Im have the exact same issues. .except mine started with the last update .. I too have never used an SD card. . Im on a PC with Vista. . Tech had me reformat .. (saving several folders to my desktop) the device shows all the stuff there when I connect to the computer .. but I cant get it to move beyond that darn flashing SD car .. with or without one in it. .
There is got to be a solution for this. What have you tried to fix it?