My clip+ has died

[ted209]

I've had my Clip+ for 5 days over the warranty period and it has just died. Here's a warning that could help others save their players. This is how it happened:

1) Charged up the clip+ then unplugged and listened for an hour before I went to sleep.

2) Woke up next morning and accidentally double-clicked the on button - black screen, no sign of life.

I have the problem where the clip+ shows up as "m200plus" when connected to my PC, and no amount of holding down the power button has helped. I kept my clip+ reasonably clean inside a silicone case, so I don't think it's a grime issue.

It's pure speculation, but I would advise people: DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK THE POWER BUTTON when turning on the clip, it might irreparably damage the player.

I'm disappointed that it only lasted a year, however I still can't bring myself to buy an iPod, so I've reinvested in a Sansa Fuze V2.

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

AFAIK there's no recovery for that yet but it sounds like you got it into recovery mode some how by the combination of buttons you may have pressed. As the old e200v2 when put into recovery mode it showed up as m200Plus as well.

Edit: even though 5 days over, I'd try to call tech support to see if they have a fix, also check on rockbox site for others who may have had the same issue.
Edit II: you might want to try http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaAMSUnbrick

[JK98]

Did you try reloading the firmware?

[steinburger1109]

Yea, call support. I've heard them honor warranty past the period before. Don't get your hopes up, but try it.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by JK98

Did you try reloading the firmware?

You can't reload the firmware, the Clip + firmware is 5MB and the device mounts as 4MB which is too small. It would be interesting to connect it to a Linux box to see if it is repairable as I guess it's in a Clip + recovery mode.

Edit: I was just reading this and I guess it's not recoverable with just a linux box, you probably need something similar to this too and the specific version needed is probably in SanDisk tech supports hands. But I honestly am not sure and I would wait for a rockbox dev reply, good luck.

[ted209]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a linux machine, so I'll have a play later today. I'm in the UK, and as far as I could see there is no standard Sandisk returns procedure here (except return to vendor - Amazon). I'll drop Sandisk an email today and see if they'll help.

[WalkGood]

Just connecting to a linux box won’t save it, last I had read there was a rockbox dev trying to solder a jtag to see if it was possible and I’ve lost touch with any outcome. You might want to ask in #rockbox IRC as there’s where you can get quick answers.

[Mikerman]

Do I recall correctly that while the U.S. warranty period is 1 year, it's 2 years in the EU?

[saratoga]

The 4MB disk appears when the player can't communicate with the NAND chip during boot up. Usually it means the player is physically damaged (for example, some component on the board has failed), or that you've applied a bad firmware update and scrambled the NAND chip. Since you haven't updated the firmware, a damaged NAND chip is most likely.

You can try the unbrick link WalkGood linked above. That will fix it if the firmware was somehow erased, but from what you've described it doesn't sound like thats very likely.

[Voodude]

My screen quit on first Clip v1 after about 4 months. I contacted Sansa they asked when I bought it, but NEVER asked for a recipe. They sent me a (paid for)UPS shipping label and I returned it. Got a new one a couple weeks later

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Voodude

My screen quit on first Clip v1 after about 4 months. I contacted Sansa they asked when I bought it, but NEVER asked for a recipe. They sent me a (paid for)UPS shipping label and I returned it. Got a new one a couple weeks later

Nice, while some may slide through the cracks it's not common practice as the two RMAs I've done required receipts but if I were the OP I'd give it a try regardless.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by Voodude

My screen quit on first Clip v1 after about 4 months. I contacted Sansa they asked when I bought it, but NEVER asked for a recipe. They sent me a (paid for)UPS shipping label and I returned it. Got a new one a couple weeks later

They didn't ask for a recipe, huh? Too bad--I have a great one for chocolate bread pudding souffle.