Problem rebooting Sansa e260 with Rockbox installed

[SillyCone]

Okay, so I just got a Sansa e260 v1 (refurb from buy.com) after reading up on Rockbox, it's features, and it's problems.

I successfully used sansapatcher to install Rockbox and after disconnecting, I rebooted the device and it loaded Rockbox like I thought it would.

I played around with the menu a tiny bit then updated the database, which of course told me to reboot to use it.

I reboooted the device and it showed the animated Sandisk logo like usual, then the screen turned briefly white then completely black.

The scroll wheel remained lit up, so I knew it hadn't turned off, but it wouldn't respond to any button press other than holding the power button for 15+ seconds.

Subsequent reboots resulted in the same thing.  I tried to get into the OF by holding the left button while booting, but had the same problem.

Plugging in the cable causes the device to turn on but hangs just after the Sandisk animated logo (showing "Sandisk")

I can get into recovery mode only by putting it into manufacturing mode, turning it off and turning it on with the record key held down.
This exact order only.  At least I CAN get into recovery mode.

From there I could return my player to normal.  Anyone heard of this before? I searched forums, IRC and flyspray, but could find hardly anything.


Here are some of the things things I have tried:

Almost every firmware, even the 1.03 ones
different versions of sansapatcher
ReverseBL (reverse bootloader)
Compile my own bootloader from latest subversion
Every combination of rbutil etc



It still does this as of today using r16443 (20080228T164908Z)


Any help would be greatly appreciated

[zajacattack]

Yes, it seems as if the file system has been corrupted. You should try to recover from recovery mode (and probably format, just to be safe; I've seen recoveries fail because of these problems), and then run chkdsk or something similar on the device to try to fix the file system.

[AlexP]

Woah there, don't go suggesting formatting before at least checking the disk.  It could be completely unnecessary.  

If you can (and it seems you can from what you have said), restore the Sansa to its original state.  Then connect it to your PC, and check the disk out, using chkdsk if on Windows, and let us know if it says anything.

[zajacattack]

Woah there, don't go suggesting formatting before at least checking the disk.  It could be completely unnecessary.  

I've seen cases, though, where one tried to recover with a corrupted file system, and it failed. Formatting can prevent this temporarily and allow a checking of the file system.

[Llorean]

But you shouldn't immediately jump to the most destructive solution, if there might be a way to repair it without formatting. It'll still be an option if the less destructive means don't work.

[Febs]

I've owned six Rockbox platforms:  H100, H300, iPod Video, Gigabeat F40, c250, and e250.  I've installed and uninstalled Rockbox on each of these, played around with various things, done things wrong and had to fix them.  I've never once had to reformat any of these players.  And, of course, I have participated in and moderated these forums for three years, and I do not recall any situation that required a reformat to fix, other than (1) problems caused by an improper reformatting in the first place, and (2) installation of Rockbox on an HFS+ formatted iPod.

I do not doubt that there are certain situations that may require reformatting to address, but surely they are rare.  I think that we should be recommending reformatting, if at all, only as a last resort after exhausting all other possibilities.

[AlexP]

Woah there, don't go suggesting formatting before at least checking the disk.  It could be completely unnecessary.  

I've seen cases, though, where one tried to recover with a corrupted file system, and it failed. Formatting can prevent this temporarily and allow a checking of the file system.

Note the could be in my reply.  Lets try something easier and non-destructive first.  If that doesn't work, then we can try formatting.  Formatting is NOT the first option.

[SillyCone]

First, thank you for the help.

OK, I've been running 1.02.20P firmware, so I ran chkdsk and it came back squeaky clean.  Not surprised since I've formatted (sansa.fmt) the device at least 11 times now

One thing, though.  Running chkdsk in a nondestructive mode on the recovery partition gives an information about hundreds of orphaned files, along the lines of "Lost chain cross-linked at cluster ####. Orphan truncated".  Since I've not read anything about chkdsk-ing the recovery partition, I don't dare fix these errors, but I thought it was interesting.

I am going to try my daily Rockbox install after the chkdsk to see if anything's changed, but I doubt it.  Will post back with results.

Update: Nope, same problem with v20080303T125147Z

Update2: Now, if I have the usb cable plugged in and turn it on, the Rockbox bootloader (v. 4) goes through it's spiel about loading the original firmware, and it loads.  This is a distinct improvement, since I don't have to use recovery mode.

[AlexP]

Hmm, very odd.  I'll try chkdsk on the recovery partition on my e260 tonight when I get home and see what it says.

[SillyCone]

Interestingly enough the second update from my previous post isn't quite correct. It looks like it's some sort of timing issue. It goes like this:

Install Rockbox, reboot device.  Upon first reboot can get into either firmware. Upon subsequent reboots, screen shows OF logo, turns white, then black, and freezes.  If I turn the device off for 10 minutes or so and turn it back on, I can get back into either firmware (as well as get into the USB mode of the OF)

So it might be an issue with the clock or something. I don't think it's a power/battery issue because rebooting with just the original firmware and boot loader is fine.

I'm going to do more accurate timing tests between reboots to try and pinpoint the exact amount of time needed for the boot loader (or whatever) needs before a successful boot can be had, and post back.

[AlexP]

That is entirely odd  

[SillyCone]

Okay, after 12 tests I've narrowed the time it takes for the device to have a successful reboot, and it's not 10 minutes. It's exactly (well, at least) 1:49.  I can't figure out why that would be but it's consistent through 5 reboots.

The most annoying thing though is that if I wait at least 1:49 then boot into the OF and connect to the computer, when I disconnect and reboot, I can load either firmware immediately.

It sees like maybe the OF is doing something (rebooting and building the database?) upon disconnect that allows me to reboot immediately. But it doesn't get set when I power off the device from the OF or Rockbox (maybe different power off state?).

I'll continue to investigate... you can't make this stuff up.

Update: Even if I hard power off the device after unmounting the drive, but before unplugging it, when I turn it on again, it still lets me immediately boot into either firmware.