P3 not reading files and not connecting to the computer

[AngryGoldfish]

My sister was using my Samsung P3 (2.20 firmware) when she told me it suddenly stopped working. I don't what she did to it but the music files, although they play, do not show up on screen. There is also this very quick and slight blur of the display where it changes to this obscure orangey colour. What's worse is that it won't connect to the computer, so I can't update the firmware or try to reinstall some of the music (which worked on my old iRiver mp3 player).

After bringing it to me telling there was a problem, I hit the reset button and it restarted fine. But the issue was still there. Pictures seemed normal in their folders', but videos and music files didn't show up, apart from a small symbol that catalogued my entire selection of music.

And it won't connect to the computer fully, in that, when I plug it into the USB port, it shows up the normal "USB connected" picture/phrase, but then freezes. It does not show up on my computer. And removing the USB cable does nothing apart from make my computer bleep (you know, the normal noise). I have to hit reset so that the mp3 player does anything again.

This is obviously a problem I cannot fix. But I wondered what you guys thought it might be and what I should do? Fortunately, even though my one-year warrantly might be up, I paid extra for the Zen Engagement with Pixmania, which covered my Shure headphones when the jack snapped off (which my sister also did). So I'm pretty sure I'm covered here, also.

Thanks a lot.

Dan.

Edit: Apologies, I posted this in the Firmware section when it probably belongs in the main P3 forum. I'll contact a mod/admin if I need it moved. Soz.

[CrowdAds]

[Carsten]

you could try to change the connecting mdoe or a computer with another operating system....
i had this, too...
windows don´t recognized the player and it freeze...
as i coneted it to Ubuntu 10.04 it worked and i could reinstall the firmware... you can download the iso image and burn it... so you can boot it from the cd without installing (it´s a bit slow..but...it worked)

[reddawg]

go to settings-systemm-pc connection and change it to mtp and see if that works, i think i had a similar problem.

[AngryGoldfish]

Originally Posted by Carsten

you could try to change the connecting mdoe or a computer with another operating system....
i had this, too...
windows don´t recognized the player and it freeze...
as i coneted it to Ubuntu 10.04 it worked and i could reinstall the firmware... you can download the iso image and burn it... so you can boot it from the cd without installing (it´s a bit slow..but...it worked)

N00b question here, but what is Ubuntu? Is it just another form of operating software?

Originally Posted by reddawg

go to settings-systemm-pc connection and change it to mtp and see if that works, i think i had a similar problem.

My player was always in MTP. As soon as I bought it I changed it over.

Thanks for the help so far.

[Carsten]

ubuntu is a kind of linux... if you google it you will get to their homepage....it´s a free operating system and you can use it easiely as i said above....
you can try it...
look here....

[AngryGoldfish]

It looks good actually. I might just try it for the lolz. And if it doesn't work out go back to Firefox.

By the way, I managed to update to the most recent firmware by changing to the other connection mode - I think it was USP or something. But the problem is still quite present. I'm even seeing some weird Chinese symbols, which I remember seeing from my old iRiver, and that problem that was never fixed. I had three of those and they all went belly-up.

[Carsten]

are you sure that your p3 isn´t damaged....??

have you tried it on another computer....maybe your usb settings of the operating system is damaged for the p3...
what os do you use on your pc....??? maybe it´s the reason of this problem....

[AngryGoldfish]

The player has had this weird "bug" that causes the P3 to randomly disconnect from the computer through the USB port. I then have to hit restart for it to work again.

But that wouldn't explain the problems that are occurring within the device. And no, to my knowledge there is no damage to the player. Though I cannot be positive because I was not using it when the problem arose.

How are Samsung for directly helping with problems such as this? Do you have any idea?

[lebellium]

Hmmm did you try to format it?
If formating does not solve the issue then I think there is no way to solve it.
Erase the NAND and force the firmware reinstallation would be a good thing but only the after-sales service can do that with their recovery tool.
So use your pixmania extra, that's the best thing to do, especially if you paid more for that thing.

[AngryGoldfish]

Nah, I haven't tried to reformat it. Frankly, I can't imagine it'll do anything. It's a last resort - along with sending it back through this Zen Engagement I ordered additionally with Pixmania.

What's NAND?

I didn't mention this in the OP, but I've managed to update the firmware to 2.22. I changed it to USP mode or whatever it is and it worked. The player still has the same problem, though.

[lebellium]

In your desperate situation I guess you could try to format it, it's not much effort

NAND is a type of Flash memory used on Samsung DAPs.
When you format yourself there is a "memory system", or "memory effect", I don't know how to name it in english but in fact it's a soft formating: the DAP saves some infos like the firmware version and then can rebuild automatically the system after formating.
Erase the NAND with the recovery tool deletes everything. That's better when you have such a problem. But there is no public release of this tool unfortunately


USP is rather UMS I guess

[AngryGoldfish]

Are you mocking me?

Is it from the player itself that I erase the NAND?

[lebellium]

Have you read my posts?
I told you, you cannot erase the NAND!

You can just format the P3 from the settings (so from the P3 itself) or from a Windows computer

[AngryGoldfish]

I see what you're saying now.

I'll just send it back. I thought I might have to.

Cheers.