Zen Micro Lockup - Hard disk failu

Zen Micro froze while playing an MP3 file. Had to remove battery to reboot. Can hear the hard disk seeking ~25 times during powerup before it freezes at the "CREATIVE" logo screen. Rescue mode commands - reformat/reboot/disk clean up has no effect. Can't hear any hard disk activity when unit held close to ear.
Firmware version is v0.0.56. Hard disk had ~750KB of free space. Unit was sitting still on desk at time of failure. Used less than 2 weeks.
Aside: Have experienced several lockups with this device during playback and docking. All were resolved by removing battery. Firmware seems to be very buggy.
Already logged a formal e-mail support request. Wonder if anybody has experience similar failures.

You do hear of them from time to time. It might be that the heads have jammed, in which case you can try the advice here at your *own risk*.

Similar Messages

Question about Zen Micro's Hard Drive (not negati

My brother keeps telling me that the Zen Micro does not have a real hard dri've or anything like his Ipod, which I highly debate because I know it's not true. Can anyone tell me what really is inside the Micro so that I can make him believe me? I know that it's something from Seagate.Message Edited by rmccabe96 on 06-06-2005 2:9 AM

The Micro and all the current 4, 5 and 6 gig players (including iPOD mini use " hard dri'ves.
These are about the same dri'ves as used in CF type micro-dri'ves.
The larger players Current 0 Gig and up use the smaller lap top sized dri'ves.
I think they are .8" diameter disks.

Replacing zen micro's hard drive with compact fl

I dropped my zen micro the other day and the hard dri've is dead
And I m li've outside the us and the warranty expired
So its dead and buried and I was going to get a new anyway
But while it sits there I dissembled the zen micro
And found that the hard dri've is a Seagate st 5gb
And the interface is compact flash
And here?s a crazy though can I put a memory card compact flash
Say GB or 52<SPAN> MB
Could it work?<SPAN> And reload the firmware from pc?
Waiting for your reply guys
Please help if this works it will be very cool

I ordered a dead unit off eBay, on a whim. Just like the description said, the HDD was bad, but hey thats a minor detail right? For me, the CF card swapped in fine, originally I was using a little 6mb until this one came in the mail (gb Kingston.) Sadly, neither have worked. I can format the disk within recovery mode, but I cant connect to my computer to upgrade the firmware. Also, I cannot load the original firmware, so essentially the player is bricked. This is a bit of a stretch, but could someone extract the firmware this way?) Back up all of your music2) Reboot into Recovery Mode3) Format the dri've4) Choose reload firmware5) Update firmware through Windows6) Using the "Take apart a Zen Micro" guide, remove the microdri've or CF card you are using for the Zen Micro HDD7) Using a standard multi-card or CF card reader, insert the card extracted in step six8) Copy the contents of the CF card in its entirety, and send to a zip or rar.9) Upload the zip using a free file-sharing website, such as Megaupload0) Tell us all about it!
Could someone do that for me? I'll make you cookies The reason I'm looking for the extracted firmware is I believe that the player will recognize whatever is on the card, regardless of how it got there. Since I cannot interface with my device using USB, this looks like my only option. Unless someone else knows of a site or file that has an extracted firmware that came from the .exe, or knows how to do that without plugging in a player?~ScabiesAdmins, let me know if I'm upsetting the feds. And if not, then let me know if the card has a proprietary file allocation system?****EDIT****Indeed, the CF card has been formatted to some Creative File System (not real name,) therefore I cant get into it. BUT I did manage to get the firmware to update, and the player is now clickin along just fine!IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH FIRMWARE, ALWAYS TRY MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER.Now you know...
Message Edited by Scabies on 08-3-2006 2:0 PM

Zen Micro portable Hard-dr

Hi there. I'm thinking of buying myself a zen mp3 player, probably the micro. I know that it can be used as a portable USB hard-dri've, but what are the limitations on this? I take it that no drivers are required for this, but which OS's is it compatible with. I am especially interested in Windows 2000, and (I know its doubtful) Windows 98 First Edition.
Also, I have heard of possible firmware updates in the future that may give this feature to the Zen Touch. Is this just rumour? If it is true, I may buy the Zen Touch instead.
Any help on this would be appreciated

Sorry pal, the Zen Micro does not support USB Massi've Storage (UMS), so It doesn't work as a HardDriver once attached to a Computer, like memory keys do. I don't know a thing about firmware upgrades that would provide UMS to those players, people say there won't be any because it would change the way it manages its song library. I think Creative doesn't want to add this feature for some reason other than the problem it would cause to the inner workings of the library. There's a couple of posts discussing this matter, give a look at them

Zen vsision M - hard disk error

MP3 got slightly wet and after working for a while stopped working. Have tried Clenup, Farmat all and even uploading the firmware again - which failed. All I get is hard disk error.
Is there anything else I can try please as it was an expensi've player and my favourite to date.

Water & electronics do not mix. How did you dry out the player after the water incident? Chances are the hardri've may have rusted . You will not be able to reload firmware or anything for that matter

Zen Vision:M Hard disk click

one more question: Is it normal to hear a barely audible hard disk click while switching tracks/videos :smileyindifferent:
the last time I heard this "barely audible hard disk click" was when the iPOD started acting crazy...eventually she died hard disk corrupt/failure
the switch to ZVM is gr8 and love this piece...it's only 3 days old!!!
so is this normal and I have nothing to worry abt? or do I need to run back and return it b4 she gives way :robotindifferent:

its normal you guys its the head thats switching places. if its a faint click or once in a while a loud click its when your looking at pictures , zooming, also videos seeking and yah. when you turn the player on after 6 hours youl here th hard dri've boot up

Creative Zen Micro's Removable Disk Quest

If I were to disconnect my wire when it tells me not to disconnect, will that cause problems in the future? I did it a few times at school and the computers won't allow to safely remove hardware. It seems to work fine, but are there side effects to this?

It shouldn't do any harm unless you break the connection while the player is the middle of a data transfer. If your school computers don't have an option to eject or safely remove hardware, another option might be to switch the player off before disconnecting the player.

Zen micro freezes: share your experie

Please share your experience with Zen Micro's hard disk problems with me.
Unfortunately the beatiful zen micro i bought almost two years ago, is in a state of coma. It froze up and no option on the recovery mode could change that state.
I know that a lot of you guys had/have the same problem, given the amount of help-threads.
I sent the player to the shop since we have a two-years-warranty in Germany. The shop kept the player and refuses to exchange/repair my player.
So I am about to contact a lawyer to sue the shop.
Any evidence to support my case ? your experience with the freezing micro ? will back up my case.
Thanks in advance!

Issue appears to be resolved. The following is the instruction set sent by Creative Labs that I followed:
. Ensure that the player is turned off.
2. Remove the battery.
3. Move and hold the Power button to the Power On position and re-insert
the battery to the Zen Micro. Hold the Power button until the rescue
mode appears.
4. After 2-3 seconds the rescue menu will be displayed.
At this point the battery can safely be replaced and maintenance options
performed.
5. Four options will be displayed on the LCD screen:
? Clean Up - (To rearrange your stored data)
? Format All - (To format and remove all data)
? Reload Firmware - (Reloads your player's operating system - Do not
choose this option unless you have downloaded a firmware update from the
Creative website)
? Reboot - (Restarts your Player)
6. Select the Clean Up and then the Reboot option.
Now, please try turning off the player.

Zen Micro as a portable

I'm trying to find more information on using the . I brought this with the intent of using it as both MP3 player and portable HD, and I heard from a friend that it isn't compatiable on a Mac as a portable HD. Is this true? I thought it would be like practically every other MP3 player, and act like a standard external harddri've when I plug it into a computer (PC or Mac) without installing any software... If I can't use this on a Mac, I'll be sorely disappointed, since I use Macs at uni'versity, and have a PC at home. Maybe I should have gone with an ipod mini instead. ~_~

On my Zen Micro, the firmware version is .0.03e (French version). I didn't install the last version (2.00.2e with PlaysForSure) because it only works with Windows XP, and I have W2k at work and Wxp at home. So, I can't say more about that new version...
One thing is sure: when you plug the Zen Micro in Removable disk mode, you can't see the music files installed on your Zen. In this mode, you only see a sort of "partition" which is completely different of the music partition. In fact, it's a working space you can use to transfer files from one computer to another. For example, if you can't install any software on your work computer, you can use the removable disk to transfer music files and when you are at home, copy these files on your hard disk and transfer them with Creative MediaSource software.
Hope this helps!Alain

Very Weird Problem Zen Micro...Please Help

So I accidently dropped my zen micro really hard and now when I turn it on, it takes me to the creative copywrite beggining and then it goes to just creative with nothing else on the screen and doesn't move from there as if its frozen. I've tried rescue mode, clean disk, but it's taking over 45-60 minutes and still nothing, just scan disk. I had about 800 songs. I could care less about the songs, I just want the dam thing to work already. Any Help would be of much appreciation, pleasssee and thank you.

You're pretty much hosed. Even if its under warranty, Creative will likely view the damage as due to dropping and, therefore, not covered. I'm not sure what the repair charges will be, but it won't be cheap.

Almost full Zen Micro wont s

Hey peeps,
I have a 3 month old Zen Micro 5GB. All is working but i am starting to notice a trend in my player that when ever I fill it up to 75%-00% capacity; my player would stop interfacing my computer (the computer wont recognise it is connected). I usually use the Zen Micro Explorer and Winamp5.2. The problem would go away if only i reformat my Zen Micro's hard dri've.. Is there anyway that I can make it better with out reformatting.
Thanks
Hazri

I tried to send an email to creative but was denied since my product was purchased over a year ago, and it dosnt look like im going to get the help i need here so i give up.
Creative wins, they get my hard earned money in exhange for a defecti've piece of **bleep** i havent been able to get working satisfactoraly since i got it and am now forced to replace...
Before purchasing one of their mp3 players i thought so highly of creative. I usually am more careful before making such a purchase but I, as many others, had trust in this company renowned for its sound cards. Even after the purchase i just told myself "a company like creative wont let this product sit with crappy firmware for long, they'll update it and it will be a great player" So instead of returning it when i should have a sat on it, and my dreams never materialized and now im stuck with a paperweight that wont install any firmware now because of a known issue with their product!
quote from SSR in another thread with the same problem,
"Unfortunately there are others who've got stuck after removing the v2 firmware, and can't apply the same or the v firmware. I suggest you contact support and hopefully they can resolve it for you. Please post back here if you get a remedy."
But i cant contact customer support, they refused to help me because my warrenty is out. If someone knows of a way to fix my problem please feel free to still post in this thread i will still check it in hopes of fixing my player, this forum is now my only hope with creative email support outright refusing to help me.
Thanks to anyway who actually read all these long winded posts but im done with creative...

Zen Micro - Lock

Why does the Zen Micro lockup so frequently?
What is the permanent solution to this problem?
I assume a firmware upgrade is due soon from Creative, if not the device is going back to the store!

Neil I've been one of the ones that have had a bad experience with this player also. Mine locked up over 30 times in 2 days so I shipped it back to Amazon. I guess it's a matter of what you really feel the problem is. I'm not sure it is the firmware ... it may be a HD problem and I didn't want to take that risk. I was just so frustrated because I spent the better part of 2 days trying to get the thing to work.
I'm not saying to send the player back right away. I've seen some posts here that I would try before making up my mind.
It seems some have solved their problem by using a different USB cable cable when connecting it to their computer. Another has been that fully charging the battery overnight has solved their problems. Others have done a reset (To do a reset, pull the battery out and slide the power switch to the ON position and HOLD it there when re-inserting the battery.) There are a bunch of options in there to reset, reload firmware, etc..
I did e-mail Creative support with my problem but by the time they got back to me, I had sent the player back. They did have a firmware attachment but I'm not sure if it was an upgrade or just the original firmware. I would say the best thing to do is play around with it as much as you can now and keep an eye on these boards. My patience lasted all of 2 days before I sent mine back... but I thought it was great for the short time I did have it working.
I'm waiting a month or two to see if they work the problems out. If all is OK, I will probably buy it again.

Zen Micro Disk Size 5GB

Hi,
I just bought a Zen Micro mp3 player, 5GB. With Creative Mediasource I copied all my mp3 and WMA music to the Zen Micro. If I right-click in XP on my Music folder, Windows tells me the total size on disk is 2.9GB, 595 files.
BUT, after 500 files I get a warning saying that the destination is Full ?? But the Zen Micro is 5GB !?!?
How is this possible ? I checked some file sizes on the Zen Micro, and compared them with XP file sizes, but they are the same !?
What is going on here ?
Thanks
Roger Luijten

It also depends on what you have your bit rate at.
for example, if it is set at wma 60kbps you will only be able to fit about 800 - 000 songs on it.
the only way the zen micro can hold 2,500 songs on it is if you set the bit rate to wma at 64kb
ps.
I have all my songs set to wma 60kbps and i'm already takin up 40% of my hard dri've space: with 384 songs on it so far.

Zen Micro - problem with hard d

I have a problem with my zen micro. It does not boot up - I have tried reformatting the disk, but no success. One of the technicians I showed it to sugegsted that the hard disk has gone bad and I need to replace it. Any idea of where I can procure one from? Does creative sell it online?

Same problem here. After about 5 months of dutiful use, the hard dri've failed.
It's a paperweight now and I decided quickly and easily that the money it would take to replace the hard dri've was better spent on a flash-based player. Seeing as my original MuVo is still trucking, I'd say that flash-based players are a better choice if your storage needs are small (< 4GB being small these days).

Zen touch Hard disk er

Hi to all, and sorry for my not god english. I've buy a Zen touch 20 Gb last year, and it's worked god. But last month, i want to hear a mp3 and i power my zen, but he going to start, reply whit and error. I try to update the formware, but the error not be removed. When i'm try to format, the response id "Hard disk error". What can i do? If i want to change the Hard disk, it's possible?
Thanks for the reply

Cat/Daniel,
If there is a recurring issue with the harddri've on the older 5gb Zen Micros, does the consumer have to pay the price for these problems? My unit was purchased direct from Creative's website for Christmas 2004. Nine months later in September 2005 the dri've just died. Only the "Creative" screen would come up. Sent back to Creative and they chose to send me a "new" unit. Great. Only problem is, nine months later, and the harddri've goes out AGAIN! Same exact problem! And this Zen has ALWAYS been handled with gentle hands, like a real harddri've should. No jarring, jolts, hits....etc.
Ah, but now Creative says even though this same defect occurred on a "new" unit less than a year old there is no 2-month warranty attached to the unit. Huh? Apparently, Creative doesn't stand behind these new units they issue as replacements. What gives? Why not stand behind the product, regardless of whether that product is new from a store, or new from the manufacturer as this one claimed to be? If these units go out with short-shelf lifes shouldn't the consumer be told in advance, that you MAY get a year's worth of workability out of it's As James (5353) in technical support emailed to me: <EM>"I apologize for the inconvenience, but according to the information provided, you are also beyond your complimentary e-mail support period. Since you are outside of the warranty we can not provide any type of email support (including RMAs)."</EM>Yikes.....so NOW what do I do with this defecti've Zen?

Zen Micro Lockup - Hard disk failu

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for