SansaAMSUnbrick < Main

Downloads

release

dev builds

extras

themes

Documentation

manual

wiki

device status

Support

forums

mailing lists

IRC

Development

bugs

patches

dev guide

Donate

Wiki > Main > SanDisk > SansaAMS > SansaAMSUnbrick

---+ Recovery Mode

%RED%%RED%<strong><span style="color: crimson;">WARNING! These instructions are *only* to be used if you are sure your player is unrecoverable in any other way! Failing to follow these steps (or using them when not necessary) can result in a 100% dead piece of plastic! Talk to us in IRC BEFORE attempting this procedure</span></strong>%ENDCOLOR%%ENDCOLOR%



%RED%%RED%<strong><span style="color: crimson;">This only works on e200v2, Fuzev1, Fuzev2, Clipv1, Clipv2 and Clip+ (for now) !</span></strong>%ENDCOLOR%%ENDCOLOR%
---++ Entering the recovery mode
The flash of the player can be directly accessed via USB with the following method:

   * Take the player completely apart
   * Search for the two open solder pads near the bottom left corner of NAND flash (exact location varies depending the model, see pictures at the bottom)
   * %RED%%RED%<strong><span style="color: crimson;">Make sure you got the right pads, if you accidentally bridge an unpopulated capacitor, the resulting short might destroy your player!</span></strong>%ENDCOLOR%%ENDCOLOR%
   * Bridge them with a piece of wire or something
   * Connect the player to your PC (preferably running Linux)
   * Execute "sudo fdisk -l". It should report a drive without partitions, with a size of 979.75MB (approximately, there is some 1000/1024 Bytes rounding
   * Take away the wire bridging the two pads
If it doesn't works, try to repeat it several times.

You must make sure that the player was off before plugging the USB cable to the PC.

To do this you can unsolder the battery (if you are wanting to resolder it after the recovery).

Another method is: press quickly the power button to be sure the player is running if it wasn't already. Then keep pressing the power button a long time to trigger a hardware power-off.

---++ Use the recovery mode

Now you can access the hidden part of the NAND flash over that drive (reported by fdisk).

You can write the whole OF-Image onto that by using e.g.:

=dd if=orig_image.bin of=/dev/sde= (replace orig_image.bin and sde with the actual filename and drive)

You can also dump the image from the player to your hard disk by using e.g.:

=dd if=/dev/sde of=orig_image.bin bs=512 count=$((0xF000))= (count is 0x5000 for Clipv1/C200v2/M200v4, 0xf000 for others)

If you are somehow unsure with some step, just get in contact with us on [[irc://irc.freenode.net/rockbox][IRC]]

---++ Hacking

This might work on other models too (m200v4, c200v2)

The size of the drive is exactly the size reported in the CSD register before we enable bank switching and request the CSD register a second time (e.g. 0x1E9E00 sectors)

The size reserved by the OF is exactly twice the size of the firmware file when the reserved space is 0xF000 sectors (models with 8MB of ram)

It is exactly twice the size of the firmware file minus the header (2 sectors) when the reserved space is 0x5000 sectors (models with 2MB of ram)

Copying an OF image over this drive might not be enough to recover operation, you might need the full part reserved by OF.

I copied an OF (tried both patched and unpatched) on the recovery drive of a Fuzev1, rockbox would work correctly but OF would only power the backlight and do nothing.

After copying the full reserved data from another Fuzev1, it worked correctly -- Main.RafaelCarre - 2010-06-01

Some people have recovered without an OF image.  It might be enough to just zero the entire reserve space and then copy the OF firmware file back over the first part of the reserved space.

   * Recovery pins for Clipv1: <br /> <img width="640" alt="clipv1-recovery.jpg" src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/clipv1-recovery.jpg" height="480" />

   * Recovery pins for Clipv2: <br /> <img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/clipv2_recovery.jpg" alt="clipv2_recovery.jpg" width='640' height='434' />

   * Recovery pins for Clip+, use the two RED pins: <br /> <img width="640" alt="clipv1-recovery.jpg" src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/sandisksansaclipplusdis.jpg" height="480" />

   * Recovery pins for Fuzev1: <br /> <img width="640" alt="fuzev1-recovery.jpg" src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/fuzev1-recovery.jpg" height="480" />

   * Recovery pins for Fuzev2: <br /> <img width="566" alt="fuzev2-recovery.jpg" src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/fuzev2-recovery.jpg" height="478" />

   * Recovery pins for e200v2: <br /> <img width="224" alt="e200v2-recovery.jpg" src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/e200v2-recovery.jpg" height="262" />
Original e200v2 picture by Daniel ( [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/90053035@N00/2495460818/in/set-72157605072639496/][source]])

Original Fuzev1, Clipv1 and Clip+ pictures copyright © 2005-2009 !EnzoTen Media. All rights reserved. ( [[http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/disassembly/][source]])

I	Attachment	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
jpg	clipv1-recovery.jpg	manage	90.1 K	01 Jun 2010 - 00:29	RafaelCarre	Recovery pins for Clipv1
jpg	clipv2_recovery.jpg	manage	53.8 K	05 Oct 2010 - 13:13	MichaelChicoine	Recovery pins for Clipv2
jpg	e200v2-recovery.jpg	manage	17.5 K	01 Jun 2010 - 00:35	RafaelCarre	Recovery pins for e200v2
jpg	fuzev1-recovery.jpg	manage	87.1 K	01 Jun 2010 - 00:29	RafaelCarre	Recovery pins for Fuzev1
jpg	fuzev2-recovery.jpg	manage	127.4 K	01 Jun 2010 - 00:34	RafaelCarre	Recovery pins for Fuzev2
jpg	sandisksansaclipplusdis.jpg	manage	182.3 K	02 Jun 2010 - 14:22	JonathanGordon	recovery pins for clip+

r9 - 25 Oct 2011 - 22:02:26 - MichaelGiacomelli

Parents: SanDisk > SansaAMS