Asking for tips in a (non-SanDisk related) channel on IRC, I came across someone who does Tech Support for SanDisk. While I can't exactly say he's officially from SanDisk, it surely sounds like he is. He asked that I not reveal his identity, since he's not allowed to do support outside of work.
I've masked both his nick and mine, him for the reason stated above, and me because I think I'd get asked quite a few questions on IRC otherwise.
Plain-text version: http://chrisjs.com/Sandisk-IRC.txt
[me] Dunno what kind of SanDisk support you do, but I've heard mixed rumors about whether or not installing Rockbox on the Sansa e200 series voids the warranty. Do you know for sure whether it does?
[Sandisk] Here's the deal with Rockbox
[Sandisk] Installing rockbox will not void the warranty. However, if you brick the Sansa (which is rare) we will not replace it. If you need support, you ahve to put the SanDisk firmware before calling
[Sandisk] So the only thing rockbox can permemently do is brick the Sansa, which is sometimes fixable. Bricking is quite rare however
[Sandisk] If you post on Rockbox forums, you can let everyone know someone from sandisk told you that info, just do not repeat my name. I am not allowed to provide support outside of work
[me] Ok, thanks. Since there's always Pre-boot and Manufacturing mode, is it even possible to brick the Sansa, without hardware modifications?
[me] I just let a few people in #rockbox-community know, but refused to tell them your name
[Sandisk] thanks for keeping my identity quiet 
[Sandisk] Theres manufacturing mode and recovery mode
[me] No problem 
[Sandisk] Recovery mode is what you would use if you bricked teh Sansa
[Sandisk] Sometimes the Sansa will install firmware wrong, and brick itself, and breaking recovery mode
[me] As long as the bootloader still works, recovery mode works, correct?
[Sandisk] Again, usually
[Sandisk] here is the problem
[Sandisk] We make good products, but at the same time, they do wierd things that they shouldnt
[me] Heh, I can agree with that
[Sandisk] I dont know if its poor construciton, poor coding, or what. But sometimes things dont work like they
should with Sansa's
[Sandisk] Here, do this
[Sandisk] Load rockbox firmware, its honestly way better than ours
REDACTED
[me] Wow...that was unexpected. Actually, I've been using Rockbox for a while, and had helped with getting Rockbox on the e200Rs. Even though testing bootloader modifications, I've yet to permanently brick my Sansa. Thanks for allowing me to email you if I have any problems though
[Sandisk] No prob. As I said, it's rare, but it does happen. You probobly never will, but since I do support, I only hear about things when they break
[me] Ok, thanks. Didn't expect to talk to someone who does Tech Support for SanDisk while in #REDACTED, but hopefully this will help answer a few questions people have asked in the past.
[Sandisk] If you ahve any other questions, don't hesitate to email me. I am a senior tech so I'm usually better support than if you call
[me] Wow, thanks. It was nice talking to you. I'm sure some of the Rockbox developers would enjoy having you help them from time to time, but I respect your request to remain anonymous
[Sandisk] *nods* have a good one, gotta restart
[me] Ok. Thanks again for your time
17 comments so far
Could you maybe ask this Sandisk senior support engineer about Rockbox powerconsumption (PortalPlayer)? Maybe he could give the Rockbox community a hint or specific advise?
October 9th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Interesting that this person would actually admit that Rockbox is so much better than the Sandisk firmware. Of course, we already knew that...
October 9th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I second upp3rdOg
October 9th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
"Hardware support is not necessarily one of my fortays. I do tech support, not engineering. What I can do however is ask the engineers and get back to you. Send me an email and I will find out when I go back to work."
October 9th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
They have submitted video seek and resume patch.
"
FS #7487 - mpegplayer - video start time seek with resume
bThis should stop the patch from breaking again and give them opportunity to improve it further.y John S. Gwynne & Brian J. Morey "
October 10th, 2007 at 2:05 am
I know.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Hi, yesterday my e260 was bricked with a beta version firmware, and now it only turn On in manufacturer mode. I am Mac user, I try with ubuntu feisty using a LiveCD, and try with e200tool but in the terminal window only appears that "no such directory...." o "cannot run binary file", I tried with your steps for convert e200R to e200 but nothing. I don't know if its ocours because I am use a Macintosh computer, but only have friends with Windows Pcs, no linux. Can You ask to this Sandisk technician what tool I can use to unbrick my Sansa????. Thanks!!
Sorry by my einglish
November 1st, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Seems the full build has a compression issue or somethign as I get a prompt that one file already named is in the folder (just extracting it to a new folder)
Also it wouldn't refresh the database once installed in a sansa, so I used a older version that worked fine.
Maybe it was me, but then again...
November 1st, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Regarding the guy wiht the non functioning sansa, this is a good place to look for answers.
Go to the forum for rockbox and post a question if this fix isn't all you need.
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15424
November 1st, 2007 at 3:47 pm
HRM: I noticed that compression issue: it was around 11MB or so for some reason. I had also noticed that WinRAR (I was on my Windows computer at the time) complained that the zip file was corrupt. I'm not sure what caused that problem, but it seemed to work fine after I updated the build.
William: How and Where did you download e200tool? It seems to me like you either downloaded the wrong version, or saved it into a different directory. As for another program to fix it, there is none. e200tool is not made by Sandisk, and likely they won't be able to help you with repairing it, aside from having you RMA it, which takes about two weeks.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:41 am
Thanks chrisjs169, now I can run the e200tool, from a PC computer using a ubuntu livecd, but I cannot resolve my problem, I use the "./e200tool i2cprogram i2c-e260.bin", and the player go to flashin the blue light when the process work, but a this point only this, I repit the steps and the e200tool cannot find the player, I connect-disconnect but it is not findedalways, also, i tried with the steps to convert the e200r to e200 and this works fine, but when the sansa go to recovery mode in the screen appears that "keys locked system shutdown", in another intent I repit the steps, and when the process start I turn off the lock, an d the sansa says "...........Go to the recovery mode" In think that if I run the e200tool with any pc that have installed the ubuntu maybe its work better but I dont know.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
And for your question for where I download the e200tool: in the rockbox site, but it fail in ubuntu under Macintosh, in Pc works fine but the player only is finded some times
November 4th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
"but when the sansa go to recovery mode in the screen appears that "keys locked system shutdown"" - Hold the Record button after running ./e200tool recover [blfile.rom] which should get you to recovery mode.
Sorry for the short response, but I'm trying to get my DSL service fixed.
November 5th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
OH MY FRIEND!!!!! THANKS!!!! This was my fault, when I tried running the recover I only press the hold the first seconds and NO over all the process, Now my Sansa is OK and umbricked. Very I am been thankful with you, Thanks for all the support. You have saved my money!!! Thanks chrisjs169 Again!!!
November 5th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Heh - once again I appologize for the short response before, as I thought my ISP was going to be cutting the DSL within the next hour after posting that comment, so I was stressed, but it seems that the DSL's still working. I'm glad you unbricked your Sansa though. Even if you were to try RMA'ing it, which would be free, that'd still take at least two weeks to get your Sansa back.
For the most part, once the Sandisk logo appears, you need to hold the REC button until it goes into Recovery mode, though usually it's best to start holding it once you run the ./e200tool recover command.
For anyone else who has problems: While Mac computers should be able to recover the Sansa, I've heard most people have had success with using a Linux distro to recover the Sansa (such as Ubuntu). Windows requires libusb, which, while I think may be working now, is still buggy.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Yes, I only need to make a explanation: I did used my MAC for the first attempt with a Ubuntu LiveCD, this works very fine but e200tool No, the files was in the right directory, but in the terminal when I run the e200tool this says that "cannot run the binary file" or "syntax error "(". For umbrick my Sansa I used a old PC computer with ubuntu 5.04 livecd. Thaks again!!
November 6th, 2007 at 10:02 am
hi, i just want to know how to eliminate the noise
when i use rockbox with my sansa e-260.
thanks,
December 12th, 2007 at 8:18 am
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