e280r Broken Flash Memory probably (solved, software problem)

[Stephan_Spitfire]

Hey guys,

searched Internet, rockbox-forum, sansa-forum, couldn't find helpful answers so I'm starting a new topic here.


My Sansa e280r has the following problems:

When copying on the internal memory some files were corrupt and had a size of 0 bits.

The music played from Sansa's internal flash drive stuttered at certain positions, maybe once every 5 minutes of playtime. This didn't occur to music played from the inserted sd-card.

I tried to format the flash drive, but at the end of the formatting process Windows popped up an error message saying it was unable to format the drive. After ejecting the player it won't boot, with the following error message:

Rockbox boot loader
Version 5.0
Sandisk Sansa e200
No partition found


Before the problems occurred:

I formatted the player without problems, installed Rockbox 3.3 and deleted files necessary to boot the original firmware.
I accidentally dropped my Sansa from a low height, it was in its protective cover.

Not sure what caused the problems.


Can you please help me repair my Sansa. Fixing the internal memory would be a huge success, but just for being able to boot and listen to music off the sd-card I would be very very thankful.

Thx for your help.

[macgeek417]

Step 1. turn off sansa (hold power button for 15-30 secs) and take out SD card
Step 2. turn on hold switch
Step 3. hold down record button and press power while still holding down record
Step 4. Plug in sansa. a 16MB volume should appear. make a new folder on you'r desktop named "sansa.fmt"
Step 5. Copy sansa.fmt to the 16mb volume on your sansa (16MB_FORMAT)
Step 6. Unplug sansa
Step 7. Your sansa is now in it's factory condition. you can now reinstall RockBox.

[gevaerts]

Before you do all that, check if the flash daughterboard (or chip) is properly seated. That's a common problem on e200

[evilnick]

As gevaerts says; the first step (if you're brave enough to unscrew the player) would be to remove the back and make sure that the flash memory is still seated securely - removing it and replacing it should be enough, or perhaps just easing it back in.
If that doesn't help then go on to follow the instructions that macgeek417 has provided.

The Sansa E-series are notorious for this issue if you drop them, but it is a *very* easy fix 

[ej0rge]

That should probably say "a file named sansa.fmt" but maybe a folder works too.

At any rate, you may not need to go that far just yet.

The original issue may have been caused by a slightly loose flash module, so, i think before you do anything more drastic you should take off the back cover and make sure the flash board is tightly in place. Above the battery you'll see a black plastic panel with a cutout in it, and a block of dense foam rubber poking through the cutout. Push down firmly on the foam rubber block. That should make sure that the flash module is in place.

After you've done that - I don't know whether the original sansa firmware is going to be intact or not - but just in case it is, try holding down the left/back/rewind button while turning on the sansa. If it boots into the OF, just reinstall rockbox and go on your merry way.

Elsewise . . .

Reformatting the flash from recovery mode is a scorched earth method, but you've already scorched the earth so what have we got to lose?

The best plan here, I think, based on where we are now, is to go ahead and manually un-rockbox it so that we can get the OF back up and running, then reinstall rockbox.

So, in addition to the instructions macgeek417 gave you, go here and get a copy of the latest FW for the e200r series:

http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1449

The zipfile at that page contains a pp5022.mi4 file that you should copy to the recovery partition in addition to the sansa.fmt file (which should be just like an empty text file)

[macgeek417]

A empty folder works fine too. so... shouldn't pushing down on that rubber brick when you unscrew the metal back fix the problem? When I completely disassembled my Sansa (I got it "bricked" as a birthday present ) to try to figure out what was wrong w/ it, I noticed that the rubber block is attached to the flash board... maybe that would fix it? I personaly wasn't brave enough to take it off...

[ej0rge]

Yeah the rubber block is directly on top of the flash module, right where the connector that attaches it to the main board is. A good squeeze there often does the trick.

But on the off-chance that the flash is now corrupted and maybe corrupted so badly that the OF doesn't load -- if that turns out to be the case, i recommend reinstalling the OF in addition to reformatting so that you can re-rockbox it.

[macgeek417]

doing the sansa.fmt trick DOES reinstall OF.

Strange... if dropping it often unseats the chip, why is mine still in working order after taking many 6 ft. falls...

[ej0rge]

Oh. OK.

[Stephan_Spitfire]

I already reinstalled everything, not the first time I did that, so no problem.

But damn, you Guys are amazing! I long searched for a reason to open my Sansa. This is going to be so much fun. ^^

To join your discussion: I think the hint with the folder is quite good, cause if you create a txt-file and rename it with "hide known file extensions" on, you would end up with a "sansa.fmt.txt".

A folder makes it foolproof.

[Chronon]

You can just name it with quotes: "sansa.fmt"

It will prevent the editor from appending any unwanted extensions to the filename.

[Stephan_Spitfire]

I think it wasn't the Memory or a broken OF, but Rockbox 3.3.

After pushing down the rubber brick and reinstalling Rockbox 3.3, the problems still occurred. And after experimenting with the different operation system's I found out that only copying on the internal memory with Rockbox 3.3 caused corrupt files.

Copying files from what OS to what memory causes corrupt files.

Operation System	Internal Memory	SDHC-Card
Original Firmware	OK	NA
Rockbox 3.2	OK	OK
Rockbox 3.3	ERROR	OK

Notice: In every test I copied the same files and didn't mess with the hardware in between.

Right now I'm happy with Rockbox 3.2, but if anyone wants to know more about that bug, I can easily reproduce it.

[epithetless]

Stephan_Spitfire, can you reproduce it with a current build?

[Stephan_Spitfire]

No, the current build doesn't seem to have that Bug. Problem solved, thx everyone for your help!