C250 USB Charges but no Windows Device

[DevoiD]

Hi Guys, I have an issue that arose some time after I installed rockbox, but to be honest I installed rockbox within 2 hours of owning it so it could be ANYTHING causing this, and I didnt have the issue directly after installing rockbox, only a few days down the track.

My c250 has latest denomination of v1 firmware that was updated via the sansa update tool, and it also has the lastest version of rockboc (version 3) intsalled via the gui installer program.

The problem I am having is that when I plug the player in using the SanDisk USB cable that came with the unit, it charges the battery, but it does not connect as a device, thus I cannot access the storage to put music on the unit.

I have tried plugging the unit into several PC's and the same result, charging, but not comming up as a device.

I have pulled the battery out of the unit and re plugged it in.

I have tried setting USB to AutoDetect or MSC mode (There is no MTP option), still no change.

I have booted the unit from being off and held the key to force OF and then plugged it in, no go

I have plugged the unit in whilst off so that the boot loader auto selects the OF, still no luck.

So... the only way I can add songs to my player currently is via the MicroSD card what I can put into a card reader, the rest of the current songs on the internal media are stuck on there and I cant put any other songs on there...

Neither the sansa updater or the rockbox updater can recognise the device as it does not come up as a device under windows, thus nothing can access it, so I cant use the tools to remove or update the firmware again...

Anyway, sorry for the long winded post, hopefully someone can help me, also very sorry if this is in the wrong section or something, I'm a long time user of rockbox on my iriver ihp140 (long since pawned...) but a first time poster on the forum.

UPDATE: when the unit is plugged into usb, it remains in the normal menu, it does not say "CONNECTED" or anything like that

[saratoga]

The OF doesn't have anything to do with rockbox, but for what its worth, its probably an issue with your PC.

[DevoiD]

okay found a way to get it to work, it only works if I boot from off and hold down the |< key to boot the OF then go into the menu and manually enforce MSC mode even if its already in MSC mode, then plug the unit in, it comes up as a device... otherwise I got bupkiss.... it would be nice to not have to do that and just plug it in from "off" and have it just boot up and connect, does anyone have any idea's?

And to above, if you had read my post you would have seen that I tried it on several computers, 8 in fact, that were all running windows xp pro

[yapper]

My c250 with OF 01.01.07P boots from off to MSC mode cleanly when the USB cable is connected.

Have you tried another cable?

Otherwise it seems your player is to blame.

[DevoiD]

I have not tried another cord, I only have 1 cord that came with the unit. but I have tried several windows xp pro computers (I'm an engineer, so surrounded by them)  and they all come up with the same thing... which is nothing, until I boot it to OF whilst disconnected then select msc mode again then plug it in.

[yapper]

This:

boot the OF then go into the menu and manually enforce MSC mode even if its already in MSC mode

sounds decidedly weird. As you said the problem didn't occur until a few days after installing Rockbox, it makes me suspect some kind of hardware problem.

[DevoiD]

I'm going to try removing rockbox, updating with the sansa updater then re-installing rockbox I'll post results back up

[Tai1]

okay found a way to get it to work, it only works if I boot from off and hold down the |< key to boot the OF then go into the menu and manually enforce MSC mode even if its already in MSC mode, then plug the unit in, it comes up as a device... otherwise I got bupkiss.... it would be nice to not have to do that and just plug it in from "off" and have it just boot up and connect, does anyone have any idea's?

I have the same problem with two Sansa C200's.  I tried the work-around above and they worked.  I found that you can also turn the unit off while plugged into the USB port (when it is not recognized by Windows) and do the MSC mode routine.  When you turn the unit back on, Windows will recognize it.  Another work-around is before you connect the unit, remove the micro SD card.  But then you would need a separate reader to load the micro SD.

I think this is some kind of a firmware bug on Rockbox.

[pixelma]

Another work-around is before you connect the unit, remove the micro SD card.  But then you would need a separate reader to load the micro SD.

You don't (at least I do not). The microSD does not need to be inserted from the beginning, you can also plug the card once the USB connection is established. By the way - this is already answered a few times here in the forums and made its way into the SansaFAQ in the wiki.

I think this is some kind of a firmware bug on Rockbox.

Considering that the original firmware is responsible for the USB connection currently, I wouldn't be so sure about that. My impression is that it is some kind of timing issue because: only sometimes I have trouble establishing the data connection (and more often on an old laptop but not only there) - and because booting takes a bit longer than without Rockbox due to going "through" the additional bootloader.