Bricked c250

[kushal one]

Hello, I think I have bricked my Sandisk Sansa c250. The computer I use with my RockBox is a macbook with Mac OS X 10.4. I wanted to copy all files in the sansa disk to a place in the hard disk but somehow I ended up deleting everything. I did not realize what I had done until it was too late. Now when I turn the device on, it does not have anything in the display but only the backlight to the navigation buttons. Can I reverse this process? Please help ...

[Strife89]

Find a file recovery utility, plug the thing in, and cross your fingers.

If it is legal, I could probably package the system files and send them... (I keep backups of EVERYTHING)

[kushal one]

That would be so good. Would you do it? Thank you so much ...

[Strife89]

I will do it, but there are two issues:

1) I do not know if it is legal or not to copy these files and distribute them. If not, you will have to try the file recovery route. (I will wait, AT MOST, for 20 minutes for someone to fill us in, and research the issue in the meantime. If I turn up nothing, I will send them, provided #2 is in the clear.)

2) The .zip file I will make is bound to be too large to send on the forums. I will need your e-mail address (PM me so you don't commit spamicide   ).
EDIT: It's 1.9MB.


In addition, here are these links for future reference:

Sansa Connect Recovery Tool
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1532

Sansa Firmware Updater
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1376

Found this:
http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/Default.aspx?CatID=1217
I do not believe that this would be copyright infringement. The software would normally come with your Sansa anyway (naturally), and it is probably obtainable through the recovery tool anyways.

[Llorean]

Strife, I've warned you several times about various forum guidelines. Please fix your last two posts to be acceptable.

[Strife89]

Better?   (crosses fingers)

EDIT: Hang on! (reading the guidelines) Didn't notice this....

So I am not allowed to even mention distribution.... Well, guess that option's out...  

[kushal one]

Thank you for the links. I found a Windows computer and tried the recommendations Sandisk gave. Unfortunately, they did not work for me.

I think the problem is that the part of the storage on the sandisk sansa c250 that I can modify is blank. I accidentally deleted it.

Recovery mode does not work, neither does the Volume up + right navigation mode.

A friend suggested that the device might be stuck in some sort of manufacturer mode.

Please help me. How can I unbrick this player?

Regards,
Kushal

[Strife89]

Try running the Rockbox "bootloader mod". You know, this:

(instructions for using, found under section 2.3.2)
http://download.rockbox.org/manual/rockbox-sansac200/rockbox-buildch2.html#x4-60002

(for Windows)
http://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/sandisk-sansa/sansapatcher/win32/sansapatcher.exe

(for Mac)
http://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/sandisk-sansa/sansapatcher/macosx/sansapatcher.dmg

(for Linux)
http://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/sandisk-sansa/sansapatcher/linux32x86/sansapatcher

Other ideas (be careful; these directions are intended for e200s, not c200s):
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaE200Unbrick

Sansa c200 (your model's series) assistance
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaC200Port

[kushal one]

The player does not even show up on my macbook (10.4.11). It shows the notification bubble on a Windows machine but it still does not work.

Bootloader mod did not work on my mac.

Let me add some detail if they help. Just before the player stopped working, I think I ended up deleting everything in the player when I wanted to back up the files. I remember that the player worked even after this but it stopped working once I turned it off and back on.

Is there anything I can do?

[saratoga]

I think that unless you've also repartitioned/formated the player, recovery mode should still work.  Are you sure it doesn't?  IIRC its not actually stored on the part of the disk you can see normally.

[gevaerts]

The problem here was that the partition table was gone. This makes recovery mode not work, even with e200tool. It _is_ possible to recover, but it requires some new tools (I have one that recovers a c250 from this, but it needs work to support other models)

[kushal one]

This issue has been resolved. Please check the IRC history for today Sunday February 24, 2008 starting 1625 hours CET. http://www.rockbox.org/irc/log-20080224#16:25:13 ( Is it better now? fingers crossed)

I cannot thank enough to everyone who made this possible. You guys walked me, a noob, through all the steps ... a great job, a great collaborative effort, and a proof that free software works!

[AlexP]

The IRC logs are in CET.  Surely it would be more sensible to refer to that?

[kushal one]

Sorry, this was the time on my system which is in EST. I tried to link to the IRC so that others could see the discussion. Could you please check the link to see if it works? Thanks.

(I am very grateful to everyone who helped me. I cannot do enough to show my gratefulness. I am anxious to not appear that I am not grateful ... )

[AlexP]

The link works fine, but the times in the logs are different to those which you reference.  Of course people can work out the difference, but if you do it yourself before posting it may be a little better.  This isn't a massive issue, I was just making a suggestion so we all get less confused