Zen V Plus Screen Problems

[BobbyRS]

Well, from what I understand the "end of life" for an OLED is when the luminance decays to 50%. So I don't think the display is useless even at its "end of life". Basically dimming, but depending on the initial brightness (the brighter they are, the shorter their life), it may not even be noticeable.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by pamster33

Thank you for your reply.. the screen just started to go dim then quit all together. I will try to let the battery die then charge it. I can hear the songs play, but cant see anything, even when I hook it to computer...I just see the keys light up (when its on the play key and such lights up blue.

Sounds like the OLED display has gone out or reached its EOL. You can try purchasing a new screen and replacing it or send it back for repair.

[HannaH161]

my zen has the same problem...ever since i got it ive had problems..i lost it for 10 months..and the day before i got an ipod (day before my birthday) i found it..
there was also a problem with the software and I could only get songs on it using the little line in wire..but when I sorted out the software everything was normal until the screen started getting little lines in it and it was darker every time I turned it on until it it was completly black.
did you fix the problem? its soo annoying!!
maybe it was to do with when it was lost..the it was left switched on untill it ran out of battery...please help!!

I have the same problem with the screen...did you fix it?

[ZenChick]

Hiya, HannaH161, and Welcome to ABi!

I'm sorry to hear about your player. Unfortunately, I doubt the battery has anything to do with it (though you are lucky it still charges after being left dormant for so long). It seems that the V's OLED display has a rather limited lifespan, and that you too have a dead screen.

I wish I had better news for you.

[BobbyRS]

until the screen started getting little lines in it and it was darker every time I turned it on until it it was completly black.

Yes, sounds like the display went out. Sorry.

[Xugg]

Same thing happen to me unfortunately, i bought it on eBay two years ago roughly and in a freak accident on my mountain bike i came to a stop on my ass right next to the pocket the zen was in. Screen outside is fine, when i looked at it, two rows of red pixels appeared, next time i turned it on the screen was a little dimmmer, then dimmer next time i turned it on until it was no longer visable. I got a week of use out of it before it stopped functioning completely!

Creative wants 25$ just to handle the, probably $25-40 for just the screen... That and it wont sell on eBay for more then $75, might as well buy a new one and save the hassle.

Moral of the story - dont squash your zen v, they dont like that

[BobbyRS]

I see a ton on EBay you could try getting and replacing the screen (or other parts). Opening it up isn't hard at all and the screen can easily be replaced. Here is a video on how to open the Zen V.

[rogwould]

Don't know what size v+ you had but it might be as cheap to get a new one at Creative site. New 4gb=$59.99 FS Sale is only a couple days and they do run out. I've had good luck withe refurbs too but they are out right now.

[Dan2692]

I recently broke my Zen V plus screen, music still plays and im assuming it works fine ao i'm going to try to replace the screen. I've been looking round for one but does anyone know where I could find a good replacement?

Thanks, any help appreciated

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Dan2692

I recently broke my Zen V plus screen, music still plays and im assuming it works fine ao i'm going to try to replace the screen. I've been looking round for one but does anyone know where I could find a good replacement?

Thanks, any help appreciated

Parts for daps are very hard to find or come by, the best is to look for bricked players on ebay to salvage parts off.

[BobbyRS]

Yup. EBay is great for this. They seem to have a few. Opening it up isn't hard at all and the screen can easily be replaced. Here is a video on how to open the Zen V. Good luck.

[rperez414]

I was tempted by the low price on a refurbished 4gb Zen V Plus that Creative was offering on their website and purchased one. My past experience with refurbished from other manufacturers meant receiving a product that was indistinguishable from brand new so I figured what the heck. Well, I received my refurb zen and it was scratched up and was obviously very used. I thought, well for $45 what do you expect. If it works fine, that's okay by me.

It works great for music, but the video's look horrible. Whenever there are light objects on a dark background there is major bleed over onto the dark. Is this normal?

Here is a screen shot of my intro screen. Do all of the Zen V's have this "reverse shadow"?

[IMG] http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/995/zentr2.jpg [/IMG]

[BobbyRS]

Looks like a possible bad screen. I would ask them to replace it since you just bought it from them.

[rperez414]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you not have the vertical white lines that I do on startup?

[BobbyRS]

No, I don't have a Zen V Plus. Those lines just aren't supposed to be there and are indicative of a failing display.

[lymmguineas]

I would send it back. I've just bought a refurb 4gb zen v plus and it looks like it's brand new. The display works fine on mine.

[BobbyRS]

Yeah, it looks like one that slipped trough quality control.

[LeftyAce]

Hi all,

My zen v+ is about 9 months old, and for a number of reasons got unusually damp recently (wearing it while working out more so than usual...no rain or sink type submersion, just sweat).

The screen now does not turn on. If I hold the power switch, the lights under the play/pause and the menu buttons light up, and it will even play music, but the screen remains black. I tried the reset procedure, and am not sure if it did anything (player still plays music that I put on it a while ago.) It is still recognized by Gnomad2 (linux mp3 player manager).

Any ideas? Does it make sense for just the screen to be fried? Thanks in advance!

[BobbyRS]

Hello LeftyAce. Welcome. OLED displays are really susceptible to damage from water and moisture. Perhaps due to the damp air and sweat, the organic material was damaged.

Thread merged with main Screen Problem thread. You may want to check out post 72.

[LeftyAce]

Thanks Bobby, that's kind of what I'd gathered. Of course I opened the player up just to see how easy a screen replacement would be, and it seemed pretty doable....until in the process of putting the whole thing back together I banged a resistor with my screwdriver, and now it doesn't turn on at all :-/ ....researching a new player (sansa clip looks appealing...)