Clip+ Rockbox and Sansa Firmwares not loading or booting.

[Just Some Guy]

Rockbox decided to screw up on a massive scale and now neither the original firmware nor Rockbox itself will load, run and operate. The root directory is currently blank, with the exception of the "clppa.bin" file and a test directory I put on to see if it was the device itself that was the matter. Checking its properties, it says it only has 30 megs (the bin file and a few mp3 files) and nothing else.

All attempts at resetting it through the Aansa firmware updater and the Rockbox installer have failed. All attempts are a hardware reset have failed. All attempts at a software reset have failed.

EDIT: Some more info, in case it helps. When plugged in to a USB cable, the screen says "bootloader USB mode", while unplugged it says "File Not Found" then says "plug USB cable". Obviously, this does nothing because it just sits at "bootloader USB mode" forever

[CrowdAds]

[Marvin the Martian]

Maybe this will help?
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaAMS#Unbricking

[Just Some Guy]

I already looked up on Rockbox's help sections, that's why I came here.

Also, both solutions involve taking the Clip+ apart and messing around with the hardware. That is far too difficult and risky to attempt.

[saratoga]

The only folder you need is the Rockbox folder, which you can download from the Rockbox website.

However, if the player won't boot how are you seeing the storage at all?

[Just Some Guy]

The clip+ shows up in Windows as a drive like normal, but it shows nothing aside from what I can put on it. There are no other files or folders.

I'll try to put the Rockbox folders on again. But I would still like a copy of the original firmware folders and files just to see it that will work. From there, I can try again.

EDIT: OK, Rockbox is back, but won't do anything. It just its there, saying "error access playlist file" and then locks up.

I'm tired of trying to get Rockbox to work on this thing. The original firmware worked fine and I'm really getting annoyed with how Rockbox refuses to work correctly. I just want the original firmware back. Does anyone have it?

[Marvin the Martian]

Follow the instructions here http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...92&postcount=1
for a manual firmware installation.

[skip252]

I would check the disk for file problems before I uninstalled. With it acting up this way I would want to be sure there weren't any problems that might interfere with the firmware update needed to uninstall. If that fails it probably would be bricked.

[Just Some Guy]

I already did that. Multiple times. That was one of the first things I did when I looked it up on the Rockbox site.

I've spent the last four days trying to get this to work. I finally came here as my last resort because everything else I have tried has not worked.

It can't be a hardware problem, because when it was working, it loaded up fine. It has to be a problem with the Rockbox firmware installation. Ever since I put it on (and I followed the set up exactly as it was listed and it worked fine for the first test) it continually became more and more problematic. The only possibility is that Rockbox somehow failed to install correctly, and thus ended up preventing the installation of other firmware, even another version of Rockbox.

[Marvin the Martian]

Well, I can't figure out what you managed to do. I've put it on probably 10 Sansas... Clips, Clip+'s, Clip Zips, Fuzes, a Fuze+, and an e280....and I've always managed to uninstall it when I wanted to and never bricked one.

The only Clip+ I've ever seen bricked was the one I sold to my buddy that he sent through his washer and dryer.....

[skip252]

Are you holding the |<< key as you boot once you've placed an unpatched firmware on the player? You need to do that to boot the sandisk firmware and trigger the firmware update that removes the Rockbox bootloader.

[Just Some Guy]

Nope, no go. It's still very much stuck trying to load the Rockbox firmware first.

EDIT: I've thinking that the folders of the original firmware are going to do absolutely nothing at this point, so I'm going to change the title to just trying to get any firmware to boot properly.

[skip252]

The only other thing I can think might be interfering with the boot process is if the microsd card is in place. That's been known to stop a firmware update before. If the card is out and it still won't boot, I'm stumped.

[Just Some Guy]

Yeah, no card in there. I never even got to the point where I could put a card in, sadly.

Unless I send it to someone with far more experience with this sort of thing, I doubt it will ever work again. It simply won't work any more.

If that's the case, that would be the third device in the last couple of months. First, my S545. Then my Archos 5. Now, my Clip+ (though that would count not as product failure, but my attempt to modify it).

I'm going to go put my A847 in a safe place where I can never use it again. If this keeps up, I'm going to end up using a tape player... and even then, it might not end too well.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by Just Some Guy

Nope, no go. It's still very much stuck trying to load the Rockbox firmware first.

EDIT: I've thinking that the folders of the original firmware are going to do absolutely nothing at this point, so I'm going to change the title to just trying to get any firmware to boot properly.

Unless your buttons are physically broken, Dualbooting the SanDisk firmware will always work. Or at least you won't boot rockbox. Nothing you can do to the device without a hammer will change that.

[Just Some Guy]

Then it must be something hardware-related that happened around the same time as the attempt to install Rockbox. It is almost three years old.

Well, I guess I'll just keep an eye out for new devices over the year. Maybe I can find a suitable replacement for it and the other devices that crocked this last year.