Rockbox appears to start on Sansa E280 but then fades away

[hamphlet]

Hello

I'm new to Rockbox & have just tried installing it on my Sansa E280. The automatic installer failed because it couldn't detect the Sansa, so I used the manual method which went well until Sansapatcher told me it couldn't find the Sansa either. After disconnecting & reconnecting I got it to work. It did only take about 3 seconds to download the bootloader though. Is it normally this quick? I exited Sansapatcher and disconnected the Sansa. At this point the Sansa didn't reboot like the instructions said it would, it just kept saying it was disconnected & I had to switch it off myself.

When I switched it back on it opened up with the basic Sandisk loading screen, then a Rockbox screen appeared saying Rockbox at the top & boot ver. 5.0 at the bottom. This only lasted a few seconds though before it faded away, the Sandisk loading screen reappeared & was followed by the usual Sandisk operating system. I've tried reloading all the Rockbox files but the result is the same. I'm not holding down any other buttons when I switch on. If I had to guess I'd say something went wrong with the installation of the bootloader, but how do I check? Or could it be anything else?

Any ideas?

I'm using Windows XP & my Sansa Firmware is 01.02.15E. There is currently approx 3GB of free memory available.

[MarcGuay]

Did you install the Rockbox firmware as well as the bootloader?  Look in the root directory of the device for a hidden folder called ".rockbox". 

[hamphlet]

Hello Marc

Thanks for the reply. Yes I did the full manual install as per the manual, including the firmware and the fonts.

[MarcGuay]

When I switched it back on it opened up with the basic Sandisk loading screen, then a Rockbox screen appeared saying Rockbox at the top & boot ver. 5.0 at the bottom. This only lasted a few seconds though before it faded away, the Sandisk loading screen reappeared & was followed by the usual Sandisk operating system.

Is an error message displayed as well?

[hamphlet]

No I don't think so. First up it's the Sandisk logo, then the Rockbox one & then back to the Sandisk one before entering the Sandisk o/s. On the Rockbox screen (which lasts about 2 seconds before it dissolves away) there is some very very small writing just under the yellow Rockbox logo. But it's too tiny to read & I don't have a magnifiying glass to hand. To be honest though, given the resolution of the screen I don't think it would be legible magnified anyway. Actually I think I've just made it out, it looks like... "open source jukebox firmware." That's all. No error messages.

[MarcGuay]

I would try reinstalling the bootloader.

[hamphlet]

Tried that a few times now. On the latest occasion I tried the uninstall first & then installed it again. Nothing has changed. I'm not sure the damn thing is behaving too well anyway. Whenever I unmount it from windows it says "disconnected" on the screen but when I then unhitch the cable it just keeps on saying disconnected. In order to get out of this status I have to keep the start button pressed for about ten seconds before it will switch off. It's now doing a lengthy database refresh. Is there anyway of just returning the whole thing to it's original factory condition & starting afresh?

Update

I've just tried the automatic installer again with an odd result. The main window shows the selected device as being a Sandisk Sansa at G\: - so it appears to know that it's there. When I asked it to do a complete installation it told me that the bootloader was already installed, so it knows that much too. However when I tell it I want to reinstall anyway it tells me that no Sansa is detected. Go figure!

To add a bit more to this I just moved from the 'quick start' tab to the installation tab & tried the install rockbox button. I chose 'Current Build' and it loaded without a problem. I then tried the 'install the bootloader' button & was again told that no Sansa was detected. I'm confused & so is the Rockbox Utility!

Further Update (Tuesday morning)

I just tried updating the Sansa Firmware. The firmware updater told me it had been successful but when I now look at the Sansa it tells me it's still on the old firmware. It's almost as if there's something blocking any change to the firmware. Once again I tried the manual option & transferred the files across myself & again the Sansa didn't behave like it should. Their website said once disconnected it should upgrade the firmware & reset itself. It didn't. It just sat there saying 'Disconnected' & had to be forced off with a long hold on the on/off switch. Something isn't happening automatically that's supposed to & it's driving me a bit bananas. I also tried removing the Rockbox bootloader with Sansapatcher but this hasn't helped either. Mind you I'm not sure if it was ever successfully loaded on in the first place.

Further update (Thursday morning)
Today I have mostly been reformatting my Sansa. It went without a hitch but made no difference to the above problem. One thing I have noticed is that the battery power is very low & in spite of being connected to the PC most of yesterday it actually seems lower today. So low in fact that it just shuts down when I disconnect it. The manual tells me that there should be a charging indicator & a flashing battery symbol whilst connected to the PC. This doesn't seem to be the case. I'm wondering now if it needs a new battery. I can't see how this would connect to the above problem but you never know.