: BruceHP on June 22, 2009, 05:35:06 PM
Is an SD card installed, if so, remove it, reboot and try again.  If not, why not format it?
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: GodEater on June 23, 2009, 02:13:48 AM
Is an SD card installed, if so, remove it, reboot and try again.  If not, why not format it?

Can you *please* stop telling him to format it? It won't help, and he'll lose all his music.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: semih on June 23, 2009, 07:21:09 AM
at this point i really don't care about my music files(if formatting the player will help), i have them all on my computers hard drive but if i format it and the problem still persists, then i'm really at a tough spot! what's bugging my mind is if the cable has gone bad, why does it charge the player? logically, if the cable is bad one would think that it shouldn't even charge. anyway, i will try to replace the cable and let you guys know about the result.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: yapper on June 23, 2009, 07:29:16 AM
logically, if the cable is bad one would think that it shouldn't even charge.

There are multiple connections within the cable. Some carry power and others carry data. If the power connections are good, but the data connections are damaged, charging would work but data transfer would fail.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: GodEater on June 23, 2009, 07:30:55 AM
at this point i really don't care about my music files(if formatting the player will help)

Formatting it won't help.
Title: Re: Charging Problem on Sansa c250
Post by: Chronon on June 23, 2009, 07:46:25 AM
logically, if the cable is bad one would think that it shouldn't even charge.

There are multiple connections within the cable. Some carry power and others carry data. If the power connections are good, but the data connections are damaged, charging would work but data transfer would fail.

Yes and this very thing has happened to me multiple times with iPods over the years.