Screen remains on Refresh Database everytime I turn it on.

When the Sansa reads "refreshing database," what it is doing is going through all the songs you've loaded on to it, pulling out the "tag" information (Artist, Album, Song Title, Genre) so it can add this information to its own database which it uses to display the songs to you in its menus.

If it gets stuck during this process, usually it's because of a corrupt song file, or a song file in a format it doesn't understand.

Note that the e280 is only able to play MP3 and WMA audio formats. If you've loaded a different type of audio file onto your Sansa, you'll need to remove them.

If the songs you've recently loaded have all been MP3 and/or WMA, you may have loaded a corrupted file onto your Sansa. Try removing the songs you recently added, and see if the problem goes away.

Turn it on into recovery mode (Hold + Record Button + Power)
Connect to computer (You should detect a 16MB drive)
Make an empty text file inside the 16MB Drive and rename it to "sansa.fmt"
Unplug the Sansa. You should see now a "Formatting..." on the Sansa's screen.
Sansa fixed!

You have to many songs a sansa e 250 only holds a certain amount of space so your best bet is to buy a memory card or delete songs so you can add new ones.


sincerely,Britani

"Refresh database" is a normal message that you will get everytime you unplug the Sansa from the computer - don't worry about that aspect.

If the songs that you have transferred have DRM encryption on them, they may not play right (or at all) on the Sansa.

If you have Windows Media Player 11, I would get the firmware update from the Sansa website AND format the Sansa inside Windows Media Player:
for the firmware,
for the format, http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/DriverDownloads.aspx
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 and get your player functioning normally.

-Tha Mp3 Doctor

how do you put on recovery mode?

Try updating the firmware of your player. Switch the player to recovery mode (enable hold switch and press and hold the record and power button until you see on the screen welcome to recovery mode) download the sansa firmware updater on the sandisk website and install it to your computer. When it ask to connect the device connect the player and check if there are updates on the player. Also try to format the player it may be the songs on the player is causing the problem.

there nothing wrong its jsut the way the mp3 player refreshes the play lists mine does it too

Take out the four screws on the back and pop out the battery then put it back on. Make sure you synced the songs properly. Add to the problem how you added your songs and I might be able to help.
Good Luck

This just means that the player is refreshing the songs on the list, it does not mean that you have to do anything.

i have the same problem ... refresh database fail .. i can put songs on the player but it doesn't show them or play them :-( HELP!!!!