e280 installation bricks. cannot boot into recovery.

[blistovmhz]

I picked up an e280 yesterday, looked at the gui for about 10 seconds before deciding once again, rockbox = win.
I used the rockbox installer for my first install.  Everything went fine.  It booted to rockbox immediately after installation.  Wouldn't go into disk mode (read about that later).
Tried booting to the origional firmware (OHNOES!) and it locks up, screen fades into a horrible nuclear blast of gamma, and eventually fades to black.  Nothing after that.
Reboot back into rockbox, no problem.  I notice though that I don't see any of my music I'd previously copied in.
The entire "music" folder is missing.

So onto recovery.
I downloaded this mi4 file http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/PP5022.mi4
Booted into recovery mode, noticed there was a file called "version.txt" in the recovery partion (16Mb part).
I left it alone as I didn't put it there.
Copied in the mi4 file, unmounted, made sure the fs was sync'd, unplugged the player from USB, and it hangs on writing.
I left it for about 30 minutes and gave up, rebooted the player.
Player powers on, blue ring led is on, screen is black, nothing happens behond that.
I couldn't find another thread with this problem, so I took it back and replaced the player.

New player today.
Followed the e200 installation instructions here http://download.rockbox.org/manual/rockbox-sansae200/rockbox-build.html
Installed properly, again, it boots to rockbox, doesn't see my music folder, reboot to origional firmware, and the player locks up again.
This time I put it into recovery and deleted the "version.txt" as I suspected it was being dd'd instead of the firmware.  Copied the mi4 file i got from here http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200/1.02.15a.mi4 , unmounted, unplugged, and this time it wrote the image correctly.
Rebooted, and the origional firmware came up..

So, I've now managed to completely brick the first device (future shark isn't allowed to ask me any questions about returns   ), and still cannot get rockbox to work.

Seems sorta silly that their recovery partition doesn't have its own locked firmware so you can't overwrite it and brick your device.

Anyone have any ideas on why this is happening?
(No, its not the R model)

[Thepher]

Might have similar problem with e280...?

First boot to Rockbox is ok...  so I connect usb, nothing happens.

power off, power on, "horrible nuclear blast of gamma".

Power off, unplug, power on holding left, "horrible nuclear blast of gamma".

Rockbox still boots fine though.

So is it a brick?

[blistovmhz]

Thats exactly what happened to mine, I just went a step further and killed ALL the firmware I believe.
I think the firmware is b0rked, and recommend against installing it right now until someone comes up with some solution.
In the mean time, you can likely still recover yours by booting into recovery mode, and copying in that mi4 file, as listed in the first post.
Just make sure to delete the version.txt file that shows up, and when you're done, make sure you unmount the device, wait a bit to be sure its written, disconnect, and let it go until it reboots itself.

(ps. this is a "no, its not bricked yet" response.  others may disagree on the definition, but at this point, yours is still recoverable)

[zajacattack]

OK, there is an official bug in sansapatcher 0.3. It is being worked on. Until then, you need to use sansapatcher 0.2, otherwise you won't be able to boot the OF.

[blistovmhz]

I used the sanspatcher-0.2 for my second device, and boot still failed.
I'm not sure what I used for the first device because I used the installer.

[Thepher]

AAAAHHHHH YEAH!
*pelvic thrust*
Thank you.


For a sec I shit myself again, because it booted to language selection and didn't go elsewhere. But everything is in place after choosing a language.

Now will try again with sansapatcher0.2

[blistovmhz]

I just noticed my sanspatcher is actually version 0.4 bootloader version 2.0.
Looking for sanspatcher 0.2 now.
Will post results...

Results.
Installed manually with sanspatcher 0.2 found here:
http://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/sandisk-sansa/sansapatcher/old/v0.2/linux32x86/sansapatcher

Booted to rockbox fine, it found my music folder this time.
Rebooted to origional firmware without a problem, USB mode works.
Just to test, i booted to recovery mode and copied the mi4 file in, and deleted the version.txt, and the device recovered correctly.

I suggested to some of the guys on #rockbox that the instructions listed here:
http://download.rockbox.org/manual/rockbox-sansae200/rockbox-buildch2.html#x4-60002
that there should be some mention that the rbutil installer doesn't currently work for the e200 (uses >sansapatcher-0.2) or that rbutil should use the correct version of sanspatcher.  

As for how my first device got bricked, no idea.  everyone on IRC is absolutely positive that the "version.txt" file can be left on the recovery partition, but in my experience, this is the only difference between my first and last manual installs, barring manufacture defect in the first device.  I also got word from a mate at work who claims to have broken his e280 today, in exactly the same manner as I, so I'll say the question is still up in the air.

Either way, do the manual install with sansapatcher-0.2 and it should work.
Rockbox wins.

PS. my caps lock does engage so don't bother flaming me... ^o^

[Thepher]

sansapatcher0.2 has been posted in a thread dealing with same/simlar issues.

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=12953.0

So in short: I booted to recovery mode; deleted version.txt; copied over the .mi4; it boots to OF after disconnect and reset; used recent version of sansapatcher to uninstall itself (neccessary?); deleted rockbox folder and extracted it back fresh from .zip (neccessary?); installed sansapatcher0.2; screen hangs on "writing" so I wait a few before disconnecting; unplug and it reboots into rockbox; test booting into OF goes peachy.

So far everything is working fine.

Thank zombie jesus, and all you fine people.

 

[scharkalvin]

I also had a problem with not seeing the music that I had copied over.
The problem is that the original Music folder installed with the OF is a
HIDDEN folder!!!  If you set rockbox's file viewer to enable listing hidden
folders you will see it.  Better yet, make a new folder in the root directory
(I called mine Audio) and put your music files in there.

[barrywardell]

A new version of sansapatcher (0.5) has been released on download.rockbox.org a few days ago which should fix all the problems with loading the Sansa firmware that you were having. There shouldn't be any need to use version 0.2 any more.

[gigman]

I have a two gig refurb e200 and when i try to turn it on all that happens is the scroll wheel light comes on. I can not boot into recovery, nothing happens when i plug it into the usb, and when I turn it off you have to hold it for 30 seconds. any ideas?

[cpchan]

when i try to turn it on all that happens is the scroll wheel light comes on. I can not boot into recovery, nothing happens when i plug it into the usb, and when I turn it off you have to hold it for 30 seconds. any ideas?

Have you tried taking out the battery for a few minutes?

Charles

[Bagder]

If it can't start into recovery mode, try manufacture mode.

[gigman]

What is manufacturer mode?

[cpchan]

What is manufacturer mode?

To enter manufacturer mode:

Power off
Turn ON lock/hold
Hold down center select button
Insert USB cable

Also read this:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaE200Unbrick#Manufacturing_Mode

Charles