New install...can I brick

[humpda]

Hi
I have been checking out the rockbox forum for a month or so since I read about it in a PC mag.  I recently purchased a E250 on a whim and luckily enough it turned out to be a version 1 (firmware starts with 1.x).  Anyway, what are the odds of bricking the sansa with the rockbox upgrade?  I know that putting on new firmware always carries inherent risk which I accept by attempting the flash (I have flashed the bios of my mobos enough to know the risks of this  ), but interested to hear if people have rendered their e200 series units inoperable from using the rockbox update?  I will be using the automatic update version and the device is brand new...so there are no files etc on it.  Thanks for your time.

Cheers

[cool_walking_]

Looks like you're good.

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaFAQ#Will_installing_Rockbox_damage_m

You may notice there are some threads around the forum like "help! I bricked my device".  Every single one of these I've seen has turned out not to be actually "bricked", but just in a state where some work was required to restore it to a working condition.  BigBambi seems to be on a crusade to rename all these threads to "help! I didn't even nearly brick my device".

[humpda]

Cool..thanks for reply.  So reading the info from the link you gave me you can't use usb with Rockbox...correct?  So you allow the sansa to boot into original firnware mode for transfer of music to inbuilt memory?  And charging...?  Again, can this only be done with sansa in original firmware mode?  I notice there is a rockbox charging patch however it mentions http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/8363 that you can damage your battery...has anyone used this on an ongoing basis successfully....again many thanks for your responses.

Oh yeah...and I am guessing using this voids the warranty you have on the unit...my e250 is brand new with a years warranty...would Sansa still fix it if one of the buttons or screen developed a fault if it had the rockbox firmware on it?


Cheers and thanks for your patience with my questions

[AlexP]

BigBambi seems to be on a crusade to rename all these threads to "help! I didn't even nearly brick my device".

I am indeed on a crusade - I don't want people to get scared unnecessarily!

Rockbox on the Sansa isn't flashed, it is on disk.  Even if the install goes wrong, the Sansa has a recovery mode so you can fix it.  If by some miracle that goes wrong (usually because of not following instructions and guessing), then there is an even lower level manufacturing mode.

Rockbox USB mode doesn't currently work for targets which don't have pure hardware USB, which includes the Sansa, so you can for now use the dual-boot functionality to use the OF for that.  One caveat - Rockbox allows the use of microSDHC cards (up to 32 GB), whereas the OF stops at 2 GB so if you want to use a large card, you will need a card reader to put music on it.

The same is for charging - currently the OF is the way forward - having said that I use the charging patch on my e260 and haven't seen any obvious problems, but I don't use it very much and I don't know how long any problems if they exist would take to show.

As for the warranty, you should assume it will void it, although in practice who knows if Sandisk might be nice?

[humpda]

Thanks heaps for the reply.  I am guessing then that if it is not a firmware mod as such that if I needed to I could delete rockbox from the sansa if it needed to be returned for warranty repair in the majority of cases (except say for example if the motherboard died and it could not get power any more or something similar.   I guess I will use the unit for a day or two to make sure everyhting functions as it should and then take the plunge.  Are there known defects with the E200 units...things that fail more often...?

Finally.....I am unsure what version of firmware 1.x the unit is.  It is a gift from my wife and she would only let me open it up to check the firmware was version 1.x so I could rockbox it but I was not allowed to do anything else until I am officially "given it"    Anyway, does it make sense to run the Sansa updater and update to the latest official update before I convert to rockbox? 

Thanks again

Cheers 

[AlexP]

Thanks heaps for the reply.  I am guessing then that if it is not a firmware mod as such that if I needed to I could delete rockbox from the sansa if it needed to be returned for warranty repair in the majority of cases (except say for example if the motherboard died and it could not get power any more or something similar.

Just as a note, Rockbox is a complete replacement firmware, which is much more than a firmware mod.  However, as long as nothing major goes wrong, Rockbox can be uninstalled if you so desire.

Finally.....I am unsure what version of firmware 1.x the unit is.  It is a gift from my wife and she would only let me open it up to check the firmware was version 1.x so I could rockbox it but I was not allowed to do anything else until I am officially "given it"  Anyway, does it make sense to run the Sansa updater and update to the latest official update before I convert to rockbox? 

The original firmware version doesn't matter to rockbox, the latest rbutil should deal with all of them I believe.

Are there known defects with the E200 units...things that fail more often...?

I seem to remember some people saying that the headphone jack can be a little fragile?  Not sure about this though.

Thanks again

Cheers

You are welcome

[Chronon]

I seem to remember some people saying that the headphone jack can be a little fragile?  Not sure about this though.

Yes, I have seen a few reports of this as well.  No problems so far with mine, though. 

[humpda]

Well I am now Rockboxed...got my e250 this morning...and all is good.  Just mucking around with it now, seeing what how things work.  The installer is very easy to use.  Thanks to those who answered my questions...I am sure I will have a few more as time progresses but will now get stuck into the manual and see what is what.  Cheers