Sansa e250 USB doesn't connect even in recovery mode. (SOLVED: Bad Hardware)

[lark1313]

Sansa e250 Rockbox Ver 3.2-090323 Boot V5.0
Rockbox was working fine for months, then Rockbox didn't boot - only gets to the bootloader screen (?)
("Rockbox logo at top, version at bottom)

Try to connect USB to reload Rockbox - USB cable not noticed by e250.
i.e. Connecting USB cable does nothing. nada. zilch.
(oops - it *does* start charging (lightning bolt,etc))

So then I boot into OF just fine, but still no USB connection (MSC or MTP)
It charges (and I can actually play music whiles it's charging, which is suspicious)

Then I boot into Recovery Mode - still no USB recognized when I plug it in.
It just keeps sitting there, waiting for USB cable...

The USB cable is fine - I checked it on another e250 successfully.

Any suggestions?

thanks,
Steve

[funman]

No suggestion, but I experienced something similar with a Fuze.

I used a custom made charger with voltage a bit over 5V, and now I can charge it but it doesn't show up on computer

If you run Linux, do you see anything at dmesg output (both in normal & recovery mode) ?

[lark1313]

I haven't tried from Linux yet.
I can try that tonight and post my findings (unless I get a definitive "your hardware is shot")

OK - From Linux (oldish Red Hat) dmesg shows nothing in any mode except manufacturer, where it shows:
usb 2-2.3: USB disconnect, address 7
usb 2-2.3: new full speed USB device using address 8
 
So I guess that means my USB chip is still good..right?
I tried using the e200tool (from MrH) - I only tried init and off, with the following results:

[root]# ./e200tool init
e200tool v0.2.3-alpha (c) by MrH 2006, 2007
Searching for device 0781:0720 ... found!
Initializing USB stub (4780 bytes) ...
Bulk write error (-71, Protocol error)

[root]# ./e200tool  off
e200tool v0.2.3-alpha (c) by MrH 2006, 2007
Powering off the device
Searching for device 6666:e200 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!


what can I try next? I'm guessing something low level got scrogged and needs to be reloaded.

thanks,
Steve

[Chronon]

I have never had to use anything except for the normal recovery mode, so I can only point you to the "unbrick" page in the wiki.
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaE200Unbrick

[lark1313]

Yeah, I've been reading up on that - I'm still trying to figure out exactly what part is corrupt, and needs fixing.

I can still boot into the original firmware, so that means the bootloader's OK (right?), but then I can't load any more music - so I'm stuck (and I'd rather be using RB anyway)

I can get communications via USB in manufacturer mode, so the onboard USB driver is OK (I think). But why nothing in recovery mode (should I still see something in dmesg outupt for recovery mode?)

I just don't know where the full USB driver is located (yet) so I don't know which file I need to reload yet and I don't want to screw it up further, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

so many questions....so many posts to read....

BTW I'm an embedded software engineer by day, so I understand the concepts involved, just not the specifics of this device...yet...so I really just need some specific suggestions as to what to read up on and try.

-- Steve

[Chronon]

Generally you want to work at the simplest level possible.  Since your recovery mode doesn't work properly, it seems that you should first try to load a fresh bootloader while in Manufacturing Mode. 

[funman]

I can still boot into the original firmware, so that means the bootloader's OK (right?), but then I can't load any more music - so I'm stuck (and I'd rather be using RB anyway)

Right, bootloader's OK.

You still have the µSD slot to load music though?

[Chronon]

This sudden loss of functionality in Rockbox, recovery mode and the original firmware makes me suspect some sort of hardware failure, actually.  You might be stuck with the OF and only accessing new music from uSD cards.

[lark1313]

This sudden loss of functionality in Rockbox, recovery mode and the original firmware makes me suspect some sort of hardware failure, actually.  You might be stuck with the OF and only accessing new music from uSD cards.

That was my initial suspicion as well. However, the USB hardware can connect as evidenced by the dmesg output. So unless there's different levels of hardware breakage (is that possible in this HW?) I was thinking that the hardware was OK - only the driver (or it's location) was messed up. (hmm-memory failure where USB driver is located?).
But that bulk write error (see e200tool output) didn't look warm and fuzzy.

Anyway, I do have the uSD for music loading (one of the several reasons for using RB to begin with), I'd just rather fix the problem than workaround it, if at all possible.

thanks,
Steve

[Chronon]

Right. If e200tool can't connect to the device while in manufacturing mode then there's not too much hope for recovery, I think.

One thing to try: Open up the Sansa and make sure that the daughter board containing the internal memory is properly seated.  It's a long shot, but flaky connection could cause strange behavior (like write errors, for example).  Good luck.

[lark1313]

Reseated the memory board (2x)...no change
Tried to restore bootloader....not successful (bulk write error)
Unless there's something I can try from preboot mode, I guess that's it.

At least I can listen to music while it's charging....

Thanks for the suggestions.

-- Steve