c250 won't play music/mp3's but FM works for OF and RB

[ThePlatypus]

I got this c250 a week or so ago. The original firmware would not play MP3's. The player finds them and "plays" them (time moves, I can rewind, etc), but no sound is produced. I thought the headphone jack was broken, but eventually discovered that the FM radio does work. So, it is capable of producing sound.

I looked at the FAQ or something on the Sandisk site and its proposed solution was to update the firmware. I did so but the problem remains. I saw some suggestions to check and make sure the MP3 files are encoded correctly, etc. I've played these files on multiple platforms (OSes, car CD MP3 player, etc). The files are fine, unless there is only one very specific, very obscure bit rate that the player can handle. They aren't giant audiobook files either (saw that one somewhere).

So, I decided to give Rockbox a shot before going through the pain of returning it. The install went well, but the problem remains. FM still works, MP3's don't. I decided to ask here since I feel you all will probably be more knowledgeable and helpful than Sandisk. Plus, their forum search annoyed me.

So, finally to the question:
Is my hardware hosed or is there some software magic that can save me?

[Chronon]

Generally, you should start with a functional player if you want Rockbox to function properly.  I'm not familiar enough with the layout of the hardware in the Sansa to explain why you get sound from the FM but not from encoded files.  However, the presence of the same problem in Rockbox and the original firmware strongly suggests a hardware failure.

[saratoga]

Pretty much the only thing shared between FM and digital playback is the volume control and output amplifier, so anything between the CPU and the output could be fried or disabled without breaking FM playback.  You could try following the unbrick guide in the wiki and uploading a new boot rom with e200tool in case yours is somehow breaking both rockbox and the OF, but that seems pretty unlikely.  Its probably broken hardware.

[ThePlatypus]

As I feared/expected. Thanks for the quick answers.