[Note: I am having trouble posting this, not sure why. I thought I had posted it before going for a break, but when I came back, it was not showing up. I don't know if I forgot to confirm it (would not be first time I hit preview instead of post), or if there was some kind of glitch. I don't know if I can post it at all -- the system tells me that I am trying to post something I already posted, but it does not show up when I refresh my view of the page. I am totally confused at this point, argh! Hopefully there won't be any duplicate of this -- and hopefully it will at least appear once!]
When I saw that the Fuze V1 and e200 V2 ports had gone to production, I downloaded the new Rockbox Utility, and installed (full) on my Fuze V1 4 GB (will put it on my e200 V2 players later on after I get some rest).
Seems really nice, smoother/faster than on my e200 V1 (and MUCH slicker than on my c200 V1).
I downloaded the full kit of themes (will pick and choose and delete unneeded later on), and spent some time setting the player up to my preferences (basic UI settings, Pitch, Timestretch, etc), and I am very pleased with this version.
I am having one problem, though, and I don't know if I'm just doing something wrong, or, if something went wrong with my installation, or, if I'm just not understanding how it's supposed to operate.
When I try to run the player via external power, it immediately reboots into the original firmware. I cannot reboot it back into Rockbox unless I remove the external power (when external power is present, trying to shut down the player merely puts it into "standby mode" which can not be entered UNLESS you try to shut it down with external power present). If I do a "hard-off" by holding the power switch for a half minute or so, and then try powering up, it comes right back to the original firmware, unless the external power is removed.
I searched through the PDF manual for this version but could not find anything other than a description of the car-mode settings.
I tried the car-mode setting, to no avail (car-mod off or on, makes no difference in this behavior).
Is there something I need to do to be able to run my player via external power (and stay in Rockbox)?
Edited to add that I figured it out after nosing around this forum (did not know this forum existed until my post was moved here from the Sansa AMS thread) -- apparently the Sansa Fuze (and I presume the e200 V2 also) behaves differently from the e200 V1 and other PortalPlayer-based Sansas). My e200 V1 will not do anything other than go into charging mode when I connect external power. But, the newer models will restart and boot into original firmware unless first booted into Rockbox (via internal battery) and then, while powered up, with center button depressed, connected to the external power.
Then, and only then, will it go into charging mode (while remaining in Rockbox, rather than rebooting into original firmware).
I am guessing that this is an artifact of the USB driver not (yet?) being implemented in this port.
Hopefully at some point both incarnations of the Sansa players will have the same behavior. I'd really like to be able to use car mode, and, the hold-button while inserting cable routine is difficult for me due to neuropathy and arthritis.