Sansa E200 Bricked by Recovery Mode

[Brambo]

Can someone please give me a simple description on HOW-TO run e200tool on linux? My pc just can't find my bricked sansa on windows... (see my post above)

[Lue]

thanks to Avba0 who gave me this description:
"
Well, I'll tell you what exactly to do in order to compile the tool (using Ubunto linux)...

1)
Get ubuntu 6.10 from here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/pro...how&redirect=download

From your preferred mirror, download this file: "ubuntu-6.10-desktop-i386.iso"

2)
Burn the CD and Boot from it (choose Start or Install)

3)
Connect to the Internet - if you have a router then it shouldn't be a problem (System/Administration/Networking)

4)
Run the package manager from here: System/Administration/Synaptic Package Manager.
Mark the "build-essential"  package from the Development section (it might require installing several other packages) and the "libusb-dev" package (this is not a driver, the driver should be already installed) from the Libraries-Development section (libusb++-dev is not required), and then apply the changes.

5)
After the installation was finished, you can download the source files and the makefile and compile them using "gcc -o e200tool e200tool.c -lusb".
You should use "sudo" when you execute the compiled file from the terminal.
for example:
sudo ./e200tool recover xxxxx.rom

That is how it is being done under the Ubuntu distribution.
It's should be similar in the other distributions, especially on debian based systems."

I tried it with Xubuntu, but there's the only problem that I don't know how to change the directory for the "gcc -o e200tool e200tool.c -lusb". command.

Thanks, Lue

[fldash]

Thanks for that walkthrough, unfortunately, I can't get the Ubuntu Live CD to work on any of my computers.  One of them is because it has an Nvidia 8800 GTS, the other because the wireless network card, while detected, refuses to accept the connection.

[fldash]

Okay, got Ubuntu started, was able to run the recover, I tried both the c200 and e200 roms.  It acted like it was successful and the screen on my player came on and told me the update was complete and it was safe to disconnect.  After disconnecting however, my player still doesn't work...   Any ideas?

[Bagder]

1. use the .rom that is for your model

2. did you do the i2c bootrom recovery procedure?

[Lue]

How I have to modify the command to build the e200tool with the files in the correct folder?

At what a kind of file i have to store the makefile?

Thank you!

Lue

[fldash]

1. use the .rom that is for your model

2. did you do the i2c bootrom recovery procedure?

Badger: When I removed my battery, it says I have a c200.  I tried that ROM file which is the pribootLoader.rom, however when using it, I never got the 16M disk after running the recover command.  I did get the 16M disk when using the other ROM, BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom.

However, I think I was confused.  I didn't know I had to copy the .ROM file to the 16M disk along with the mi4 file.  I thougth using the recover command installed the firmware.

I will try again tonight.

[Bagder]

Badger: When I removed my battery, it says I have a c200.  I tried that ROM file which is the pribootLoader.rom, however when using it, I never got the 16M disk after running the recover command.  I did get the 16M disk when using the other ROM, BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom.

However, I think I was confused.  I didn't know I had to copy the .ROM file to the 16M disk along with the mi4 file.  I thougth using the recover command installed the firmware.

I will try again tonight.

1. I'm not Badger

2. Don't try this. The instructions and the i2c rom dump is the for e200 model, and you would very much risk bricking your player if you try this on a c200.

3. Really, if the recover approach (with the c200 bootloader rom) doesn't heal your player, then  we have no known way to repair it. But then again, this forum thread is for and about Rockbox on E200 and you have neither.

[Brambo]

Thanks for all the reactions, I'm a bit further now!  

I did everything as told by Lue to do on Ubuntu, but I'm stuck at this point:

e200tool v0.0.6-alpha (c) by MrH 2006, 2007
Searching for device 0781:0720 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!
Searching for device 0b70:0003 ... found!
Initializing USB stub (3460 bytes) ... done!
Writing 'BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom' to address 0x10600000
Searching for device 6666:e200 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!

I tried connecting the sansa with every possible key combinations, but every time I'm stuck at this point...
After this line: "Writing 'BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom' to address 0x10600000"
the device immediately disappears from 'Device Manager' ... very strange I think... it gets stranger now I see that this happens not always but sometimes...

Bagder, you already linked travisty (with the same problem) to the e200tool page, for the i2c recovery instructions... but I read there that the first thing to do is to get in recovery mode.. but how to get there? I think I only get into pre-boot mode....

Does someone know the solution or how to get further?

[Lue]

could someone may help me by my problems as well?

Thank you!

Lue  

[JdGordon]

WOOT... OK I just brought my sansa back to life and because it was difficult I'll explain what I needed to do.

Firstyl, when it would start copying the .rom across it would fail very quickly after, So I edited e200tool.c line 59 to #define E200_TIMEOUT 100000.

After this you should be able to get into recovery mode. However.. recovery mode was useless for me.. no matter what I copied in nothing would get written.. So as soon as it starts copying the rom across disable the hold switch, then as soon as you get the sansa logo on the screen disconnect the usb cable.
You should be in the OF now. DONT TURN OFF or you will have to start again!
Go into settings > usb mode and enable MSP mode. then connect the usb cable...
(youll need linux for the next bit)..
download http://jdgordon.mine.nu:8080/jonno/e200/partitions.tar.gz (its 5mb, and i have a slow connection, so be patient).. tar -zxf should extract the 2 files from it...
then..
dd if= < one of the files from the above tar.gz> of=<20mb partition of the sansa>

unplug, reboot (if it hangs when usb disconnects reset it manually)..
If all goes well the rockbox bootloader should show up. Try going into the OF.. if it doesnt let you, you then need to go into recovery mode and put it on manually...

after all this, reinstall the rockbox bootloader, and dont do the idiotic thing you did to brick it!

good luck

[Lue]

ok....after many tries i found out that this command seems to work when I wan't to build the e200tool:

gcc -o /home/knoppix/e200tool/e200tool.c -lusb

but! Than comes an error:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lusb
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status


Libusb is already installed....I'm working with Knoppix!

What I have to do?

Help! Lue

[JdGordon]

libsub-dev is needed... althought the knoppix i used had it installed already

[Brambo]

Again I'm a bit further now...
If I got luck, I get this on my pc screen:

e200tool v0.0.6-alpha (c) by MrH 2006, 2007
Searching for device 0781:0720 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!
Searching for device 0b70:0003 ... found!
Initializing USB stub (3460 bytes) ... done!
Writing 'BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom' to address 0x10600000
Searching for device 6666:e200 ... 9 8 found!
Write at 0x1065feb8
Write done!
Running from address 0x10600000
Searching for device 6666:e200 ... found!
Execution started!

After this, nothing happens and I can't find any  16mb disk....
I both tried Ubuntu and Knoppix but both the same...
Nothing on my sansa screen and no 16mb rescue disk created (at least I can't find the disk)...

Any help on what to try next?
Many, many thanks in advance!

Bram

[JdGordon]

make sure hold is on and hold rec as soo as it starts saying exectuion started! untill you get into recovery mode