Guide: Recovering a bricked Sansa (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK) (Out of date)

[zivan56]

This guide is out of date, see http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200tool.html for up to date information. Some people are unable to use e200tool under Windows, so this guide will not work for them.

WARNING: This may brick your player even more, so only use it as a last resort. ONLY USE IT ON THE ORIGINAL e2xx (non-R)

Well after seeing quite a number of people brick their Sansa by putting random files in recovery mode, I decided to write a guide on how to fix it. All credits go to MrH for writing this program and figuring everything out. Also to Bagder for most of the steps. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS IF YOU CAN ACCESS RECOVERY MODE, ONLY USE THIS IF YOU JUST GET A BLUE RING NO MATTER WHAT.

First, you need to get e200tool from here. Download the Windows binary and extract it somewhere (say c:\e200tool). Then, download and install libusb-win32 (you need to install the driver/filter). Then, get the rom file for your player (this works on e200 and c200 (probably e200r as well if they ever release a rom file)). The rom file can be obtained in many ways, just do a search for a firmware zip file which includes a mi4 and rom file. It is usually called BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom
You will need to extract the rom file from wherever you got it, and put it in c:\e200tool as well.

Now, go to start->run and type cmd and press enter
type: cd c:\e200tool
Now, put your Sansa in manufacturing mode:
1. Make sure it is off
2. Turn on the lock at the top
3. Hold centre button (keep holding it)
4. Plug the player in
It will prompt you to install drivers, just ignore this.
5. Release the centre button, press and hold rec button while running:
e200tool recover BL_SD_boardSupportSD.rom (or whatever the .rom filename is)
According to MrH:

When the e200tool runs init the scrollwheel is supposed to blink
once. If it blinks more than that (and for me, every once in a while,
it does, there is a bug somewhere...it means the player has detected a fatal error and should
be turned off before trying again.

The tool should tell you when it is done.
You should now have a new disk where you can put the above downloaded rom and mi4 file.


If the e200tool program fails to find the device, it may possibly have a severe problem which cannot be fixed by this. Or, it may be in a USB port which is not functioning properly.

Let me know if this works for you.

[Goof]

Are there any other secret 'modes' for this player? I can understand what the recovery mode is for, but is this the only thing you can do with "manufacturing mode".

[Amblin]

Oh snap zivan, I sure wish I had this when I bricked my first player a few weeks ago. Very nice, thank you very much. To mods, I believe this is very much worth a sticky.

[Bagder]

Originally Posted by Goof

Are there any other secret 'modes' for this player?

One Player. Four USB modes... :-)

http://daniel.haxx.se/sansa/e200.html#usbmodes

[JSV]

That is excellent! I saw the discussion about it in the RockBox forum and was wondering if someone could find something that the average joe could do to unbrick a Sansa.

I am curious about one thing:

What does the "i2c" file when you use it on your Sansa, and why is it "even more dangerous"?

[zivan56]

^^ Disregard the i2c stuff, it should be copied onto a disk that appears after you do the first one. I removed it, as it will probably do more damage than good. Also, MrH cleared up a few things, so it should be ok now.

[WalkGood]

zivan56, Nice guide, hope I don’t have to use it

[JSV]

Another question:

Using this, is it possible to turn a Rhapsody Sansa into a "normal" Sansa?

[zivan56]

Originally Posted by JSV

Another question:

Using this, is it possible to turn a Rhapsody Sansa into a "normal" Sansa?

Theoretically, it might be able to. I don't see why it wouldn't work if its the same hardware.

[JSV]

Because they couldn't apply new themes, some users wanted to turn a R into a non-R, but they couldnt, if I understand correctly, because the Rhapsody bootloader is a Sandisk top secret, (even the filename of this bootloader is unknown), and you need the correct filename in order to change the bootloader in recovery mode. (That's why downgrading from 1.03.01 to 1.02.xx was impossible until you found the new filenames for the .rom and .mi4 files...)

Anyway, can someone tell wether the hardware of Rhapsody and normal Sansas are the same or not?

And, before anyone tries to mutate their Sansa, they must be aware that the inverse process (from non-R to R) is impossible and will remain impossible until someone can get his hands on the Rhapsody bootloader...

...unless there is a way to extract the bootloader on a Rhapsody Sansa using this new manufacturing mode tool.

[zivan56]

You can extract the e200r bootloader via:
e200tool init
e200tool read bl.rom 0x10600000 500000
as Bagder mentioned on his page. That way you will get a bootloader (with incorrect size, but we can hex view it to see what filenames they use). I am betting it is probably the pribootLoader.rom and firmware.mi4 as the newer firmware and the c200 use it. I am almost 100% sure the e200 and e200r have the same hardware.

[xhozt]

Originally Posted by zivan56

You can extract the e200r bootloader via:
e200tool init
e200tool read bl.rom 0x10600000 500000
as Bagder mentioned on his page. That way you will get a bootloader (with incorrect size, but we can hex view it to see what filenames they use). I am betting it is probably the pribootLoader.rom and firmware.mi4 as the newer firmware and the c200 use it. I am almost 100% sure the e200 and e200r have the same hardware.

one prob i am working with the rock box guys{plus the h3 guy} and the issue is i dont have a linux compiler to build the tool used to extract the files "mi4code "{right now there is not a way to modofy the rom and mi4 cause the coding is diffrent than the regular e200 and the devs need a clean e200r rom and mi4 i normaly use win so im having issues using the liniux tools the use for the extraction.}

ps there is a slight hardware coding diffrence but only for the helizx drm ,, zivan think you could assist me so i can help get rock box on the R and themes .. ???

here is when i run this on my r in manufact mode

{{{{{
e200tool>e200tool init
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 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!

>e200tool read bl.ro
m 0x10600000 500000
e200tool v0.0.6-alpha (c) by MrH 2006, 2007
Reading 'bl.rom' from range 0x10600000-0x1067a120
Searching for device 6666:e200 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!
}}}}}}}

[zivan56]

^^ Did you get a new popup saying new hardware was found? What name did it display?
Try steps 1-4 only first as well...

[xhozt]

yep it said usb device and i let it be.
yep yep i know the commands but looks like they might need to be played with on the R or i just need to be the one to bite the bullet and buy a r and send it to a full on dev for rockbox ....;-( any and all help welcome though ill do whats needed to get this i want themes and rock box 2 damn it lol

ps still trying mi4 tool to compile to try that way
but im not a full on linux guy so slow as hell here doing that in my free time .

[zivan56]

Originally Posted by xhozt

ps still trying mi4 tool to compile to try that way
but im not a full on linux guy so slow as hell here doing that in my free time .

You can download mi4code windows binaries from the site I listed on my first post.

Btw, thanks to the mod(s) for cleaning up this thread.

[xhozt]

Originally Posted by zivan56

You can download mi4code windows binaries from the site I listed on my first post.

Btw, thanks to the mod(s) for cleaning up this thread.

It has win binarys for e200tool but not for mi4code that i can see .. ;-(

[zivan56]

Originally Posted by xhozt

It has win binarys for e200tool but not for mi4code that i can see .. ;-(

There is a huge link for mi4code at the top. Which has a link to download it.

[xhozt]

Ill try but it did not have the proper keys for decryption last time .

Update to come sunday

[Bagder]

Originally Posted by xhozt

here is when i run this on my r in manufact mode

{{{{{
e200tool>e200tool init
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 ... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 not found!

Can you please check what USB vendor and device ID your unit reports when booting in this mode?

Does the R model even claim to be 0781:0720 when in "normal" USB mode?

(sorry, I don't monitor these forums so if you want my assistance I'd like to ask you to post in more Rockbox-oriented ones)

[xhozt]

cant tell . i tryied to see what it was claming to be but not sure were to check