Zen Micro life post-Cave

I had planned to crack open my Zen Micro and insert a flash card because the hard dri've failed on me after one single drop, but then I read the posts about the caveman method and with the player purchased off ebay and clearly out of warranty I though what the hay. After putting the player in my right hand and slamming it into my left, viola!! It worked again and 4 days and several hours of music later it's still working.
Here comes the question. How long can I expect for this thing to work because clearly there's something wrong with the hard dri've (One of the MODs mentioned a bad sector in a hard-dri've will cause future problems). How long has your Micro worked post-caveman? I'm curious to know the details...

I used the caveman repair method too. There is no possibility to say how long it will work this way. It depends to the sort of damage. My player is working now since more than month without any further problems. It was never necessary again to bump it again.

Similar Messages

No Zen Micro Problems, Post H

Well this is my first post on the forums and I am this close to buying a zen micro. I would have bought one yesterday until I stumbled upon the head-phone jack problem. I want to hear from people who have a zen micro problem free and how long you have had it. I've owned 3 previous creative players that have all worked great, so I'm hoping that there are only a small amount of people with this problem making all the noise (e.g. the sony psp dead pixel issue). So if you're happy with your zen micro let me know!!

Kpm,
It's ok, most people miss that option at first so it's no biggie. Personally I own a Zen Micro and take is almost everywhere with me. I have had no major problems and the minor ones were self created. I would highly recommend it. Now I do have a bias (as I am a Creative Employee) but I personally love this player.
Jeremy

New Zen Micro..Battery life prob

I bought a new Zen Micro yesterday...followed all the instructions..even bought the CCPP..while i was using the USB to charge it..i ripped 5 albums to the device...When it was fully charged.. I unplugged it.. This morning I played it for about an hour and then lost one bar on the battery icon..an hour later, i lost a 2nd bar. What's this all about?..what happened to the 2 hour life of a charged battery? When i phoned tech support they told me "sometimes when you rip an album, it corrupts the battery icon and you may not be fully charged'>..Sounds like a lot of techno doubletalk....HELP!

A new Lithium Ion battery takes 2 or 3 charges to reach peak performance.
You should also make sure you have the ..0 firmware which reduces the standby time, and standby drain.
Also make sure you read the FAQ post about how to maximise battery life.

Posted these problems of Zen Micro bef

oh man, I posted this problem before, and I'll probably get the same answer, but anyways, I'm kinda mad because my Zen Micro is having soooo many problems right now. .battery drain when not on, and no, I do not have that one fimware that has that known problem. 2. if the headphone is not in just right, the sound when seem like it's far away. 3. If I touch the top of the jack of the headphones that goes into the Micro, the music will stop playing, until I ge the jack EXACTLY in the right place. that is all the problems I have right now......but anyways, It is very annoying to recharge your Micro overnight, take it school, only to have the battery dead cuz it said overnight after it was done charging........ I'll probably get the same answer I got last time, contact creative, but I was wondering if you think the place I bouught it at would take it back, (Circuit City)i'm gettin pretty mad Creative....... I bought this hoping I wouldnt have this many problems.....Message Edited by augi55 on 08-20-2005 09:3 AM

On account of it being a headphone jack problem, of which there are many, it's quite possible they'll cover it for free even if you're beyond the warranty period (Parts: year, Labor: 90 days). Normally you'll need your receipt for proof of purchase date, but again, with the issue being a headphone jack, it may not even be required.

Pick up metal objects with zen micro headphones? battery life with firmware 1.02

hey all
just purchased my zen micro couple days ago.
the package we got here in downunder is satifying. included were the wired remote and also the stand/case with belt clip. these were the only reasons that made me choose this over the ipod mini.
this has not occurred to me until tonight, but the headphones seems to act as magnets and were stuck to each other as the phones were dangling
i never noticed this happening with other phones
also the battery life of my zen was horrendous. its lasted 5 hrs with eq and smart volume on. the zen was on hold the whole time as the actions were controlled by the wired remote.
this was with the firmware that was shipped with the player .0.03 i believe
have just updated the firmware now, and will be testing the battery life to see if the problem is rectified.
if not, then an exhange for an ipod is inevitable.

Yep, SV is a battery killer, around a 50% drop in life has been meaured and the effect is known to be pretty negligible.
And as others have said, them headphones have magnets in, like pretty much any speaker

Pls post ur suggestions/comments on whether i get the zen micro.

pls post your suggestions, comments, reactions, etc etc regarding the zen micro. am planning to buy myself a hard dri've mp3 player (5gb or 4gb would suffice) and i still can't decide up to now on whether i should get the ipod mini or the creative zen micro. your suggestions would be highly appreciated.

I have a Zen Touch. I do not have an enormous music collection, but have maybe 50 or 60 albums on the player. This is something like 6 or 7 GB. It is WAY too much for me (even this much music). I do not need even that many songs on it at once. With support via WMP0 to synchronize, you could just synch up your favorites every time, switch them around, eventually synch up Napter 2 Go stuff and still have a ton on a 5 GB player. Features on the Micro that sound flashy but I would NEVER use are the calendar, contact thing. I have this on my phone, too, and don't use it. I have a PDA--I DO use that. An MP3 player is a pitiful substitute for a PDA (and a PDA is a lousy MP3 player). I would use the Audible Audio support in the Micro. Touch does not have this. I am a huge Audible fan. I had seriously looked at a Rio Carbon, but now that the Micro is out, that would be the player I would buy if I had it to do over again. They do need to develope a way to charge your extra battery for the Micro. The ability to swap batteries is pretty stupid the way it is now--you can only charge it in the player. They need a charger for the spare. Just my opinion, but I think some people get carried away with hard dri've potential. I can't forsee EVER wanting to carry that much music around with me, especially when it will be so easy to change what is on the player once full support for WMP0 comes out. I am just not away from my home computer library for that length of time that I would want to carry most of it around with me. I vote for the Micro.

ZEN MICRO won't hold it's charge!!!!!!!!!!

I have owned a 5GB Zen Micro for about 3 years. Up until about 4 months ago I had no problem with the unit holding it's charge for several hours. Now I can't get it to last for more than 0-5 minutes when using the FM radio. By that time the battery indicator shows hardly any charge left and then it does dead. Any [email protected]

krw99 wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I had considered the possibility that the battery may indeed be at the end of it's life. As it turned out I also googled the model and battery name, and came up with a Canadian site that had?them on ?sale and decided that with postage it would be just as cheap as getting it'sdirectly from?the US with higher postage costs and the exchange rate. I love this model so much I hope to keep using it for years to come provided I have no further more costly problems. Despite it's greater thickness compared to similiar models it is a very attracti've looking unit.
The reason I chose?the Zen Micro?in the first place, as opposed to an iPod?was because I could replace the battery if need be, and also for it's FM radio capability. I?did have to have the chip that contains the earphone jack connections replaced last year, as many other owners have also had to do. But it was worth the $60 it cost me.
Cheers,
KRW99
I had originally planned to buy an iPod back in '04, because everyone else had one, but after I saw? this video I decided to do some more research. I ended up with a 5 Gb Zen Micro in February '05 and wondered why anyone buys an iPod, when a far superior product was available from Creative.
The original battery started? to go about a year and a half ago, so I popped a new one in and kept on enjoying it. I thought that I would finally have to say goodbye to my little friend when I accidentally dropped it onto a tile floor. The dreaded click/whirr...click/whirr...click/whirr... of a dead hard dri've.
I read a few posts on the Say Goodbye to My Little Friend (Zen Micro)? thread and replaced the dead hard dri've with a SanDisk 8Gb? Ultra II Compact Flash card, using the instructions on? this page.
I was so happy to see it boot up aain and once the firmware was loaded, I started filling it up with some of my favourite music. It's nice to have an extra 3 Gb of storage space too!?
Notes about the iPod's Dirty Secret video can be found here.

Full revision list of the Zen Micro's firmware?

/ I've been digging up various firmwares, and I'll be honest and say that because I use an AC Adaptor that 2.2.02 and ..0 are not in my best interests. While I have no tested whether .02.05 retains charge over time I will probably do so tomorrow. I'd like to know the full history of the device so I know where to stand on this. I like to have the 4 hour standby, but not the 'shorter' charge span simply because all Creative did was drop the peak voltage from 4.9V (Li-Po can take up to 4.235V) to 4.2V. Granted the slope of the charging curve gets very flat at that level, but I do feel that it is best to inform geeks so they know what to expect.
Version (Recovery Mode version)
..0 (0.0.65)
2.2.02 (0.0.65)
.0.02 (0.0.63) (Pulled off due to complaints)
.02.05 (0.0.58)
2.00.2 (Cannot be installed)
I know I missed a few, but because the Zen Micro is past its life cycle I doubt there will be any customizations to the device.

what problems?
Spending time on a support forum like this, that covers the full gamut of the customer base, you are going to see probably 80% of the posts from folks having problems ranging from minor pilot error to real hardware failure. The 20% with tips, kudos etc are all in the minority and will not be very visible.
Creative has probably sold over 5 million Micro's since inception. There are definitely going to be problems with that many units in the general population. And some of the problems have been real issues such as the battery drain and the issue of headphone jacks. The latest firmware v . has fixed the battery problem, and on the 3 Micros in our household we are all seeing over hours playback time, excellent battery hold time, good charging characteristics etc etc. The headphone jack issue seems to have become a lot less of a topic the past month or so. Noting that Creative sold probably about .5 million of the earliest Micros, and these were the units that seemed to have headphone jacks go bad, if at all, all the later products may have enough of a redesign that the jacks are OK. Certainly we are fine over here with the new revisions.
The pluses of the Micro are many, and the diminuti've size and excellent UI makes using this player a pleasure. Audio quality is excellent, and other than sheer output power is right up there with the JB3 (IMO the best ever mp3 player - irregardless of brand).
Hope this rambling note can help you with your decision.
jake

Zen Micro battery flat by itself .

Hi,
I bought my Zen Micro in early Dec.
Lately I observed that battery flat in two days time even after fully charged and left idle without using it.
It didn't seem to be like when it was first used.
After a call to Creative Support Center, they advised me to upgrade the firmware to .0.03
I upgrade it this morning and am going to observe it for the next two days.
It seems that some users also have similar unpleasant experience....
May I know what was the scenerio? Was it solved? How?
This is my first time to use Creative product ..... Hope it isn't the last time :manwink:

I just got a zen micro for xmas. I've noticed my battery will go dead over night no matter what I do. I follow the good battery life steps always. (only charging when completely dead and never leaving plugged up after fully charged) But lets say I charge the player fully today, maybe use it for an hour at the gym, go to use it the next day same time. the battery will either be dead or close to it. I'm going to try the firmware tonight then observe. If that doesn't work then I will try to remove all the music and observe and i'll definitely post back. If i don't get good results i'm calling creative. Also, my buttons seem hard to push, especially the lower left button(return key?) I have to press HARD, a tap won't work most times. I barely tap for skip forward and skip back and they work fine.
J

Zen Micro: how many are working proper

I bought a Zen Micro for my daughter for Christmas and finally sent it back because it was having the docking problems. I have reguarly read the messages in this forum since then, waiting for an indication that the problem has been fixed. I have read many ideas of what is causing it, from USB ., USB 2.0, usb cables, full battery charge, etc., but no consistent solution. I have also read many posts in which people say most are not having any problem.
So, my request is, if you have a Zen Micro, and you have had no problems at all, please post a message with when you bought yours, and the firmware and software you are using. Thanks a lot for your help. I'm just trying to figure out if it is worth it to take a chance again. I don't want an Ipod with $00 non-user replaceable batteries.

Bought my dark blue Limited Edition in mid-December from Amazon.com. I first charged the unit before doing anything else and it hung up upon completion of that first charge. Removed and replaced the battery and have had no further hangs of any sort. I upgraded to .0.03 right away and am still there. I mostly load music by syncing with WMP 0 and even without the MTP support it works fine for me. I also use Notmad Explorer occassionally to manipulate playlists. It works fine too.
My only problem is I cannot reliably use the touch pad. I'm always selecting the wrong thing or skipping over what I want. Since I love everything else about the ZM, I'm living with the touch pad. I have tried both low and high sensitivity settings and it seems to work slightly better at the high setting.
I haven't actually timed my battery life, but I'm guessing I'm getting somewhere around 8-0 hours playing WMA at 96kbps with Smart Volume off and only occassional use of EQ. I usually disconnect the headphones when the unit is turned off, but I don't know if that changes anything. I try to run the battery quite low (no bars or low battery warning) before a full charge, but I do let it charge for a while sometimes while its connected to the USB port on the PC.
Unlike some, I have been very pleased with the FM radio. I get good reception even at work in my ground floor office of a mostly metal building. That's with the stock earphones.
I started out using USB ., but added USB 2.0 to my computer (Windows XP SP2) and had no trouble with either. I have not seen the problem some have reported about problems when the battery is fully charged.
One last thing... I have 697 songs on my ZM, with about 2.8 GB of free space.
Randy
Message Edited by RMoore on 0-28-2005 04:33 PM
Message Edited by RMoore on 0-28-2005 04:34 PM

The Zen Micro wired remote: Many raves, two small ra

Just got my eagerly-anticipated white Zen Micro remote!! Here's my two cents:
Pros:
. Nice look that matches the design of the unit itself very well.
2. Definitely makes life easier in terms of controlling the unit while staying acti've.
3. Minimalist with all of the important functions built into a small, elegant design.
4. I like that there's a button to quickly switch between mp3 and radio modes.
5. I like that the play button, when held down, functions as an on/off switch.
Cons:
. The clip is well-designed from the perspecti've that it's not likely to slip off after it's on. Unfortunately, it should have been a teeny bit wider because it doesn't work on anything but the thinnest cloth, which is especially tragic since this novel design would have let Creative make it as wide as they want without hurting its effecti'veness!
2. Why did I have to figure out for MYSELF that the play button doubles as an on/off switch? The documentation (or lack thereof): the remote only includes a little diagram with a button legend. Said legend doesn't really say anything about the buttons except the obvious. Hmmm, I wonder what the "mode" button does, since on the actual device "play mode" lets me go from regular play to shuffle to repeat etc.... let's consult the manual. Ummm yep it seems that the "mode" button does... modes. Great.
These two rants -- which in no way are recommendations not to buy the remote -- are indicators of the same feeling that possessed me when I wrote my previous rants about the Zen Micro itself -- deep, intense, frustration. Frustration at what appears to be a trend with Creative: a non-user-oriented mindset. The kind of mindset that thinks, "why bother with the kind of details that won't actually prevent anyone from buying the device?" Like, who would care about a crappy manual for a $20 remote? I mean, we'll all figure out how it works in no time, right? I mean, in the worst case, the hidden on/off function will be like a cool Easter egg waiting to be found.
- sigh -
I realize these small rants constitute the large majority of my post but guess what? It's a remote. It works. There isn't too much else to say about it. Or, at least, that's how it should be.

I didn't know that about the play/pause button or the mode button. When I pushed play/pause it just paused and when I pushed mode it went to FM. I assumed that is all they did, lol! For me the clip is of little consequence because it is almost allways in my pocket or bag and I operate it by feel. Perhaps they figured that everyone li'ves in a warm climate and wears thin clothing? You are so right in saying the instruction manual is something less than stellar. I am not sure why they even bothered to waste the paper and ink! Come to think of it, the Micro's documentation led something to be desired too. Thanks for the tips!!!

Problems with Zen MIcro not turning on or

I have a problem with my Zen Micro not turning on or off. The only way to turn it on is to plug it into the power or USB cable :-(
I have done a quick search and the posts that I have found on this topic suggest that I will need to send it back to Creative! Anyone found a "magic" solution for this problem other than sending it back?
I have done a firmware upgrade just in case that would solve the problem but unfortunately it did not.
What with this problem and the earlier problems I had with battery life I am thinking of sending the thing back and going for a different Creative player. The Zen Sleek seems to have a good range of features ... anyone had any good or bad experiences with the Sleek?
Any comments appreciated.

well..unfortunatly i have had this same problem. i made a topic about it and some of u may have read it..i can't seem to find it now. but i have found the resolution to this problem..send it back! i baught my from circuit city..i just got home from there..very nice guy helped me out at the customer service counter. grabbed my receipt,all the contents it origionally included and the box and headed to circuit city. i did exchange the zen micro for another zen micro. we both converstaed with eahochter about how i have heard other ppl complain about this problem. creative needs to do there homework. hopefully it won't happen to me again.

Creative Zen Micro vs Windows Vista 32

Hey guys, Looking for a little help and this seems to be the right place to get, lots of helpful people! I have a 3 year old Zen Micro, 4/5Gb I think and it worked fine with my old Dell laptop which ran XP, I used to drag and drop mpg files easily with the bundled software, all was well. Back in January the Dell laptop reached the end of it's life and I layed my hands on a new Sony Vaio laptop, running the all singing, all dancing brand new shiney Windows Vista. For whatever reason, I had no need for the MP3 player for most of this this summer and now I've come to need it again and it obviously needs updating (all my music is 6 months out of date) and it seems I've lost the original software disc, bummer. So I downloaded the ZenCast Organiser & Sync software off the Creative site as it said it ran with Vista and plug in the Micro and .........nothing. The Sync manager thing just says that there's no player attatched and it won't hook up. Am I missing something Do I need another driver for it'sor something I've had a look through this site and all I seem to be able to find is what I've already downloaded. Help!

What firmware is your Zen Micro running? [Menu-> System-> Information]
There are lots of threads that discuss Vista's problems recognizing Legacy Devices- here's one of them.
/re-posted from another thread

Should I Be Worried(Go Ipod Instead?)(Zen Micro Proble

Thus far I've heard of quite a few issues with the Zen Micro. The most common ones I've heard of are freezing and the headphone jack problem. Now, at the moment I've experienced 2 issues that are really starting to worry me. Should I just go with an iPod Mini and avoid all the issues? What seems more problematic(Directed at people who do their research before buying) the Ipod Mini or the Zen micro? What are the major issues with the iPod mini compared to the Zen micro?
Here are the issues I've experienced:
)My Back, Menu Options, and Play/Pause buttons are incredibly stiff at times(especially when I first turn on the Micro)and I have to press them REALLY hard to get them working. Is there a fix for this? Is it something I should worry about?
2)Last night I encountered my second problem. It froze up for the first time. I was playing around with the Micro, and decided to test out the removable disk function. Just as it was partioning, it froze. I had to take out the battery. Should I be worried? Should I just go with another mp3 player instead? Please help me out. Has this happened to anyone else?
I APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP!

XXT0t wrote:So you guys think I should exchange my Zen for another Zen because of the button problem? I mean, when the headphones are plugged in it works perfectly, but when I take them out the buttons are really stiff, as stated before my sensitivity is at High. Help.
If it's a big issue for you contact Creative Support first to check it's not a known issue, or update the firmware at the very least.
Also, I'm not too sure wether or not I should upgrade my firmware. As stated before the only issue Ive encountered other than the button problems, is that ONE time it froze during removable disk mode.
The ..0 has a very useful fix that reduces the standby period from 24 to 4 hours, increasing the battery life (although it depends on usage a little).
What are the differences between firmware 2.20.05 and ..0 ? Is one better than the other? Does one fix more issues than the other? Please keep the help coming.
See the "the difference between the Zen Micro v and v2 firmware" link in the FAQ post.

Zen Micro Complai

After several weeks of comparing the Zen Micro and iPod mini I decided to buy a Zen Micro the other day. I can't say I've been terribly impressed though. I am considering returning it and getting the iPod mini, but I just wanted to see if there were any comments on the problems I'm having before I do so.
First, the battery life seems to be far less than creative promises. After a full charge it only lasted 4-5 hours the other day. I like switching around a lot which probably uses more power with the micro dri've, but I was still disappointed to see the battery go so fast. Additionally I bought mine retail and it did not come with the wall plug adapter and can only be charged via the USA bus. And the online Zen Micro manual recommends to not fill the disk to capacity as it will drain the batter faster. So 5GB turns to 4.6 something of formatted space then turns into how much space you can use without using the battery too much?
Second, I've been using the free 30-day Napster to go trial, which I have been happy with, but transferring the songs to the Zen Micro seems to take a painfully long time. Even though my laptop's USB ports are 2.0 it is not transferring anywhere near USB 2 speeds. Also I'm used to an MP3 player that connects to the computer as a removable storage device, allowing me to create my own folders and organize my music any way I'd like. I know both the iPod and the Zen Micro both use their own software to transfer and organize music, which I am not too happy with.
Third, there is a several second lag between songs when you skip between tracks. I suppose this has to do with caching the file, but this isn't my first disc-based mp3 player and I've never had this problem before. Its not a huge deal, only a few second delay, but its really starting to annoy me.
I guess I'm just not as impressed as I had hoped to be. I have been thinking about the iPod for a while and was impressed by it whenever I used one of my friends, but just decided to get the Zen Micro based on the larger disc size, more features and compatibility with subscription-based music services. But like I said I'm considering returning it in favor of an iPod. Any comments/reccomendations about these issues before I send my money to Apple?

. Things you can do to save battery are covered in the FAQ Part post. Search on "battery".
2. The subscription based services do a lot of license syncrhronisation which adds a massi've overhead to the file transfer time.
3. Again, this seems to happen with music downloaded from subscription services. Presumably it's the player checking the license data. If this is a big issue for you drop support an e-mail with a complaint.
The advantage the Micro has over the iPod at the very least is subscription based music. The iTunes Store doesn't have this. I'm not here to sell you a Micro (or an iPod), but there are other threads which cover the differences (have a look via the search function).
Edit: Oops, a couple of others beat me to it, but I'll leave the reply as is Message Edited by SSR on 06-24-2005 04:6 PM

Zen Micro life post-Cave

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for