Zen Micro: Poor Battery Performance Even with Firmware Upgr

The Zen Micro's battery life is advertised to last up to 2 hours, but I am only getting approximately 7.5 hours. I have installed the latest firmware v.0.03 upgrade, and fully charged and discharged both batteries at least fi've times each (using the USB and AC adaptors before plutting into outlet). Before the firmware upgrade I was getting just under six hours of battery life. For testing purposes I am using 28kbps MP3 files, volume level 8, no EQ setting, no backlighting, and the headphones that came with the product. Since I have the player sitting on my desk, without being listened to, there's no skipping or forwarding of music tracks. Gi'ven the non-demanding settings, the battery performance is disappointing.
I have contacted tech support and they want me to send in my player for repair or replacement. It seems this issue is prevalent for all Zen Micros and I don't want to send mine in to have it returned all scuffed and scratched and not fixed (or get some grimy second-hand, refurbished model instead).
So I want to confirm that others are experiencing this same problem before I decide what to do. It seems it would be best to get another one from Amazon instead of going through the hassle of repair.

I notified Amazon of the problem on Friday and got a brand new replacement on Monday. Talk about great service.
Unfortunately the replacement is a crapper also. My second Zen Micro immediately and completely locks up when plugging in the USB cable. Since I didn't return my original unit yet, I was able to try another cable but got the same results. I fully charged the batteries, tried all of the various recovery mode options, and still had the Creative drivers/software previously installed on my computer from before. I'm running WinXP SP2 with up-to-date patches, and no other software installed since. My PC's motherboard has built-in USB 2.0 support (with power mgmt turned off) and updated drivers and BIOS, but these things shouldn't be an issue anyway since it worked fine with the first Zen Micro. I'm not able to upgrade the firmware, let alone transfer music, because of the lockup problem. I build and fix PCs for friends and coworkers all the time so I'm confident in my trouble-shooting abilities.
The second Micro makes the first one seem perfect. I really wanted to like this MP3 player, but two defecti've products in a row is totally unacceptable to me. What a waste of my time. I should have been more suspicious about Creative products since my Muvo TX FM player was buggy as well (i.e. player would immediately shut down when powering on). I will check out the Rio Carbon or iRi'ver products instead.

Similar Messages

Zen micro optimum battery performa

Hi
I just want to know whether its normal for my fully charge zen micro to run out of power by 5 hour. I started playing mp3 around 2.30 with fully charge and let it run. By first hour bar is lost. By 7.30 i have no bars left. I let it play continuously. I set my volume to 0. Mp3s is all 28kb. No shutdown and startup. I read that zen micro battery tested can last till 2 hours. Is there anyway I can do to reach the optimum 2 hours battery performance? Thanks

rollinpark wrote:
Hi?I just want to know whether its normal for my fully charge zen micro to run out of power by 5 hour. I started playing mp3 around 2.30 with fully charge and let it run. By first hour bar is lost. By 7.30 i have no bars left. I let it play continuously. I set my volume to 0. Mp3s is all 28kb. No shutdown and startup. I read that zen micro battery?tested can last till 2 hours. Is there anyway I can do to reach the optimum 2 hours battery performance? Thanks
Make sure you have those smart volume and eq turn off as that eat a large portion of your batter.

IPhone 4S Poor Battery Performance SOLVED!!

iPhone 4S Poor Battery Performance SOLVED!!
I found the issue with the iPhone 4S battery performance.
I bought 2 iPhone 4S models on the first day. One for my wife and one for me. The strange thing was that mine would kill the battery in 4-6 hours and ran VERY WARM to the touch. My wife's phone worked great. It was cold to the touch. She would forget to charge it at night... and the battery performance was great... even better than our prior 3GS models.
What was the difference? I have my phone connected to Exchange for my corporate email. But exchange is not exactly the problem. The issue is in Notification Center. For some reason, I had hundreds of calendar reminders that kept refreshing on notification center. Furthermore, the reminders would flicker between the time remaining and the start time for the event at such a fast rate that it could not be read... (clearly a bug)
What is the solution? Go to Settings>Notifications>Calendar and disable Notification Center. You can still have the "alert style" set to Banners, or Alerts and you will still receive notices about your events, but it will not BUILD a summary in the Notification Center drop down screen. This is where the BUG exists. [Oddly, this does not affect my iPad 2, but is an issue for iOS 5 on the iPhone (different builds, maybe?)]
So, it appears that Notification Center has an endless loop in collecting the calendar events from Exchange and this is burning up our 4S batteries. Once you stop the madness from Notification Center, your iPhone 4S will perform as advertised.
Enjoy!
Tim

TimothyW wrote:
iPhone 4S Poor Battery Performance SOLVED!!
I found the issue with the iPhone 4S battery performance.
I bought 2 iPhone 4S models on the first day. One for my wife and one for me. The strange thing was that mine would kill the battery in 4-6 hours and ran VERY WARM to the touch. My wife's phone worked great. It was cold to the touch. She would forget to charge it at night... and the battery performance was great... even better than our prior 3GS models.
What was the difference? I have my phone connected to Exchange for my corporate email. But exchange is not exactly the problem. The issue is in Notification Center. For some reason, I had hundreds of calendar reminders that kept refreshing on notification center. Furthermore, the reminders would flicker between the time remaining and the start time for the event at such a fast rate that it could not be read... (clearly a bug)
What is the solution? Go to Settings>Notifications>Calendar and disable Notification Center. You can still have the "alert style" set to Banners, or Alerts and you will still receive notices about your events, but it will not BUILD a summary in the Notification Center drop down screen. This is where the BUG exists. [Oddly, this does not affect my iPad 2, but is an issue for iOS 5 on the iPhone (different builds, maybe?)]
So, it appears that Notification Center has an endless loop in collecting the calendar events from Exchange and this is burning up our 4S batteries. Once you stop the madness from Notification Center, your iPhone 4S will perform as advertised.
Enjoy!
Tim
Check this out. They are stumpped:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/28/iphone-4s-battery-apple-enginee rs

Zen Micro Photo Battery? Where to

Hey guys. I'm a bit confused now because I can't find an original Zen Micro Photo battery in germany. It seems like it isn*t released till now. Now I would like to if and if yes when it will be released in germany. It can*t just be true that creative wants us to use the old zen micro battery which is weaker.

Why wouldn't they take responsibility? Read through the forums, you're not the first one with battery problems. I'd say try a new battery if you can, otherwise send Creative Support an email about the problem. You'll probably have to send in your player and will get a replacement.

Zen Micro problem before iv even got started!

Hi iv just bort the Zen Micro and i cant even install the software, now, im crap on computers but i kno i have Windows XP.
I put the disc in and it came up, so i clicked next and a message saying that it had to close the software appeared!!! What shall i do??
HELP!!
Thanks in advance for ur help
x

Quicktime 7 is known to interfere with the install. Make sure to update Quicktime 7 to the latest version which should solve the problem.

Why is my iphone 5 battery dying even with phone turned off ?

Why is my iphone 5 battery dying even with phone turned off ? Even when my phone is fully charged and I turn it off when I turn it back on the battery is drained. Why ?

Completely drained when turning the iPhone on after being off?
All lithium-ion batteries lose some charge when the computer or device is powered off.
If the battery is entirely depleted after the iPhone is powered off with a fully charged battery at the time, something is wrong - unless powered off for a number of weeks or months.

Poor Battery Performance on MacBook With Snow Leopard

Upon installing Snow on my MacBook Unibody, my battery performance has degraded from approximately 5 hours on a full charge to now less than 2.5 hours. Has anyone else experienced such? I am set up for maximum power saving in battery mode and mainly surf the web and use Pages on occasion while on battery mode. Upon allowing the battery to drain, it indeed lasted only 2.5 hours with just web surfing. I tried a few startups and repaired disk permissions, yet the menu continued to show 2.5 hours on a full charge. Advice anyone?

Snow Leopard has been a power hog so far. I have the same settings and applications, etc. as with running just Leopard. I went from 5-7 hours on my black MacBook (that's with running videos, etc.) to now just barely 2 hours.
I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro a couple of days ago and it only lasts a few hours. Nowhere near the boost they advertise.
Either my old Black MacBook just had an awesome battery or the new software upgrade ***** juice. I am getting ready to wipe the upgrade. I was satisfied with Leopard and Tiger. I rather have all day performance than having to drag the cord out everywhere like you do with a PC. I expect a PC to suck juice and give me only 45min. battery, but not my MacBook.

Zen Micro's Battery flat after 14 hours of being turned of

Now I'm confused, I fully charged my Zen Micro twice and then turned it off, and overnight the battery is fully drained. This cant be right can it's
I know others have experience the rundown issue, but making it sooo flat that it wont even turn on?
Do you think I have a faulty Zen or Battery?

Check the system info on the player itself and check for the version of firmware you have. It will show up as v .XX.XX Anything older than v .0.03 needs to be updated. A lot of battery draining issues were resolved with this firmware update. Also some people have said that keeping the headphones unplugged keeps power from draining as quickly while the player is off because the amp stays powered up.
If the player drains significantly after these two things I'd contact Creative SUpport about a replacement

Zen micro leaking battery pow

Hi all,
Just wondering, is it possible for zen micro to leak battery? My player is like onli a few months old... this is my 7/8th set by the way... i replaced it 7 freaking times... my batt was just purchased last month...
the case is this, i put in my batt into the player in the morning (full batt) and in like 4 hrs later, i switch it on and it doesn't as the batt is flat... n the player feels warm... i sent it down to creative for checking and they told me my charger maybe having problem... okays fine i borrowed another full set from my friend... and charged my batt full and placed it back into my player for one day... guess what?! its the same... flat! and i recharged it and place it into her player and it was okay?.... the creative personal have also told me my warrenty is over... but i heard with every replacement, the warranty is extended rite?
i seriously need some advice here... strange, somehow i think i m the onli one who experienced this...
aaron

ahboi wrotehhh i tried it before but to no help... in fact the player is like draining the batt even when it is completely off... u get what i mean?...
this does sound like the standby draining power, but if the ..xx firmware doesn't fix it then it is most likely faulty

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.

Zen micro USB doesn't work with car ra

My zen micro can't connect to my car radio or my teac reciever chr-255. Neither can connect to the USB. It reads for a secund and then just give up. Has anyone got the same problem or even bette, has anyone solved it's?

I suspect the problem may be that your car stereo and Teac receiver are expecting a USB flash dri've type of player and not a PlaysForSure MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) player.
With USB flash dri'ves, the car stereo and the receiver are expecting what looks like a hard dri've which they can just browse and play files directly.
MTP players don't look like hard dri'ves, despite what you might have come to expect because of the Creative Media Explorer interface. CME is performing MTP operations and presenting a view that just looks like a hard dri've.
MTP is used, in part, to manage playlists and to enforce DRM (digital rights management) licenses.
I keep hoping that Microsoft, Creative, and PlaysForSure/MTP compatible players will come up with a standard for operating the player like an iPod so integration will be as seemless for non-iPod players as well.

Just got my zen micro, scratched battery co

Hi folks,
Ive just got my zen micro, despite it being brand new and being shrink wrapped, the back battery cover is covered in hairline scratches (you can only see them in a certain light) however its driving me nuts as im very fussy about these things
is there anywhere i can get a replacement? i rang support and the guy was like no! he didnt seem to care my apparently brand new micro looked damaged?
Also i find the sound quality poor on some mp3s, a bit 'scratchy' i suppose and they sound perfect on my pc?

Catherina,
Thank you for the swift response i appreciate it, re the sound quality its probably just the mp3s maybe and i will look into your suggestions, thank you
regarding the player, i bought it in the O2 experience on Grafton street, they wont replace it for the scratches as they say, rightly i suppose, that i could have scratched between thursday and today.
Im sure i havent tho as i never out anything like that in a pocket with anything else, and i noticed the scratches straight away.
Its odd as the rest of the player is immaculate as it should be but the battery cover looks quite worn.
If you could organise a replacement id be eternally grateful im living in dublin (as your profile seems to suggest that you do aswell)
I know its a silly thing to get worked up over but its bugging me!
(u are correct, its just the bit that slides on the back)

Have a Zen Micro (6GB) - Lost Software CD and Firmware update confuses me. Please he

I bought my Zen Micro about 7 months ago and have been using it fine until recently formatted my computer and realized I've lost my software cd (the one that comes with the player).
I tried downloading the Creative MediaSource Organizer/Player (version 3.30.2) and updating the firmware (thereby loosing all the songs I had saved in there. Ugh.) in my Zen Player and in the beginning MediaSource still wouldn't pick up my Creative Player. Then, I don't know why, it now works...but it works like a normal External HardDri've or a PenDi've would! It not longer has that menu thing (where there's a list of artist and albums) at the left side but simply folders under the Creative Player.
Does anyone know where I can get the old firmware and download the required software? I greatly prefer the way my player worked before I updated the firmware/software and I would like to just have that back even if it doesn't have as much features or whatever came with the upgrade. (iTunes or something. Has no idea what that is.)
Also, does Creative have a Service Center in Malaysia (specifically Kuala Lumpur) and can anyone tell me where it is or give me the phone number to call? I'm still under my warranty but this site doesn't list a number to call although they say they give Telephone Support until the warranty expires.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Cherish
Edit: BTW, I have tried emailing Customer Support but so far, no reply, and that was...2 weeks ago, I think? And, like I said, the Customer Support section in this site doesn't list any numbers/Service Centers which is why I'm asking...Message Edited by cherish90 on 02-06-200705:25 PM
Edit the second: Does anyone know if the confirmation email that Creative is supposed to send to your account after you send them an email isn't working? Because I just double checked my inbox and I realized I never got any confirmation letter. And I'm very sure I didn't accidentally delete it.Message Edited by cherish90 on 02-06-200707:38 PM

LOL. I've sent in my player. FINALLY found the Service Center (for those in KL who want to know, it's in Berjaya Amoda, behind Low Yat and opposite Times Square) after asking the shop I bought the player from.
And the guy who I talked to called their HQ or whatever and said that neither of the messages I sent (I sent 2; one shortly after I started this thread) were recorded/received on their end although I DID get the "Your message has been sent" page after clicking on the 'submit' button. And yeah, I used this email too. *confused* Maybe Creative doesn't work with Mozilla Firefox (the browser I'm using)? I think that's kind of lame, though, because FireFox is like practically as big as EI now and it's more user-friendly (the tabs are uber cool IMHO). Unless Creative has some sort of problem with Mozilla...
*cough*
ANYWAY...
Yeah, I did download the PlayForSure plugin (although I have no idea what it's for) and MediaSource STILL picked up my Micro as something like a pendri've.
Never mind, though. The guy I talked to - never got his name... - said that once you've upgraded the firmware to the latest (which is the one that needs all these weird plugins and makes the device an MTP [I THINK that's what it's called] device) you can't change the firmware back to the old one unless they send it in. So I'm sending it in. And I think they'll replace the software CD for me too, so that's all good.
Thanks anyway, Jason.
Cherish

Creative Zen Micro seperate battery char

Hi, I'm looking to buy a Zen Micro to take snowboarding this winter, The main reason I decided upon the Zen Micro was it's size and the fact that the rechargeable battery is removeable.
The problem, is that I can't find a seperate battery charger for it anywhere.
I want to be able to leave one battery charging, whilst i'm using the other one.
All of the chargers I have seen use the actual player as part of the charger, this seems a little rediculous and pretty much ruins the advantage of having multiple batteries, might as well just buy an Ipod Mini?!?
Are there any free-standing Li-Ion battery chargers available for the Zen Micro battery?
Thanks..

There is nothing specific for the Micro.
I have seen some 3rd party chargers, which have a custom plate made for the battery, but as you can imagine these are expensi've (you'll have to Google to find them).
I think that's the issue with a separate charger. It will be expensi've, and few people will want it, hence Creative aren't going to make one (and haven't with any of their MP3 players to-date).

Zen Micro Extra Battery Stor

I have the Zen Micro that came with the extra battery. Is there anything I need to do to store it's I'm assuming they come charged to around 40% which is what "Nomad Primer" said was optimal for storing. Should I store it anywhere in particular or is room temperature fine?

A good red wine should be stored at less than room temperature, but not refrigator cold.
Just store the battery somewhere it doesn't boil or freeze. (it won't last forever though, you should really swap it out every other charge if you want both to last)

Zen Micro: Poor Battery Performance Even with Firmware Upgr

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for