Random Dead Player Problem - Sansa e200 v1

[dptalbot]

Hi all,

Thanks to the Rockbox people for all your work.

MP3 Player: Sandisk Sansa e260 v1
Rockbox Utility: v.1.2.11
Rockbox Firmware: 3.9.1
Installed: 6-Nov-2011
Memory: 4GB player + 2Gb microSD

Problem: Random Dead Player

Use:
I only use my Sansa to play music.
I create a playlist of all songs, shuffle it, and save it.
I then play the list as needed.

Problem details:
The player will be playing for minutes or hours, and then suddenly stop.
The player is dead (ie. the power button does not turn the player back on).

This problem has only occurred with Rockbox.
The problem has occurred about 6 times.

The first time it occurred I wasn't sure how to force a reboot, so I removed/replaced the battery and powered the player back up.
I have since used the 'hold down the Rec and Power for 15 secs' method to force a reboot.

My first check of the problem on Rockbox Forums pointed to faulty songs. But when the 'dead player' occurred after being aware of this, I replayed the song and the player continued playing with no problem; so I ruled faulty songs out.

My next guess was that the battery was starting to fail.
I have ordered a new battery (11-Jan-2012) so this might resolved the issue.
The original battery was new with the player (purchased Apr-2009) making it 32 months old when the problem arose.
With the original firmware I would get about 20 hrs battery life with the player on 'High' volume and no equaliser settings.

My first guess at the problem was that the battery was running flat, and then had no power to restart, but the problem occurs when the battery has been recharged.
I installed the voice files so that I would be alerted to the battery reaching 15%, and then could charge before the player would die, but as I said above the battery level doesn't make any difference.

It is an annoying problem and the only major issue I have with using Rockbox, which I like more than the original firmware, that I decided to switch from so I might expand my song library space from 5GB, and also avoid the 65 secs 'refresh database' on start up.

I will update this post once the new battery arrives, and I use the player for a few days.

Any one who has had the same problem and/or knows why this problem occurs please reply.

Thanks,
David.

[Chronon]

You're using a pretty old build.  Have you tried updating to see if the behavior improves?  It sounds like it's crashing for some reason, though I can't say I have noticed similar behavior on my e280.

[dptalbot]

Hi Chronon,

Thanks for your help.

I thought I had the latest build. I will try version 3.10 and see if it fixes the issue.

David.

[Chronon]

The current builds are quite a lot newer than 3.10 too.  It's worth trying both.  Did this behavior start at some point or has it always been this way with 3.9.1?

It's worth making sure the file system is clean too.  Corrupted file system can cause unexpected behavior.