I was attempting to install Rockbox on my just-out-of-the-box F40. I had downloaded (and unzipped) all of the necessary files--saving them to folders on my computer in preparation to follow the steps in the instructions for the manual installation. At the last minute, I chickened out and downloaded the Rockbox Utility. I clicked on "Complete Installation" and it went to town. It said it had installed the bootloader. I did not manually install anything on my player, so I can't be certain that the bootloader was installed correctly, but I do know that I was able to see the ".rockbox" folder on the root of my player before things went horribly wrong. I may have become distracted at this point and messed up the whole "power cycle" routine--I can't be sure that I did things in the right order from this point on.
The bottom line is that now, when I attempt to turn the player on, I get the original gigabeat splash screen, the progress meter gets about 1/2 way across and then nothing but a grey/white/dark blue screen. Of course, the player is no longer showing up on my computer. Once the blank screen appears, it will not shut off until I turn the battery switch off. Turning the battery back on then results in a repeat of the above symptoms. I've tried holding down the menu button while the splach screen is showing, but this has no effect on the outcome.
I'm REALLY hoping I don't have to take my player apart!! Please help??