formatted Sansa R

[Micmac]

I've been running Rockbox on my one-year-old Sansa e260Rv1 (the Rhapsody helix version) for several weeks now and finally have it pretty much figured out.

However, today I formatted to wipe the memory of data so I could reload music from scratch and found out that not only did Rockbox get wiped out during the format so did Rhapsody. The only thing left is the Rockbox bootloader 4.0.  

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself. I assume this happened as a result of unlocking the software protection in order to get Rockbox to install.

After I got my Sansa set up for Rockbox it had a dual boot feature that I really liked and would love to get it set up that way again. Can you point me to the procedure for reloading Rockbox and Rhapsody? Any advice about avoiding this problem in the future would also be greatly appreciated.

[krazykit]

Read the SansaE200Unbrick wiki page and perform a Recovery.  You should then be able to follow the install instructions again.

[Bagder]

not only did Rockbox get wiped out during the format so did Rhapsody. The only thing left is the Rockbox bootloader 4.0.

I seriously doubt that since you can't even access the Sansa firmware partition with USB.

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself. I assume this happened as a result of unlocking the software protection in order to get Rockbox to install.

Nope. The "unlocking" (which is really just the disabling of a signature check) doesn't change anything like that but is exactly just a disabling of a signature check.

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself.

Right but formatting is a silly way to do that since Rockbox is installed in that very filesystem you just wiped.

[Micmac]

Thank you for your reply, Badger

not only did Rockbox get wiped out during the format so did Rhapsody. The only thing left is the Rockbox bootloader 4.0.
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I seriously doubt that since you can't even access the Sansa firmware partition with USB.

I am not a developer. On XP file explorer I can only see the dap root drive remaining after the format - no subdirectories display (with "display hidden files" enabled).

On dap boot I get a momentary negative display screen listing Rockbox Bootloader 4.0, memory info and then a "Rockbox.mi4 / File Not Found" followed by "Can't Load Rockbox e200 / File Not Found" The system then shuts down.

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself. I assume this happened as a result of unlocking the software protection in order to get Rockbox to install.

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Nope. The "unlocking" (which is really just the disabling of a signature check) doesn't change anything like that but is exactly just a disabling of a signature check.

OK. Does the signature check shield the Rockbox file system if it is reenabled after Rockbox installation?

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out of my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself.

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Right but formatting is a silly way to do that since Rockbox is installed in that very filesystem you just wiped.

I can see that now but this is undocumented so far. Frankly, I forgot that things might be different with Rockbox installed. IMHO, a format is an excellent way to clean out a dap. It would be convenient to shield Rockbox from a routine data format, if possible.

[P.Opus]

I've been running Rockbox on my one-year-old Sansa e260Rv1 (the Rhapsody helix version) for several weeks now and finally have it pretty much figured out.

However, today I formatted to wipe the memory of data so I could reload music from scratch and found out that not only did Rockbox get wiped out during the format so did Rhapsody. The only thing left is the Rockbox bootloader 4.0.  

Formatting is the usual method for cleaning all the songs out my Sansa and normally doesn't affect the application itself. I assume this happened as a result of unlocking the software protection in order to get Rockbox to install.

After I got my Sansa set up for Rockbox it had a dual boot feature that I really liked and would love to get it set up that way again. Can you point me to the procedure for reloading Rockbox and Rhapsody? Any advice about avoiding this problem in the future would also be greatly appreciated.

I just PM'ed you recovery instructions as it's easier to do than try and link you to another post.  I also posted the recovery instructions on the post you made on the Rhapsody forum.

The base programming of a Sansa knows to take a file called PP5022.mi4 and then load that code into it's hidden partition.

To "Trick" the player in to loading the bootloader into the hidden partition, we rename it pp5022.mi4 so that the player THINK's it's loading orignal firmware but is really loading the bootloader.  When the Sansa is then booted, it runs whatever code is in the hidden partition.

In short, the reason that formatting an Rockboxed E200R is a bad idea is that both the original firmware and the rockbox firmware reside in the main file system.  (The one that unfortunately gets "formatted").  On a Rockboxed Sansa, the hidden partition contains the boot loader code and then based on your key input will load either the original firmware (your OF.mi4 file) or your rockbox firmware (rockbox.mi4),

On a non-rockboxed box the original firmware resides in the hidden partition and that's why you can format a non-rockboxed Sansa Rhapsody and not lose functionality.

So if you are running rockbox, never EVER format, unless you have all the necessary files and original firmware to recover.  

[Micmac]

Thank you, Opus. Nice to see you over here. Your posts on the Real boards are always intelligent and on topic. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I SEE the light!

[Micmac]

Follow up:

Opus, your instructions worked fine. my playe is back in business with dual boots to Rockbox and Rhapsody. Thank you for the boost!

For others, here is a link to the basic info. Remember Sansa e200 Rv1 series users must batch the original bootloader before loading the main files.

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaE200RInstallationFromWindows#Pre_requisites

Thanks to all who've built Rockbox and the installation and support files. A tremendous project and a great dap manager.