Issues with Sansa Fuze+

[Day64]

Ok, so I picked up a Sansa Fuze+ a week or two back and was quickly annoy by it's control scheme. I read around and found replacing the original firmware with the open source Rockbox to be a good fix. I used the utility, got it installed, loaded my music via USB, and have enjoyed it happily since.

Just early yesterday though, I decided to add some more music but couldn't find my usual cord. I ended up settling for one I found in an old box which proved to be damaged in some way or another. Not only did it connect and unconnect randomly, only once did my Windows 8.1 laptop actually recognize the device (only for it to disconnect right away). All but one of my 15 or so attempts was met with an "unrecognized device" message.

I eventually gave up after it some how erased the time and date clear off my device and I had to reset it. The music remained with out any issues but, when I went to play and listen to it, I was met with my songs taking a back seat to some noisy scratching noises. Almost like the machine noises a harddrive makes when accessing something. The music was still there, just feint.
After some harder looking, I found my good cord and decided I'd just reinstall rockbox all together. But now, even with my good cord, the device is still completely unrecognized and windows refuses to give me access.

I decided to try and load it in the OF, and much to my surprise the music began to play with out issue. Even after restarting it and booting it in Rockbox, the weird extra sounds were gone. But it still refused to connect. My last hope was boot the OF when connecting, but that just leaves me with a black screen and the computer still refusing to recognize it.

tl;dr
I have a MP3 player that corrupted but some how fixed itself. Now it runs, but my laptop won't recognize it and it won't boot into the OF when I try to connect. Any ideas on what I can do here?

[fennectech]

holding power plus volume down puts it in  a recovery mode   and the screen is blank   to boot the OF   use power and the up volume button  are you sure you havent confused the two    it took me a few hours to figure that out

[Day64]

Even in the OF, the Fuze+ is still not recognized by the laptop when I attach the USB.

[fennectech]

does the computer detect it (does it make the usb connect sound)

[Day64]

It detects in both rockbox USB and OF USB. However the laptop says both are unrecognized, I get no access to their files, and the OF when used in the USB has nothing but a blank screen.

[fennectech]

okay   so the connectors probally in tact   have you tried a different port on the machine and or a different usb cable? and does the rockbox mouse feature work at all?

[fennectech]

if we can have a direct interactive chat   on say facebook  that would help me diagnose and solve your problem :3
https://www.facebook.com/fennectech  Add me here

[fennectech]

after a live chat   and exhaustive testing   and some poking about in the device manager    the device isn't sending information to the computer on what it is   in ether normal or even recovery mode   poor days sansafuze+ seems to have suffered failure of the USB controller probally from a bad cable he used dumping VCC onto the data pins   he also erased the rockbox folder from the internal memory  so the only possability is if the current bootloader checks for OS on the sdcard  but i believe it doesn't  so his fuze+ is unusable accept for putting music on sdcard and using it via the evil OF on the thing   which id rather just toss the sansa
replacing the USB controller is a possability
we could also JTAG a .rockbox onto the firmware directly but its more trouble than its worth  and would take years of work if even possable because of the flashes wear leveling mangeling the fileystem and partitions on the flash
its trashbin material now   unfourtunately   
sorry day   i tried

[xpmule]

i have always had problems with connections and charging on Windows 7 for years now on TONS builds.

what i have done ever since is the following (which always works)

first, make sure it's OFF !
then connect to your Windows PC by holding down the "down volume Button" that is along the left side of the Fuze+
plug the PC connection cable connector in.. hold volume down still until it says "connected" on the Fuze+
(assuming the cable is already connected to the PC first then your device after)

NOTE:
I use a cable that came with an LG cell phone i got many years ago.. the included official Fuze+ cable is way too short.
AND..... I never ever had a problem with any version of the original Firmware with the SAME CABLE either (MTP on or off via windows)

That will connect to your PC using the original firmware and trigger a driver install etc
Drivers should be built into windows and installed automatically and fairly fast too
Then from that point on every time you want to connect hold down the left volume key..
Doing this has eliminated for me, File system loading issues, Device detection issues AND device recharging problems.
Then when i have transferred music from my Winamp media library i right click the tray icon and select "remove device"
Then i pull the cord out and Rockbox Boots up right away automatically then i make sure to shut it off (or use the device)

I would advise against leaving it plugged in.. transfer your files and shut it off asap (to preserve Lithium Ion battery life)
If you charge it then shut it off and unplug it right away.
Connecting like i said above will make it charge while you are transferring etc
So that is what i do whether i want to Recharge it or Transfer files etc.

Connecting via the bootloader when the device was already OFF or when Rockbox is already running
has always been a problem for me and has run my device dead before while i thought it was suppose to be Charging
and when it runs dead 0 power it can be tricky to get it back up and running but hold left key down etc and connect and leave it (it will come back up eventually)

The other big problem under the same circumstances with Rockbox ON already or in Bootloader mode
is connection issues.. such as the device may take 20 minutes to show up in Windows LOL

I tried to talk about these issues here way back and i got some rather snotty replies and figured screw it.. i'm on my own i guess ?
So i hope my Tips / Work around idea is useful info.
I had stopped updating my dev builds like a year ago because they started to get worse and worse with more and more problems over time.
And when i reported problem i got told i was full of it and lipped off by a certain dev or two here so i said screw em Hhahaha
You will notice one or two of them here have a rather nasty mouthy attitude..
I am ticked off because i got told to "shut up" and called a liar basically for problems that are CONFIRMED !

[fennectech]

xpmule  thanks for the reply  but something has gone awry in his sansa USB controller   the OFW boots but the USB doesn't send an id   so the PC doesn't know what it is    there is no way to recover from this   it will take a charge   and data from the SDCARD   but unfortunately  his fuze+ doesn't use USB anymore  like i said  +5V on the serial data lines makes for an unhappy IC   and the magic smoke has escaped from this one     :'(  the fuze+ isn't too expensive online though!