NOT so happy CONCLUSION after all -- Installation of my ZEN Vision M (30 G

Question

Sunday 2/3/06
Let's see, I had a problem with losing my AUDIO. Finally, I had to do a full re-install on my S.B. Audigy 2zs. I even moved it to a different PCI connector on the MB. After a full re-installation... sweet sound again.
As to the Zen itself, I keep having problems.... I am trying to update all the applications (C MediaSourde and C Media explorer) and even there I am finding problems.
When I download the upgrade file to my PC ([color="#ff3300">CMS5_PCAPP_LB_5_0_38.exe), and?try opening it, it HANGS... that's it... so I have not been able to upgrade it. And if I don't upgrade it, then I will have the same erratic behavior will all these applications. They work sometimes and sometimes they don't.
If I really force the issue, opent the explorer and the MediaSource, where I have my "library" of songs... and WHEN the ZEN is recognized by everyone (This is ramdon condition, sometimes yes, many times no), I am able to drag and drop some songs from my "library"?to the ZEN.... but I?still don't have a clear path to do this consistently... ?
Tuesday report 2/26/06:?
[color="#ff0000"](I?don't want anybody to get the ideal all is well now... I thought it was... Yesterday, but not today)
Today I?was able to?to Rip a couple of CDs and "transfer" them to the ZEN. Some of the songs?have noises?though... I don't know what causes that. But the applications are still buggy, they don't work consistently all the time. I just "sense" something is not right with my PC.
[color="#ff0000"]No only that... This installation knocked off my Audio!... even though I have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2zs platinum! (Audio Card)... So I have NO SOUND right now?and therefore I can not use WMP-0 to rip cd's because it tells me I have not audio and I am not in the mood to deal the WMP now. So I had to use the Creative MediaSource 5, to do the ripping and the synchronizing. It did the job ok, except for the noise...
I tried everything to re-install my Audio. Tried the latest dri've...Nothing. Went back to my old one (before this installation) and it DID NOT work either!? Amazing how complicated this has become....
Monday report 2/25/06: I did not do much on the Zen today. But I did notice the WPM 0, still goes crazy (crashed) when trying to find the Zen. The WMP0 crashed today once. Also, there seem to be some conflict among certain programs... It almost seems as if more than one applications is biding for the Zen when they see it. (i.e. if the WMP is open and try opening the Creative Explorer app... it will not open... but only until I close the WMP...then the apps springs up just like that. That's it. - Good night.
I SO, IT seems like I am not out of the woods yet... I wonder if I ever will.
<font face="Times New Roman" size="5" color="#ff3300">?
<font face="Times New Roman" size="5" color="#ff3300">Quick Tips (I see people asking the same questions)
If your ZEN seems "dead" then you need to RESET it. How? insert a "clip" (or other sharp tool. Clip works best) in the hole for RESET, located at the bottom of the ZEN (by the "dongle" connector)<?
Connect your ZEN to a "USB-PORT" (not to a "hub")?A USB-PORT is located on your computer (the box). A "Hub" is a little box connected to one USB-PORTS and it "splits" this port into several USB-Connectors... ideally useful for "devices" that do not required lost of information or current (i.e. mouse, drawing table, keyboard, etc). Devices that required a continuous or heavy amounts of information (i.e. External Hard Dri'ves, Camcorders, Webcams sometimes, required an individual USB-PORT)<?Two things here:?- This link is for the original messagehttp://forums.creative.com/creativel...essage.id=7293?[size="+2"][color="#ff0000"]2- Happy Conclusion installing the ZEN Vision M (30 Gig)<i>(I am writing this for several reasons. Mainly, because it was a difficult installation and I wanted to summarize the 200 or 300 steps/actions I did that led me to solve the problem successfully. I always do this when I have a difficult installation and then I save it for the next time I need it (i.e. changing computers). I certainly don?t want to waste all that effort. One thing I learned about ?technology? is hard to learn it but it can be forgotten so easily, if you don?t take notes.)</i>
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[size="+2"][color="#ff3300">What was causing the problem?
Two things:
First, problems with Windows and the computer itself.
Second, the Creative applications were horrible at first, they would not open right away and when they did? sometimes 5 or 0 seconds later? they would crash just by clicking on something? and so Windows kept giving me those Error boxes and I kept sending them to Microsoft?(I must have sent at least 00 if not more!) I was also having problems with my graphics, every time an application would crash, then all kind of weird graphics would take place when dragging things around. I also had problems at one time with my Anti-virus/fire-wall Icon going dark after several re-boots, so I had to kick it to get it working?. Oh well, I just want you to get a flavor for how bad things were yesterday.
When I first installed the software, nothing worked!... My computer was noticeably SLOWER and SLUGHISH? Actually I was worry about my computer itself because I have never seen it this bad!... I thought a virus the size of an elephant had gotten into the pc somehow, no kidding so I ran the anti-virus, anti-spy, just to make sure. Sometimes if you firewall is down, you can get viruses in an instant!... I hope you people know this by now. And if the firewall fails and viruses get in, is just at moments like these? when you are trying to get things to work and downloading stuff from the Internet and so on.
The computer was just sloooowww? sluggish?.. and crashy (new word?)?.
I must have rebooted my system from 40 to 50 times, and I am not exaggerating. At some point I even had trouble turning off the PC. There were like three time where it would just sit there in ?limbo? (hung/crashed), so I had to actually switch the?PC OFF on the back of the box, the only way to turn it off? And of course, when you do that, you can be sure you will have all kinds of interesting things when you try to boot up again! (like all kinds of funny displays on my screen, or Windows giving me the ?black screen and white text? asking me to choose a way to boot up, like ?boot up normally? or ?boot up using the last configuration that worked,? (I did this like?7 times all together).
[size="+2"][color="#ff3300">So how did?everything go?from ?so bad? to ?so wonderful?? <i>I don?t really know exactly!</i>
But I suspect three things happened:
- Windows sent me a couple of upgrades (I get them automatically)? I have NO IDEA what they were, but whatever they were, helped!
?2 - As I read and read, things began to come back to my brain. Especially a post reply that gave me the hint (Reformatting the dri've in the Zen) would finally let me ?transfer? my stuff to the Zen
?3 - An lastly, after I have ?cleaned, reformatted the dri've, got rid off the ?firmware? (not a good thing to do), Then I could not make Windows see the ZEN no matter what I did!? I did what worked before (connecting and disconnecting the USB cable from the white adapter (dungle?) connected to the ZEN). Usually when you do this, Windows being a ?plug and play? OS, it usually ?sees? when a new ?device? is plugged in one of the USB ports, or disconnected from a port, as well. In other words it ?recognizes? the device (connectivity) and if the software and driver are already install, the device should come ali've and work! That is the reason you always install the software and drivers first, and usually re-boot the system once, so that when you connect the ?device? (ZEN), it should work!
[size="+2"][color="#ff3300">Let me recap I what happened:
?- I installed the s/w and as I already said, it was horrible.
?2- The Windows updates, somehow were helping a little bit.
?3- I also downloaded the latest updates from Creative.com (downloads/upgrades). I downloaded the ?firmware? (the ?upgrade,? <i>which is the OS=Operating System for the ZEN. Just like ?Windows? is to the PC)</i> and other ?patches? for?the ?creative media source 5? and ?Zencast organizer? (3 updates). I am sure this upgrades helped some, as well.
?4- After trying so many times, I was finally able to open the ?Zen Media Explorer? (Icon looks like a picture of the Zen). When this opens, it shows you everything inside the Zen just like in the ?explorer? (nice). That meant I had connectivity! (good).
?5- Since I had ?connectivity? (access) to the ZEN, My next attempt was to ?transfer? some files down to the ZEN? but this proved impossible!... Somehow, at some?point, by accident (I?did not even notice it)? I was able to transfer ONE song to the ZEN, which gave me hope. After all, if you can do it once, you should be able to do it again. BUT, I couldn?t
?6- Then a nice lady?who responded to my first post, told me she had basically the same problems and the solution was to ?Clean and re-format? the ?Disk dri've?in the ZEN. She said that once she?did that, everything would sort of fall into place? and she was right!
?7- I unplugged the ZEN from the PC and read somewhere how ?to clean, reformat, upgrade or replace the ?firmware,? Not sure still, but it'ss something like ?resetting (with a clip) the Zen and holding the ?power? slide in the ON position? something like that, and that brings a special screen with 4 choices:
Clean<
Reformat dri've (erases everything!), <
Replace firmware (careful here!), <
Reboot. <
Then it'ss pretty easy?to do a lot of ?damage? in a few seconds!... ([color="#ff3300">careful here if you are not used to the sensitivity of the "touch-pad")In my case I did not care since I had not put anything there yet. I erased EVERYTHING!... (not a good thing). I should have been more careful and simply use option 2 (reformat the dri've). Chances are this would have been enough to transfer songs to the ZEN. But since I get crazy when doing stuff like this, I went ahead a cleaned everything.
?8- Then I realized I had erased the ?firmware. As you already know this is the ?heart? of the Zen. (like Windows to the PC). Finally I went to Creative.com/downloads and downloaded it (the full version). But if you remember in #3, I had also downloaded the ?firmware? upgrade as well. The reason this is significant, is, that when I finally recovered ?connectivity? to the ZEN, I? tried both files, but the one that ZEN accepted was the upgrade! (I found this interesting? since I would have thought the full version would have been the correct choice? see?... little things you learn.
?9- As I already gave you a hint in #8, once I had the ?firmware? ready to install, the system kept telling me it could NOT see the ZEN. I connected and disconnected the USB cable several times? rebooted the pc? this helps sometimes, but nothing!... FINALLY, I read somewhere, I should go to the ?device manager? and check what was going on.. ? EUREKA ? indeed I found the ZEN with a ?Yellow mark? on the side, which always means trouble. Basically, I used the ?uninstall? option (based of the principle that simply ?un-installing and installing back something? sometimes this works. In other words, the ZEN was ?stucked. So when I ?removed? It from the ?Device Manager? list (I don?t recall if I rebooted here? but it never hurts!), then all of the sudden? a little icon in Windows (on the small tray=bottom right corner (with the clock and Date),? acknowledged?a new deviced had been connected to Windows. (connectivity back again! Yeahhh).
?0- Now that had ?connectivity? (Big step), I could try installing the ?firmware. And as I already explained, the ?upgrade? was the one that ZEN took. As soon as you clicked on the file, a box opened and asked if you wanted to install the ?firmware. I said yes and voila!... The Zen started accepting it's and when it ended, just like a PC, the ZEN rebooted itself and I was able to see the familiar interface (the same folders as before) but not contents at all? empty!
?- At this?point?I opened the ?Creative Media Source organizer,? went to my ?playlist? and from there, just click and drag some songs and dropped them on top of the Zen Icon (just like dropping files in a folder). And yes, the files were finally ?transferred? to the ZEN. Unplugged the USB cable from the Zen (or the Zen does not play anything). The songs were there and I was FINALLY able to listen to them from the ZEN!... Wonderful. Oh yes, using the same technique (drag and drop), I put a wmv video and was able to watch it as well... Now I know why people rave about the little screen... nice!
?2- In the mean time, without noticing? Just like the nice lady?from the post said, everything seemed to have fallen into place!
?In Summary: The applications ( the creative programs=icons)?were opening normally and quickly now, and many of the errors I got before when clicking on certain things, disappeared. I am sure I will still find some problems here and there, but basically the thing works now the way it is supposed to.
?Just a matter of clicking, dragging and dropping items?into the Zen?.yes, that simple!
?Good luck!
[url="http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=dap&message.id=7293">[/url]
Message Edited by em2253 on 2-26-2006:39 AM
Message Edited by em2253 on 2-3-20060:32 AM
Message Edited by em2253 on 2-3-200602:26 PM
Message Edited by em2253 on 0-02-200702:3 AM

Answer 1

[url="http://web6.streamhoster.com/em2253/ZEN/ZenDeviceManager.wmv]See Movie[/url]?Hi, take a look at the movie... hopefully I answer to your question is there. [b]Let me know if you can NOT see it... [/b]and I will send you a picture. [color="#ff0000"]and if you can see the movie, give me feedback on it. Did it look ok in your computer? (it changes with all computers depending on your setting and player!). [color="#ff0000"]Was the sound ok?I almost wish I had not titled this post as "Happy Conclusion." It was happy but only a day or two... then I started having other problems... unbelievable. So, If I gave the wrong impression, sorry!