How do I completely remove rockbox from my Sansa Clip?

[soulweeper]

I installed Rockbox on my clip, and don't like it. I used the utility to remove rockbox, and it said it was successful. Tried removing the bootloader with the utility, and it told me it couldn't do it, and that I had to do it manually. It says try a normal firmware update to remove the bootloader. I tried that, and it didn't work. I tried doing what the manual says, and obviously it doesn't work, or I'm missing something simple, because I can't get rid of it.

Any help GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[[Saint]]

It really is as simple as the manual states.

Copy an unmodified (ie. not Rockbox bootloader patched) firmware to the device and then boot the original firmware. Turn the player off, turn it back on again. Done.


[Saint]

[soulweeper]

Yep....but the only part the manual doesn't say, that I had to find out on my own is.....that you can't turn the player off as quickly, after you've removed rockbox with the utility. I did that first, and the bootloader was still on the player, obviously. Anyway...had I known you have to hold the power off button up for about 30 seconds, it would have been that simple. Either that, or I did something else wrong. I will gladly stand corrected if I'm wrong on this, but that was my experience.

I did put an unmodified copy of the firmware on it, and then re booted it with the back button, while holding the power button....whatever sequence that is. You know what I'm talking about. It would reboot into the stock firmware, but if I turned it off, and back on, it would say Rockbox, and firmware not found....something like that. It was this never ending cycle.

Anyway, I'm getting a Clip+, and I wouldn't mind using Rockbox, but I'm a little older, and need reading glasses, and my one huge gripe is how small the font is. Other than that, I like it. The Clip does have a smaller screen, that's part of it. I'm considering getting the Clip Zip too, as it has a bigger screen, so maybe that would make the Rockbox font more doable.

[saratoga]

I did put an unmodified copy of the firmware on it, and then re booted it with the back button, while holding the power button....whatever sequence that is. You know what I'm talking about. It would reboot into the stock firmware, but if I turned it off, and back on, it would say Rockbox, and firmware not found....something like that. It was this never ending cycle.

If you could even boot into the Sandisk firmware without it flashing, you probably didn't actually copy a valid firmware file to the player.

Anyway, I'm getting a Clip+, and I wouldn't mind using Rockbox, but I'm a little older, and need reading glasses, and my one huge gripe is how small the font is. Other than that, I like it. The Clip does have a smaller screen, that's part of it. I'm considering getting the Clip Zip too, as it has a bigger screen, so maybe that would make the Rockbox font more doable.

Use a larger font?

[soulweeper]

I did put an unmodified copy of the firmware on it, and then re booted it with the back button, while holding the power button....whatever sequence that is. You know what I'm talking about. It would reboot into the stock firmware, but if I turned it off, and back on, it would say Rockbox, and firmware not found....something like that. It was this never ending cycle.

If you could even boot into the Sandisk firmware without it flashing, you probably didn't actually copy a valid firmware file to the player.

Anyway, I'm getting a Clip+, and I wouldn't mind using Rockbox, but I'm a little older, and need reading glasses, and my one huge gripe is how small the font is. Other than that, I like it. The Clip does have a smaller screen, that's part of it. I'm considering getting the Clip Zip too, as it has a bigger screen, so maybe that would make the Rockbox font more doable.

Use a larger font?

I absolutely did copy a valid firmware file to the player....it was from the Sandisk site. I had originally downloaded it to load with the Rockbox utility, as you know. It was a valid copy. I wish I could remember the exact sequence of events, as I'm sure you could point out the one little thing I did wrong, that screwed everything up.

As far as the font, when I did chose one of the largest fonts I could find, it was ok on everything except the "now playing" screen. All the text wasn't showing, and it was pretty ridiculous.

[soulweeper]

Because I may be in this situation again, if I install Rockbox, and want to remove it for any reason, do I use the utility to remove it, to start with?? It clearly says the bootloader is removed manually only, so is that what removing the .rockbox folder does?

Or am I reading too much into this, and/or screwing it up by using the utility to remove anything? If Rockbox is installed, don't tell me all I have to do is simply put an unmodified copy on the device, turn if off, and turn it back on, and all traces will be gone, without ever messing with removal of anything via the utility??

[saratoga]

You don't need the utility. See the first reply to the thread.

[soulweeper]

You don't need the utility. See the first reply to the thread.

Well, that must have been where things went south. I saw the option to uninstall it in the utility, and so I used it.

That being said, the last time I updated the stock firmware, the Sansa updater wouldn't do it, for some weird reason. I went to their site, and got on chat with one of the support people, and they told me to update it manually. I got a copy of the new firmware, put it in the root directory, turned the player off, and back on, that's it. So it's no different if you have Rockbox, and go back to stock??

[gevaerts]

I got a copy of the new firmware, put it in the root directory, turned the player off, and back on, that's it. So it's no different if you have Rockbox, and go back to stock??

That's correct.

There have been some reports that you have to boot into the original firmware when you copy the firmware (i.e. not in rockbox' USB mode), but I don't know if that's actually true. You do have to hold "left" to boot into the original firmware when rebooting after copying though, it's the original firmware that does the flashing.

[soulweeper]

I got a copy of the new firmware, put it in the root directory, turned the player off, and back on, that's it. So it's no different if you have Rockbox, and go back to stock??

That's correct.

There have been some reports that you have to boot into the original firmware when you copy the firmware (i.e. not in rockbox' USB mode), but I don't know if that's actually true. You do have to hold "left" to boot into the original firmware when rebooting after copying though, it's the original firmware that does the flashing.

To make absolutely sure I'm following you correctly, the way to do it is add the unmodified copy of the firmware while using it with Rockbox, then shut it off, and hold "left" to boot it into the original firmware, which at that point it would update with the unmodified copy....correct?

So you're saying that there are reports that you sometimes have to boot into the original firmware before you do the copying??

[gevaerts]

I got a copy of the new firmware, put it in the root directory, turned the player off, and back on, that's it. So it's no different if you have Rockbox, and go back to stock??

That's correct.

There have been some reports that you have to boot into the original firmware when you copy the firmware (i.e. not in rockbox' USB mode), but I don't know if that's actually true. You do have to hold "left" to boot into the original firmware when rebooting after copying though, it's the original firmware that does the flashing.

To make absolutely sure I'm following you correctly, the way to do it is add the unmodified copy of the firmware while using it with Rockbox, then shut it off, and hold "left" to boot it into the original firmware, which at that point it would update with the unmodified copy....correct?

So you're saying that there are reports that you sometimes have to boot into the original firmware before you do the copying??

Yes

[soulweeper]

So, is removing the .rockbox folder kind of unnecessary too? If not, when should that be removed?

[gevaerts]

Whenever you like. The original firmware doesn't look at that

[daldude]

I don't know if it's different on the Fuse v2 but I was able to recover the original Sandisk Firmware and remove the piece of Crap Rockbox by simply copying the bin file for the Fuse to the root directory of the player I removed the Memory card to eliminate any confusion of which drive and directory was the players internal storage.
I no longer have to hold left on the wheel while powering on the Fuse, good riddance Rockbox!

[saratoga]

I don't know if it's different on the Fuse v2 but I was able to recover the original Sandisk Firmware and remove the piece of Crap Rockbox by simply copying the bin file for the Fuse to the root directory of the player I removed the Memory card to eliminate any confusion of which drive and directory was the players internal storage.

You've posted this about the e200, Clip and Fuze over the last five years.  Why do you keep installing rockbox if you don't want it?