Zen Vision:M Not Responding SOLUTION! to No Charge, Device Not Connected or Recognize

[klumsy bot]

Overheating usually suggests you have overcharged your battery. It probably has swollen and a safety switch disabled the battery. I think you should replace the battery if you can.

[CrowdAds]

[Superman2727]

Nevermind i fixed the problem last night. What i did was i got into the device and found the battery cables now while the player was still hooked to the computer i unhooked the battery cables and put them back together and the screen popped right on, problem solved, thanks though.

[darogl]

Originally Posted by marroland

Hi, i just got my ZEN, however, i have read all the posts and i can see that everybody had their computer in a time or another recognized the ZEN, however in my case, i have 3 computer at home plus a laptop, three with XP and one with Vista and non of them even make a sound about a new device in the computers. I have tryed all the USB ports in the computers and nothing happens. The ZEN is dead!

I am starting to give up and return the device to Amazon. I also tryed to get some contanct via email with Creative Labs and i cannot finish the questionare because it says that i have an invalid email (and i put all the emails i have)...i really don´t know what to do!.

Is your Zen fully charged up? If this is a new ZVM, and you're charging it with the usb cord from your PC, it may take hours and hours because it only accepts a trickle until it gets recognized, and it can't get recognized without a charge in the battery. If this is the case, just be patient, maybe let it charge over night.

[holly_t3]

Hey all. Same problems with my ZVM here, but with what seems like a small twist. If detail is warranted:

-Windows XP Pro
-Device has worked flawlessly for about a year up until a couple of weeks ago.
-"Found New Hardware" bubble pops up when I connect the device, even describing it by name as "Creative Zen Vision: M", but the device is nowhere to be seen other than in Device Manager, where it is accompanied by the yellow triangle.
-When connected via USB, the player automatically starts up, but does not display the Connect/Transfer icon; it merely goes to "Now Playing" or wherever else I left it and eventually goes into Idle Shutdown.

Now, as per the advice in this thread and everywhere else on the many internets, I have tried reinstalling the driver in Device Manager, but every time I do, the process concludes with this window:



I then get one of those corner bubbles informing me that the device might not work properly, which it doesn't.

My question is, "Why can't I reinstall the driver?" Is there a corrupted version of it already in my driver chache? If so, how do I get it out? It'd be nice if I could just start all over from scratch; all of my music is on my hard drive, so it wouldn't be a problem. But other than uninstalling the device, the software, and then reinstalling them, it's been a complete failure.

[ZenChick]

Holly-

Two things I would try:

1. If you have access to another computer (preferably one running Vista, as it requires no additional drivers whatsoever), try docking your ZVM to it. If it docks, then the problem is with your computer, and a Windows reinstall may be required. If it doesn't dock, then...
2. Boot your player into Recovery Mode (see FAQ subforum for Recovery Mode instructions). Once in Recovery Mode, try plugging into your computer. If the word "docked" appears on your ZVM's display, then try reloading the firmware.

[JimB]

Hi folks,

I apologize that my first post here is such a n00b one, but I'm a bit confused and what to clarify what I've read here. I'm attempting to charge my brand new ZVM:30GB via USB (WinXP-SP2). I followed the FAQ (I think), just plugged it in. The blue LED flashed, and the battery icon showed "charging". But after 24 hours, there was no change the charge state. But there was a enough juice or charging power trickling in early on that I was able to browser the ZVM's folders.

So, I followed ChrisOK's method. But now the ZVM's screen is on constantly, indicating "Low Battery" (almost like it's locked up(?)). No blinking LED, no "charging" indication from the battery icon. And nothing as of yet has popped up in Device Manager.

Is this correct behavior while I wait for the ZVM to charge enough to allow XP to see it? I'm hoping the answer is "Yes, just be patient" Although after an unproductive 24 hours already, it's tough.

Cheers,
Jim

[Edit: And just to confirm, during my earlier browsing, I noticed it does have the 1.62.02 firmware, so I don't think I have the problem with the early firmware.]

[10/18/07 Update: As I guessed, patience was needed (sometimes I'm in short supply ). This AM the ZVM was charged and eventually was recognized by the PC. So looks like I'm OK. Now, back to reading the forum and learning all I can. Thanks.]

[ZenChick]

Glad you got it resolved, JimB, and welcome to the forums!

[holly_t3]

Originally Posted by ZenChick

1. If you have access to another computer (preferably one running Vista, as it requires no additional drivers whatsoever), try docking your ZVM to it. If it docks, then the problem is with your computer, and a Windows reinstall may be required.

I guess I'll try that. But is there any consensus on what is causing the drivers (if those are indeed the culprit) to spontaneously go kaput? These incidents seem to literally be overnight occurrences.

[powertothepeople]

I had my ZVM for 4 blissful months. Suddenly, the player kept playing but didn't transfer any sound through the speakers or headphones. About half an hour later, the screen went black, but my computer still recognized it and it still had power. When I turned it off to try to restart it, it just stopped. It doesn't respond in any way and it's not recognized by the computer. I've tried the suggestions: pressing the reset button, reinstalling the program, and waiting for the battery to drain and recharge, downloading the software to troubleshoot, (but it's still not recognized) but it's not responding. What happened??? LCD screen? battery? shorted circuits? If it's fixable, how much will it cost? Will a one year warranty on parts pay for this problem? (As a side note, I originally bought a Creative Zen M on June 4, but had it returned as soon as I received it because it just didn't turn on.)

[ZenChick]

It sounds like the battery up and died on you, that the computer you had it connected to wasn't providing an adequate charging current. Try a different computer or (more preferably) try an AC wall adapter (a PSP adapter works great) and see if you can get it working that way.

Holly: I've seen far stranger things happen on Windows. An automatically downloaded and installed Microsoft Hotfix has been known to cause strange things to happen.

[Spoonie_G]

Originally Posted by darogl

Is your Zen fully charged up? If this is a new ZVM, and you're charging it with the usb cord from your PC, it may take hours and hours because it only accepts a trickle until it gets recognized, and it can't get recognized without a charge in the battery. If this is the case, just be patient, maybe let it charge over night.

Exactly, I just got my zen today and my PC wouldn't recogize it. I just left it connected and within 10 minutes all was fine.

[gameboy 11]

None of that works for me...

I went to the Zen part, where there is an exclamation mark there, and no luck.

[ZenChick]

Have you looked through the FAQ threads? I explain how to reinstall the appropriate drivers. If this still doesn't work, then try the Zen Recovery Tool on Creative's website.

[MizTeeJay]

Please forgive me if I sound like a complete idiot... (that's because I am)... I'm totally non-technical and the fact that this thing ever worked at all in my hands amazing. I've had my Zen for a couple of months... haven't used it much. I've charged it two or three times. Anyway, it was working fine yesterday, but when I pulled it out tonight to show it to a friend and turned it on.. it came onto a song I'd loaded, but it didn't start playing, and locked up right there. I can't turn it off, I've done the reset thing on the bottom five or six times, I get a "Rebuilding" screen, and then it goes right back to the song it's locked up on... the battery hasn't run out yet and when i tried to dock it, it did nothing...

Help! (please -- I love this thing and I'm frustrated to DEATH.)

[ZenChick]

Hiya, Miz, and welcome to ABi!

I hope you have copies of everything on your player somewhere on your computer, because what I'm about to suggest may wipe some of your songs: Boot into Recovery Mode (instructions are here) and perform a Disk Cleanup, then reboot. This will correct any corruption on your player's hard drive that causes these lock-ups. However, it may also remove files it finds that are corrupted as well.

Once that's done, sync whatever songs are missing back onto your player.

If you haven't done so already, you should go to Creative's website and download the latest firmware file for your player. Download it to your desktop. Once downloaded, plug your player into your computer, double-click the firmware file you downloaded, and follow the instructions given. It's actually a very easy process.

Best of luck, hon!

[powertothepeople]

Thanks for the feedback!! I'm glad I didn't give up too soon. I finally drained the Zen of its battery and allowed it to recharge for 6 hours. It's now functioning and recognized by the computer, but the screen is black so I can't see anything. Is the LCD broken? There's no scratches or noticeable breaks. Should I open it and try to fix it? I live in the U.S. and they want me to ship my player to Singapore to get it fixed. Yikes!!

[TheTornado]

Originally Posted by ZenChick

Hiya, Miz, and welcome to ABi!

I hope you have copies of everything on your player somewhere on your computer, because what I'm about to suggest may wipe some of your songs: Boot into Recovery Mode (instructions are here) and perform a Disk Cleanup, then reboot. This will correct any corruption on your player's hard drive that causes these lock-ups. However, it may also remove files it finds that are corrupted as well.

Once that's done, sync whatever songs are missing back onto your player.

If you haven't done so already, you should go to Creative's website and download the latest firmware file for your player. Download it to your desktop. Once downloaded, plug your player into your computer, double-click the firmware file you downloaded, and follow the instructions given. It's actually a very easy process.

Best of luck, hon!

I had the same problem as Miz... I did what you suggested, restarted in recovery mode and attempted to install the newest firmware. Well, that didn't work as my library stopped rebuilding and the firmware install failed. I thought that was no big deal as my player was recognized by my computer. So, I again restarted my player normally. This time, though, the library stopped rebuilding halfway through. It stopped and went back to the beginning, and attempted to rebuild the library. It stopped again halfway through and came up with an error message that has a square with an exclamation point and says "Firmware Problem" and I can't get rid of that screen. It seems like there is just one problem after another. Any advice?

[ZenChick]

Originally Posted by TheTornado

I had the same problem as Miz... I did what you suggested, restarted in recovery mode and attempted to install the newest firmware. Well, that didn't work as my library stopped rebuilding and the firmware install failed. I thought that was no big deal as my player was recognized by my computer. So, I again restarted my player normally. This time, though, the library stopped rebuilding halfway through. It stopped and went back to the beginning, and attempted to rebuild the library. It stopped again halfway through and came up with an error message that has a square with an exclamation point and says "Firmware Problem" and I can't get rid of that screen. It seems like there is just one problem after another. Any advice?

I've seen that problem before. It's not good. It's indicative of a partially-failed hard drive.

Try performing a full Disk Cleanup, a Reformat, and then reboot. When it returns to Recovery Mode, reload the firmware.

Once all that is done, if you are able, go to Main Menu --> System --> Information and take note of how much hard drive space is available. If it reports around 27-28GB, then you should be okay to resync. If it reports <16GB, then your hard drive has failed.

[ipodnanouser]

Awesome! This fix works only on very certain players with certain problems. For me, I had a Zen V and it worked perfectly when nothing else worked for me! Thanks for this guide!

[Terrancelee]

I'm ready to pull my hair out. Picked up a ZVM today and tried to install it .. WinXP pack 2 and all updated to begin with, even media 11. It finds the zen in "found new hardware", and it wants to install the drivers. It does it once, and goes okay, then immediately it reinstalls again. It even shows up in my portable devices, only with a yellow exclamation mark. After the second install of drivers, it comes up with the wizard box of "cannot start this hardware" .. "this device is not working properly because the controlling firmware is reporting the resources for the device incorrectly. (code9)"

I've tried everything I can think of, have rebooted my system for the past 3 hours trying different things. Have tried every fix I can find here on the net. I know I've missed this somewhere, surely, as I can't fathom I'm the first one to have this issue. Anyone have any advice?

Thanks