Creative Zen

northwest1965

Dave_C wrote: »

I don't understand what your problem is. In your first post you said that you were getting a read/write error message. Now you say that you can open up Zen Explorer and transfer music/etc and put it in the data library. This sounds to be working normally.

Before we go much further, what type of Zen is it? Zen * , Zen MX, Zen X-fi or whatever.

Is the problem with the Zen or the SD card?

Please describe exactly what the problem is.

Dave

* Creative caused much confusion over naming this product just "Zen" It's next to impossible trying to search for answers as you get replies back for every type of Zen from Zen Micro to Zen X-Fi2

My product is a Zen (no other name after it.)

When I open up Zen Explorer - (Select a task) I click on manage playlists. I uses this option when I have downloaded a weeks worth of podcasts and put them al together. Thats when I get the error message.

When I click Browse media it used to take you to another page with sections you could look at - Music, Photos etc. Now it wont. It just opens up Media Library.
Since my original post I learnt that I could click on my music on the left hand menu and then just drag it into Media library. Thats the only way of getting it onto the Zen. To access this on the Zen itself, I have to look under artists and its under unknown.

I still cant access what is already on there or see my playlists (all of which I can see on the Zen itself)

Hope thats a bit clearer Dave


Is there anyway I could have locked it so it wont allow me to change playlists, browse media?

culpepper

So it is a problem with the software installed to the computer? It sounds as though the zen itself is alright.
You could always try reinstalling the software on the pc to see if that helps.

northwest1965

culpepper wrote: »

So it is a problem with the software installed to the computer? It sounds as though the zen itself is alright.
You could always try reinstalling the software on the pc to see if that helps.

Done that:) I even got other half to install it on his pc and see if it was the same. It was.

Dave_C_2

Warning! Long post.

This is a new one on me normally it's total failure and you can't do anything. Assuming you only have the one computer, here's what I would do in order:

A) Backup the Zen to our PC if your Zen holds the only copy of music etc.
Copy the music and data from your Zen to the PC using drag and drop in windows explorer. You should be able to see the Zen as a separate drive in My computer.
How to set and access the Zen as another device under Windows Explorer:
1. Open Zen Media Explorer.
2. Select “Settings and Information”.
3. Select the “Tools” tab.
4. Select the box to enable "Show my player as PMD in My Computer".
5. Open My Computer and you'll see the Zen.
6. Select it and open “Storage Media” to see all the folders.
7. Now you'll be able to copy any file to the Zen’s internal memory

On the Zen do a clean-up.
This is perfectly safe, follow these instructions and clean-up (not format)
How to enter the Zen’s Recovery Mode for Clean Up, Format All, Reload Firmware, and Reboot:
1. With the Zen off, press and hold the "play/pause" button.
2. Continue to hold until you perform Steps 3 and 4. If you accidentally release the button, start the procedure again.
3. Gently push the end of a thin object (like a pin or straightened paperclip) into the Reset hole. You should be able to feel the release click of the button.
4. Slide the On/Off/Lock switch towards the power button and hold until the boot screen appears on the display.

The Recovery Mode screen appears, and four menu items are shown:
Clean Up: A cleanup of the file system and database files takes place. All (uncorrupted) data should stay in tact. When the cleanup is complete, select Reboot. Your player restarts and starts rebuilding its music library. All files should remain intact unless they were detected as being corrupt.
Format All: This will completely reset the Zen and remove all user stored files on it.
Reload Firmware: This will prepare the Zen to accept a reload, new, or older firmware based on the specific firmware file you download and execute on a computer. Selecting this option will prevent your Zen from being able to boot, so make sure you have the firmware file on your computer and ready to load.
Reboot: This will execute a soft reboot of the Zen's operating system.

C) Try the Zen in your PC

D) Reload the software on to your PC

1) Go to this Creative site and press View all downloads
2) Download and install
Creative Media Explorer Software Pack 6.70.16 for Creative ZEN player Filesize : 32.21 MB if you have Vista or
Creative Media Explorer Software Pack 5.70.15 for Creative ZEN player Filesize : 25.23 MB if you have XP

E) reboot if required and try the Zen in your PC

The following steps involve reloading firmware onto the Zen, try them at your own risk. Please try the suggestions in the ABI forums FAQs first.
I haven't used it for playlists, but you can use Windows Media Player11 to sync tracks and playlists to your Zen

F) Still not working, try the recovery tool
This is a drastic measure, note that it will reformat the player if the file system is corrupted.
I was going to point you at the Creative site, but the links to the recovery tool are broken. Instead download this file and install the recovery tool. Ensure that your Zen is backed up and has more than 50% charge.

G) Still not working, try reformatting and reloading firmware
This is the manual version of the recovery tool above1) Go to this Creative site
2) Download and install Creative Zen firmware 1.21.03e (there is only one to choose from).
3) Follow the instructions in step B and the ABI FAQ to reformat the player.
4) Follow the instructions on the web site and install the downloaded firmware.

H) Time to try RussJK's method
You still need to download and install the firmware from the above step.

Hope some of this helps

Thanks to the ABI forums and Russ JK

Dave

northwest1965

Dave_C you are a star, its fixed the problem. I performed part b of your reply. Many, many thanks:T