Argg! PROBLEMMS BIG TIME SANSA E250

"You need to format your device, the best recommendation is to place it into MSC mode. This is the Sansa's mass storage mode and it allows the device to be treated as a drive. Go to the settings menu and find USB Mode. There are two choices, MSC and MTP. Choose MSC. MTP is for music transfer using a media player software like Windows Media Player. If you don't have a way to set MSC mode with a menu on the device, engage the 'hold' switch, and while holding down the left or right button (others report also using the center button), plug the device into the USB connector. Make sure the USB is already plugged into the computer. You shouldn't need to do this with a standard e250; the menu should work. After you have connected the device in MSC mode, right click My Computer and choose Manage from the menu. Find Disk Management and select it. The disks should be numbered, starting with 0 for the C: drive. You should see a drive that says SANSA E250, or something similar. Write down the type of file system if it is shown. Most e250's says FAT32. Some are FAT, but check to be sure. There will be two partitions on the disk. The larger of the two is for your music files. The smaller is for when the device goes into "hibernation" - it's so you'll be back to the exact same song when it powers back on. Right click the larger partition and choose Format from the menu. You will see the format dialog. Set the volume label to SANSA E250 (I believe that's your device type), set the file system to what you wrote down earlier (do NOT choose NTFS!) and leave the Allocation unit size at "Default." Do not check either of the two check boxes. Click on OK. Keep an eye on the partition in Disk Management and you will see the percent complete. When it's done, look in the System Tray (by the date and time). You should see an icon for safely removing hardware. Double-click it to bring up the safely remove hardware dialog. Click on the USB drive representing your Sansa device and click Stop. Another dialog will come up and you'll have to do this again. Close the dialog when the device has stopped. The device will restart and initialize the music database. You're done! Now change to MTP mode and sync the device and add your songs back in. Whenever you are in MSC mode, ALWAYS stop the device as I described in the paragraph above. That way you won't corrupt the drive."
Thanks for using FixYa

Go ahead and do this, in case the DB is corrupted:
Format - Erases Everything: Connect your Sansa player to the computer and open Windows Media Player. Click on the Sync tab. Pull down the drop down menu underneath the Sync tab by moving your cursor over the Sync tab and left clicking on the little black arrow underneath the Sync tab. Highlight "Sansa 1GB" (wording may vary slightly), and then select "Format." - this should erase everything.
Firmware Upgrade- Erases Everything: Get the latest firmware upgrade from Sansa - it updates the firmware and erases every song in the player all at once. Note: this method doesn't work if already have the latest firmware. Go to this website and click "Firmware Updater" to find out: http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/DriverDownloads.aspx

I don't know about converting the MP3s to WMAs, but I had the same problem with "corrupt files."
What fixed that for me was instead of dragging and dropping files onto the Sansa, I synchronized them using Windows Media player, but only do 10-20 songs at a time, because if you try to do too many, they probably won't show up. I know it's tedious and annoying, but that's what did it for mine :) I hope this helps.

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Hope to help you.

Hi. It seems like your player decided to throw a hissy fit by deciding to experience internal system errors. Best that you reset the firmware. Here's how: Switch your Sansa E250 to its Recovery Mode: 1. Make sure the player is powered off 2. Enable the "Hold" switch (located on the top of the player). You would know it's enabled when you see the "orange-colored" surface 3. Press the "Record" button. Make sure you keep it pressed while pressing on the "Menu" button. 4. keep your fingers pressed on these 2 buttons until the E250 LCD screen displays "Welcome to Recovery Mode" 5. Connect your E250 to your computer. (Just a reminder: The minimum Operating System requirements for a Sansa E200 player is Windows XP and above) 6. Double-click on "My Computer" and you would see your Sansa E250 appear as a "16 MB" drive. Note: If you do not see that "16 MB" drive/partition, please repeat steps 1-6. Next, Apply the firmware for the E250 (your player should be connected to your PC at this time): Step 1: Use this link to download the firmware for your Sansa E250 (for better results, please save this file on your "Desktop": http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/Downloads/firmware/e200fw01.00.12.exe Step 2: Double left-click on the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen prompts. The file will automatically re-flash your player and format it as well, thereby clearing all possible file/system corruptions that may have occurred. Step 3: When the process is complete, unplug your E250 from your computer, and please make sure you disable the "Hold" switch Step 4: Power up your E250 and 90-99% of the time, it would boot up successfully. Step 5: Enjoy using your Sansa E250, just like I do. (I love this player)

I had this same problem on my sansa and tryed the previous solution with no luck. Out of frustration i email the sansa technical support. Try these steps to format the player: -Turn on the player and access MENU > SETTINGS > USB > MSC - Once the player is set to MSC mode, reconnect it to the computer and open the My Computer window. - Once you see the Sansa icon in the My Computer window, right-click it and choose FORMAT - In the Format window, choose FAT 32 and make sure that Quick Format is NOT selected, then choose START -Once the format has completed, disconnect the player from the computer to allow it to refresh. If you plan on using Windows Media Player to transfer files, return to the USB menu and set the player to MTP mode. Otherwise, leave the player in MSC mode and you can now resume transferring files. Formatting your player will deleate all files but you can putt them back on!!! Best of luck!

Hi Blkmage. It seems that your E250 is experiencing some system errors due after the format due to some bad tracks on the player. Try this solution, but this solution is only meant for the "Standard" E200 players (there are 2 types of E200 players -- the Standard E200 and the "Rhapsody" players, indicated with an "r" after the E200 such as "E250r". I'm hoping you have the standard E250. Switch your Sansa E250 to its Recovery Mode: 1. Make sure the player is powered off 2. Enable the "Hold" switch (located on the top of the player). You would know it's enabled when you see the "orange-colored" surface 3. Press the "Record" button. Make sure you keep it pressed while pressing on the "Menu" button. 4. keep your fingers pressed on these 2 buttons until the E250 LCD screen displays "Welcome to Recovery Mode" 5. Connect your E250 to your computer. (Just a reminder: The minimum Operating System requirements for a Sansa E200 player is Windows XP and above) 6. Double-click on "My Computer" and you would see your Sansa E250 appear as a "16 MB" drive. Note: If you do not see that "16 MB" drive/partition, please repeat steps 1-6. Next, Apply the firmware for the E250 (your player should be connected to your PC at this time): Step 1: Use this link to download the firmware for your Sansa E250 (for better results, please save this file on your "Desktop": http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/Downl... Step 2: Double left-click on the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen prompts. The file will automatically re-flash your player and format it as well, thereby clearing all possible file/system corruptions that may have occurred which caused the "Load Main Image Failed" notification in the first place. Step 3: When the process is complete, unplug your E250 from your computer, and please make sure you disable the "Hold" switch Step 4: Power up your E250 and 90-99% of the time, it would boot up successfully. Hoping it works out for your player. Syd :)

Hi. Seems like your player may be encountering some corruption. Try this and see if it would help: Switch your Sansa E250 to its Recovery Mode: 1. Make sure the player is powered off 2. Enable the "Hold" switch (located on the top of the player). You would know it's enabled when you see the "orange-colored" surface 3. Press the "Record" button. Make sure you keep it pressed while pressing on the "Menu" button. 4. keep your fingers pressed on these 2 buttons until the E250 LCD screen displays "Welcome to Recovery Mode" 5. Connect your E250 to your computer. (Just a reminder: The minimum Operating System requirements for a Sansa E200 player is Windows XP and above) 6. Double-click on "My Computer" and you would see your Sansa E250 appear as a "16 MB" drive. Note: If you do not see that "16 MB" drive/partition, please repeat steps 1-6. Next, Apply the firmware for the E250 (your player should be connected to your PC at this time): Step 1: Use this link to download the firmware for your Sansa E250 (for better results, please save this file on your "Desktop": http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/Downl... Step 2: Double left-click on the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen prompts. The file will automatically re-flash your player and format it as well, thereby clearing all possible file/system corruptions that may have occurred. Step 3: When the process is complete, unplug your E250 from your computer, and please make sure you disable the "Hold" switch Step 4: Power up your E250 and 90-99% of the time, it would boot up successfully. Let me know if this helped :)

Try this: Switch your Sansa e250 to its Recovery Mode: 1. Make sure the player is powered off 2. Enable the "Hold" switch (located on the top of the player). You would know it's enabled when you see the "orange-colored" surface 3. Press the "Record" button. Make sure you keep it pressed while pressing on the "Menu" button. 4. keep your fingers pressed on these 2 buttons until the e250 LCD screen displays "Welcome to Recovery Mode" (if the LCD remains black, keep pressing long enough -- about 10 seconds -- then proceed to the next step) 5. Connect your e250 to your computer. (Just a reminder: The minimum Operating System requirements for a Sansa E200 player is Windows XP and above) 6. Double-click on "My Computer" and you would see your Sansa e250 appear as a "16 MB" drive. Note: If you do not see that "16 MB" drive/partition, please repeat steps 1-6. Next, Apply the firmware for the e250 (your player should be connected to your PC at this time): Step 1: Use this link to download the firmware for your Sansa e250 (for better results, please save this file on your "Desktop": http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/Downl... or use this Sansa Firmware Updater link: http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1376 Step 2: Double left-click on the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen prompts. The file will automatically re-flash your player (or find the most updated firmware) and format it as well, thereby clearing all possible file/system corruptions that may have occurred. Step 3: When the process is complete, unplug your e250 from your computer, and please make sure you disable the "Hold" switch Step 4: Power up your e250 and 90-99% of the time, it would boot up successfully. I hope this helps.

Hello. Seems like your player is encountering either a file or system error, causing it to freeze. One solution would be to see if your player would be detected by your PC, then attempt to format it. Another solution would be to re-apply the firmware. Here are the steps: Switch your Sansa E250 to its Recovery Mode: 1. Make sure the player is powered off 2. Enable the "Hold" switch (located on the top of the player). You would know it's enabled when you see the "orange-colored" surface 3. Press the "Record" button. Make sure you keep it pressed while pressing on the "Menu" button. 4. keep your fingers pressed on these 2 buttons until the E250 LCD screen displays "Welcome to Recovery Mode" 5. Connect your E250 to your computer. (Just a reminder: The minimum Operating System requirements for a Sansa E200 player is Windows XP and above) 6. Double-click on "My Computer" and you would see your Sansa E250 appear as a "16 MB" drive. Note: If you do not see that "16 MB" drive/partition, please repeat steps 1-6. Next, Apply the firmware for the E250 (your player should be connected to your PC at this time): Step 1: Use this link to download the firmware for your Sansa E250 (for better results, please save this file on your "Desktop": http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/Downl... Step 2: Double left-click on the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen prompts. The file will automatically re-flash your player and format it as well, thereby clearing all possible file/system corruptions that may have occurred. Step 3: When the process is complete, unplug your E250 from your computer, and please make sure you disable the "Hold" switch Step 4: Power up your E250 and 90-99% of the time, it would boot up successfully.