How to install Rockbox on your E200

NOTE: These instructions are a work-in-progress and should be moved to the manual when finalised. They are currently (from 22 March 2007) the recommended way to install Rockbox on an E200

Installation instructions

Step 1 - Install Rockbox

a) Download rockbox.zip and rockbox-fonts.zip for your E200

You first need to download the current build of Rockbox and the fonts package from Rockbox Extras page.

b) Unzip rockbox.zip and rockbox-fonts.zip to your E200

The rockbox.zip you have downloaded contains the Rockbox firmware itself (a file called rockbox.e200) plus a support directory containing configuration files, plug ins, audio codecs, fonts and themes. This directory is called ".rockbox" (note the dot at the start of the name).

To install (or upgrade) Rockbox you need to attach your E200 to your PC via USB, and then unzip both rockbox.zip and rockbox-fonts.zip to the top-level (root) of your E200's disk.

NOTE: Make sure (if you are using any Windows OS earlier than Windows 2000) that you eject the E200 with the "Unplug or Eject Hardware" (found in the system tray next to the clock) before unplugging it, or there will almost certainly be corrupted files and Rockbox will act up! However, there is no need to eject your E200 yet - just go to Step 2 and install the bootloader.

Step 2: Install the bootloader

In order to make your E200 load and execute the Rockbox firmware you have just installed, you will need to install the Rockbox bootloader. Unless bugs are found in th e bootloader code, or significant new feature are added, you will only have to perform this step once.

These steps use the sansapatcher tool. Source code is available in the Rockbox SVN (see UsingSVN).

a) Bootloader installation from Windows

1. Make sure you are logged into your computer as Administrator, or a user with Administrator privileges and connect your E200.
2. Download sansapatcher.exe and run it.
3. If all has gone well, you should see some information displayed about your E200 and a message asking you if you wish to install the Rockbox bootloader. Press y followed by ENTER, and sansapatcher will now install the bootloader. After a short time you should see the message "[INFO] Bootloader installed successfully." Press ENTER again to exit sansapatcher.
4. Disconnect your E200 in the usual way. The bootloader is now installed.

b) Bootloader installation from Mac OS X

1. Attach your E200 to your Mac and wait for its icon to appear in Finder.
2. Open up Disk Utility (in Applications -> Utilities) and click on the name of your E200 in the list on the left pane. Then click on the "unmount" icon at the top. NOTE: DO NOT click on the "eject" icon.
3. Download and open sansapatcher.dmg and then double-click on the sansapatcher icon inside. 1. If all has gone well, you should see some information displayed about your E200 and a message asking you if you wish to install the Rockbox bootloader. Press y followed by ENTER, and sansapatcher will now install the bootloader. After a short time you should see the message "[INFO] Bootloader installed successfully." Press ENTER again to exit sansapatcher and then quit the Terminal application.
4. NOTE: If you received a "Resource busy" error from sansapatcher, then this means you didn't complete step 2). Go back to Disk Utility, unmount your E200 and then run sansapatcher again.
5. Your E200 will now automatically reconnect itself to your Mac. Wait for it to connect, and then eject and unplug it in the normal way. NOTE: You should unplug your E200 immediately after ejecting it to prevent Rockbox immediately rebooting your E200 into disk mode when it detects that your E200 is attached to a computer.

c) Bootloader installation from Linux

1. Download sansapatcher (32-bit x86 binary or 64-bit amd64 binary). You can save this anywhere you wish, but the next steps will assume you've saved it in your home directory.
2. Attach your E200 to your computer.
3. Open up a terminal window and type the following commands:

      cd $HOME
      chmod +x sansapatcher
      ./sansapatcher

   NOTE: You may need to be the root user in order for sansapatcher to have sufficient permission to perform raw disk access to your E200.
4. If all has gone well, you should see some information displayed about your E200 and a message asking you if you wish to install the Rockbox bootloader. Press y followed by ENTER, and sansapatcher will now install the bootloader. After a short time you should see the message "[INFO] Bootloader installed successfully." Press ENTER again to exit sansapatcher.
5. Disconnect your E200 in the usual way. The bootloader is now installed.

Common problems

I installed Rockbox before using the old method (without sansapatcher). Now when I try to use sansapatcher, it gives me the error "OLD ROCKBOX INSTALLATION DETECTED, ABORTING". What should I do?

The sansapatcher tool has detected that you have previously installed Rockbox using the old installation method. In order to continue, you first need to restore the original SanDisk firmware to your Sansa. This can be achieved in either of the following ways:

a) Using the SanDisk Firmware Updater

Download the SanDisk Firmware Updater and run it. It should guide you through installing the latest Sandisk firmware on your Sansa.

b) Using a PP5022.mi4 file

If you have a SanDisk PP5022.mi4 file with the SanDisk firmware in it, just put it into the root directory of your Sansa. Now unplug the USB cable and make sure to start back up into the SanDisk firmware again (by holding |<< if you have the Rockbox bootloader currently installed). It should give a message saying that it is upgrading the firmware.

Bagder is hosting some official bootloaders which can be used here

Once you have done so, you can go back and complete the bootloader installation.