ZVM USB Driver disconnecting after ~30 seconds

[ReknapS]

I have a similar problem to many of the other people here.
A couple days ago I went to resync my Zen only to discover it wasnt able to sync at all.
Windows recognized it as a Zen, it would charge properly, but it would not sync. I made no software or hardware changes to my Win XP, WMP 11 machine.

I read through the threads... tried cleaning up the drive... yada yada yada.
I uninstalled the drivers through the device manager, scanned for hardware changes, and low and behold - it detected it, installed the MTP driver, and it worked!!!! - for about 30 seconds. I was able to sync up my Zen, but then the driver messed up and it disconnected after about 30 seconds.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the driver several times now and every time it works for 30 seconds but then the little yellow ! pops up in the device manager and it no longer syncs. I installed the drivers from the CD as well as the generic Windows MTP drivers and it does the same thing.

Until I figure it out, I just need to make sure I dont try to sync anything that will take longer than about 30 seconds cause it will crap out mid transfer.

[CrowdAds]

[ZenChick]

Well, that's a bizarre one indeed! It sounds like firmware corruption to me. Have you tried reinstalling the firmware?

[ReknapS]

Ok....
I downloaded the latest firmware. Connected the device and started the upgrade. Then the player crapped out mid upgrade. Im having problems getting the device to connect to the pc at all now, not even my uninstall and reinstall the drivers is working.

Bricked??

I bought this thing in February of this year through NewEgg. Is there a 1 year RMA or swap policy?

[ReknapS]

Cancel the doom and gloom...
I got it back to its 'semi' bricked state. I can get it to sync again for about 30 seconds.
Obviously thats not long enough to upgrade the firmware.

I going to try it on another computer just to try it. If that doesnt work where do I stand? RMA?

[ZenChick]

Try it on another computer just to make sure it's the player. If the other computer does the same thing, then boot the player to Recovery Mode and use its Reinstall Firmware function. This will completely wipe the existing firmware and whatever problems it may be causing here.

[ReknapS]

Interesting find.
The player syncs fine on my brothers computer! So... while Im at his house (happy thanksgiving everyone!) I updated the firmware.
I guess the player is fine and the problems lies with my PC.

Any idea what could've gone wrong with my PC's usb drivers?

Thanks for all your help zenchick.

[digitalq]

Very often you have to disable and then delete the driver. Since the device usually only shows up when connected, the computer won't really delete the corrupted driver, since it's in use. Disabling the driver takes it out of use and can often allow for a true deletion. After deleting the driver, try a reboot and then reinstall.

HTH
Chris

[ReknapS]

I tried the disable then delete but that didnt help either.

I thought that maybe since the drivers for the Zen come with WMP 11 I could uninstall WMP11 and reinstall. I did that but I still get the same results.

[ZenChick]

I can think of two things that could possibly cause this problem: You have installed Creative Media Explorer (in which case, you'll either need to uninstall it then reinstall WMP11, or download and install the update patch for Media Explorer from Creative's website), or you have problems with your computer's USB drivers, or - okay, three things that could possibly cause this problem - your computer has VIA chipset and onboard USB. I haven't heard from many people with this problem, but some people with VIA chipsets report no or intermittent connectivity with various MP3 players and onboard USB. Your only solution in that case is to either replace your computer's motherboard (which would be pretty stupid unless you're really scraping for an excuse to upgrade) or buy a PCI USB card, and plug into that.