zen frozen, wont turn off, stuck in dock, failed file transfer

[ChapStick]

okay so i just got a Zen 4gb today. i let it charge for a few hours and its got a full battyer now. i haven't installed the built-in software yet, i just connected it with the small USB cable and tossed a few mp3's to the music directory and tried it out for a while. it works great and im super happy. i turn it of for about five hours and do other things.

now a few minutes ago i plugged it back into my computer with the USB cable while it was off and it turned on in "Docked" mode with the turning arrows on the screen. i dragged ~600 MB of mp3's to the music folder like before, but this time the copying window stopped making progress after a while. it was stuck on a greenday mp3 and after ignoring the problem for about ten minutes to see if it would go away i hit the cancel button on the file copy window. I figured i would just have to do the file transfer again but instead the device disappeared from My Computer and the Zen is not responding at all. I can't turn it off. I have unplugged it from the USB and then plugged it back in to see if windows will redetect it and I can try the transfer again but nothing is happening.

Help guys did I break my new toy on the first day?

[CrowdAds]

[Luminaire-]

Sometimes my Sansa used to freeze and just display static. I just waited until the battery ran out and plugged it back into charge and it worked fine.

I'd say just let your battery run down, probably one of those rare occurrences that won't actually damage your player or anything like that, but that's all just my guess.

Best of luck!

[ChapStick]

Originally Posted by Luminaire-

I'd say just let your battery run down, probably one of those rare occurrences that won't actually damage your player or anything like that, but that's all just my guess.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, that could be my only option.

The idle timer must have kicked in, because now the bottom of the screen says "Shutting Down..." but it's been that way for a while. The rest of the screen is still saying "Docked" with the animated arrows around the usb icon. I really wanted to use this on the BART ride to work tomorrow.

I'm going to bed but hopefully someone else will have some helpful ideas.

[Lifter59]

Originally Posted by ChapStick

okay so i just got a Zen 4gb today. i let it charge for a few hours and its got a full battyer now. i haven't installed the built-in software yet, i just connected it with the small USB cable and tossed a few mp3's to the music directory and tried it out for a while. it works great and im super happy. i turn it of for about five hours and do other things.

now a few minutes ago i plugged it back into my computer with the USB cable while it was off and it turned on in "Docked" mode with the turning arrows on the screen. i dragged ~600 MB of mp3's to the music folder like before, but this time the copying window stopped making progress after a while. it was stuck on a greenday mp3 and after ignoring the problem for about ten minutes to see if it would go away i hit the cancel button on the file copy window. I figured i would just have to do the file transfer again but instead the device disappeared from My Computer and the Zen is not responding at all. I can't turn it off. I have unplugged it from the USB and then plugged it back in to see if windows will redetect it and I can try the transfer again but nothing is happening.

Help guys did I break my new toy on the first day?

Try resetting the device - use the end of the paperclip and insert in the reset hole - that should do the trick. What OS are you running? you should be using either WMP or some other app to move the music rather than just dragging the files. Also, be sure that all file transfers are complete before you disconnect...

[BobbyRS]

Hello ChapStick. Welcome.

This can happen with large file transfers. It is best to do what was already suggested by doing a reset using a paperclip in the small reset hole on the bottom; This will power off the Zen. Upon reboot, the database should rebuild and you should be good to go with trying again. Take note of which file it stops on if it happens again. If it is the same file, then I would bypass trying to copy this file again for it may contain some type of data/metadata the Zen doesn't like.

Also, the idle timeout should have never kicked in because the Zen should have been active the entire time copying the files. The fact that the screen stayed on and showed docked is proof that it didn't. If the idle time-out engaged, the Zen would appear to be turned off.

I would steer clear of ever letting the battery fully deplete. There is too great of a chance that you may not be around at the time it actually powers down to begin charging again. Letting it sit for a period of time after it already turns of from a low battery further depletes the charge capacity and can risk engaging the low voltage cut-off and be extremely troublesome with getting it to re-charge and eventually turn back on.

Originally Posted by Lifter59

you should be using either WMP or some other app to move the music rather than just dragging the files.

The Zen and the computer running Vista or XP with WMP11 are fully capable of drag-and-drop support. This is actually my preferred method of transporting files to my Zen. I never use sync software anymore and I have over 4200 audio tracks, 4300 pictures, and 150 videos.

Originally Posted by Lifter59

Also, be sure that all file transfers are complete before you disconnect...

In general yes. The problem here is that his Zen became unresponsive and was no longer active in transferring files anyway.

[ChapStick]

BobbyRS, Thank you very much for your reply. I've followed advice and device is now working as normal. From now on I'll make transfers in smaller bursts. Thanks to everyone here!

[BobbyRS]

It's good to see it working and you happy, but keep in mind you shouldn't have this problem with transferring 600MB of files (unless some are corrupt). I have copied over gigs of files at one time with no issue. I believe much of it has to do with the Operating System used and its MTP compatibility. I've noticed that when using WinXP (not MTP compliant unless WMP10 or WMP11 is installed) there's a greater chance of having this issue more so then Vista (natively supports MTP). Make sure you have WMP11 installed to get the most out of MTP support in WinXP. I have had intermittent issues like this when using WinXP, but when using Vista, none!

[Lifter59]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

Hello ChapStick. Welcome.

This can happen with large file transfers. It is best to do what was already suggested by doing a reset using a paperclip in the small reset hole on the bottom; This will power off the Zen. Upon reboot, the database should rebuild and you should be good to go with trying again. Take note of which file it stops on if it happens again. If it is the same file, then I would bypass trying to copy this file again for it may contain some type of data/metadata the Zen doesn't like.

Also, the idle timeout should have never kicked in because the Zen should have been active the entire time copying the files. The fact that the screen stayed on and showed docked is proof that it didn't. If the idle time-out engaged, the Zen would appear to be turned off.

I would steer clear of ever letting the battery fully deplete. There is too great of a chance that you may not be around at the time it actually powers down to begin charging again. Letting it sit for a period of time after it already turns of from a low battery further depletes the charge capacity and can risk engaging the low voltage cut-off and be extremely troublesome with getting it to re-charge and eventually turn back on.



The Zen and the computer running Vista or XP with WMP11 are fully capable of drag-and-drop support. This is actually my preferred method of transporting files to my Zen. I never use sync software anymore and I have over 4200 audio tracks, 4300 pictures, and 150 videos.



In general yes. The problem here is that his Zen became unresponsive and was no longer active in transferring files anyway.

I have found Vista to be sketchy at best and just down-stepped back to XP...I agree with the drop and drag but as you said - you need to have WMP 11 installed to support it (which is what I was implying, but not successfully....)

[BobbyRS]

I have found Vista to be sketchy at best and just down-stepped back to XP

My thoughts on Vista.

you need to have WMP 11 installed to support it

You actually have drag-and-drop support in WMP10 as well. Although not fully MTP compliant (can't rename or move files once dragged-and-dropped to the device), it does support drag-and-drop file transfers in this way. However, to get the most out of MTP support, WMP11 should be used (copy,paste, delete, move, rename, and execute, create new subfolders).