The ultimate fix for your Sansa v1 problems

[muffinzrock]

This solution has worked with pretty much all sansa problems.

UPDATE [08-May-08]: The links to the american and european firmware were changed due to bandwidth problems. The previous links will no longer work.

UPDATED 08-May-08

DO NOT FORMAT FROM YOUR COMPUTER IN RECOVERY MODE!!!! EVER!!!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THAT!!!!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THINKING ABOUT DOING THAT!!!!!! IT WILL MOST LIKELY BRICK YOUR PLAYER_OUT OF REPAIR!!!!

Also, despite what you might hear, it is ok to put a .mi4 and .rom in the 16MB recovery mode thing, just NOT ANYTHING ELSE.
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make sure you have backups of your music


enter recovery mode. if you dont know how to, you just need to put the hold switch on so you see orange, hold down the record button and turn the player on. keep holding the record button until you see:
Welcome to recovery mode
Please connect USB cable


plug your player in


open notepad, and save a blank text document named "sansa.fmt" and drag that into the 16MB recovery mode thing


Run this to downgrade the firmware (NON-R PLAYERS ONLY):
http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/D...fw01.00.12.exe

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if you cannot downgrade the firmware with the .exe file, download and extract the correct firmware from this link:
http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...101.02.18a.zip
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Safely remove your player. Let it reboot.


Add this firmware either normally in MSC mode, or in recovery mode if necessary.
if you have to add it in recovery mode again, also put the sansa.fmt file on the player:

if you have an AMERICAN player, download this:
http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...101.02.18a.zip

if you have a EUROPEAN player, download this:
http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...101.02.18e.zip - EU no FM radio

http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...101.02.18f.zip EU w/ FM Radio

if you have a RHAPSODY player, download this:
http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...-1.0.2.165.zip

unzip it, and drag-and-drop the .rom and .mi4 to the 16MB thing.


NOTE: this will force-format the player which will delete everything and install the newest firmware and bootloader.


hope this helps!


also, i attached my ultimate fix for quick reference so you dont have to come to this thread when you have a problem, and i attached the sansa.fmt thing in a compressed folder. it actually has the .fmt extension, which it has to have, i.e. it cant be sansa.fmt.txt. just unzip, and drag to the player when stated in the steps



How to get rid of the "synchronize to continue music subscription" message if it just appears out of nowhere on your player- this fixed mine when it gave me that message:

delete the STORE.HDS file in the system/wmdrmpd directory of your sansa (optional)

import your protected songs into WMP, and resync your protected music (with WMP) in MTP mode

play a protected song and let it rebuild the store.hds file (you will experience severe lag for about 15 seconds as it rebuilds) and the music should play.





How to fix your sansa if you have weird files and folders on it (corruption):

Plug your player in, in MSC mode.

Right-click on it.

Click "properties"

Click "tools"

Click "Error Checking"

Check both the boxes on the error checking window that pops up, and click start.

After it finishes, check your player to make sure it is normal.