Sansa e250: Worked, bricked, worked, bricked again

[katarac]

Just got a Sansa e250 the yesterday, installed Rockbox, put some music on it, had a good old time.  

Then, last night, I plugged it into my computer to put some more stuff on it, and it went black.  The computer gave a "USB Device Not Recognized" error, saying that the device is malfunctioning.  I could not get the player to respond to anything.  I tried unplugging and replugging it in, tried rebooting, nothing worked.  Then, after a half hour or so, i pushed the power button on the sansa, and it came back on!  I turned it off, plugged it into the computer, and it connected happily, transferring files with no trouble.  Played some DooM, played some music, etc...

It has worked fine until this afternoon.  Now it is doing the same thing.  The player is black and unresponsive to anything, and when I plug it in it gives the "USB Device Not Recognized" error again.  I've tried different usb ports and rebooting again.  It has been this way for a couple hours now.

I love Rockbox and want to keep using it if I can.  Thanks for any help you can offer.

[MarcGuay]

Are you connecting it via USB when Rockbox is running?

[katarac]

Are you connecting it via USB when Rockbox is running?

I've been turning it off before I connect it (or at least I thought I was).  Thanks for the reply.

Well, I found http://www.freewebs.com/recoversansa/ and started following the instructions there.  When I saw the step "Turn the player off. (Hold the menu button for 10 seconds)"  I thought "hmmm, maybe it is still on in some silly 'kind of on but not really' way".  So I held down the power button for 10 seconds and tried plugging it into the computer afterwards, and it worked.  Maybe I haven't been shutting it down all the way?

Thanks

[MarcGuay]

Maybe I haven't been shutting it down all the way?

It could be.  Do you wait for the "Shutting down..." screen to pop up when you're turning it off?

[katarac]

Yeah, and just now I shut it down, but held down the button for 10 seconds, and the shutting down screen stayed up until it shut off after the 10 seconds.  Before I was just waiting for the "shutting down" screen and then letting go of the button.  It would appear to shut down at that point, but I guess it wasn't.

I'll try to only shut it off using the 10 second thing, and see if I get the problem again.

Thanks for your help, MarcGuay.

[MarcGuay]

Before I was just waiting for the "shutting down" screen and then letting go of the button.

That's what I do and it works fine for me.

The player is black and unresponsive to anything.

When does this happen?  During music playback?  When you leave it alone for a certain amount of time?

[katarac]

When does this happen?  During music playback?  When you leave it alone for a certain amount of time?

I would plug it into the computer, then it would give the "USB device not recognized" (telling me try reconnecting, etc.).  The screen was black at this point (didn't light up when I plugged it in) and did not respond until I held the power down for 10 seconds, then tried turning it back on.

Still haven't had any problems and I've been messing with it (connecting, disconnecting, power on, power off) pretty heavy.

[MarcGuay]

Just for the sake of curiosity could you tell me what you have the following setting set to:

Settings -> General -> Display -> LCD -> Backlight (while plugged in)

Also, if you connect the player while Rockbox is running, does it respond in the same way (black screen, etc)?

[katarac]

Just for the sake of curiosity could you tell me what you have the following setting set to:

Settings -> General -> Display -> LCD -> Backlight (while plugged in)

Also, if you connect the player while Rockbox is running, does it respond in the same way (black screen, etc)?

The setting you asked about is set to 10 seconds.

I must have been lying when I said that I hadn't plugged it in while Roxbox was running, because when I just now tried it, it went black and threw the error just as before.  And once again, holding down the power for 10 seconds and then turning it on fixed it.  I guess it didn't have anything to do with holding down the button when I turn it off after all.  I just need to remember to not plug it in while Roxbox is running.  Thanks again.

[MarcGuay]

Sound about right, but your Sansa is reacting to being plugged-in in a strange way.  If you connect it while Rockbox is running you should get either the "Found new hardware" wizard from Windows (with the player continue to function as normal) or a reboot into the Sansa firmware.

What version of Rockbox are you using?