Start screen and that's all!

[IH8TIPOD]

I love my Zen and have had no problems for over a year till now.
It will charge and hold the charge. I can get to the recovery mode and have tried all the options. After the Creative and Zen start screen thats all I get (darkness,with a power light). Any help would be appreciated.

[CrowdAds]

[werezenwolf]

by any chance do you have the dongle plugged in, or is the player in the dock? If so then you may have the video setting to Auto (NTSC) or Auto (PAL). When you do that the player screen blacks out so it can send the vid signal through the line out. Change it to "Off"

If you already know all about that, sorry

[IH8TIPOD]

Nope I thought of that just tried to update the firmware and it doesn't finish stops after the reboot.

[HipHopScribe]

Could be a dead hard drive I guess.

[ZenChick]

That's what I'm guessing.

[IH8TIPOD]

Is that something I need to send to Creative or can I order a hard drive? Anyone know what kind it is I'm guessing a Toshi....Is the firmware all that needs to be loaded? Or is there an ISO that creative uses? Or do I just scrap it and invest in a new one?

[Almoxil]

This thread has lots of information on replacing the hard drive of Zen Vision:M. I hope it will help you.

[IH8TIPOD]

Thank you everyone for your help. I figured out that the hard drive is shot by going to the recovery screen and selecting reload firmware, when it ask to reload it I plugged in the usb and quickly opened it in a windows folder and it was only showing 50mb. Creative said It'll be $120 for RMA or repair, so I guess I'll asking santa for a new player or a hard drive. Thanks again

[ZenChick]

50MB happens to be the size of the firmware's filespace on the hard drive, and is what is normally reported by a player with no firmware.

Have you tried reloading the firmware using the Reload Firmware option in Recovery Mode? Before doing that, try doing a Disk Cleanup and then a Reformat first. Then try reloading the firmware.

If that doesn't work and your player is still within the 1-year limited warranty, or if you're not comfortable with the idea of replacing the drive yourself, I'd go the RMA route. If it's beyond warranty and you're comfortable with the procedure, then you'd probably be better off replacing the drive yourself, as you can probably find a drive cheaper than $120 -- but you have to know what kind of interface your player uses first - either an ATA connector or a ZIF connector.

[IH8TIPOD]

Well a month later, I now have a new hitachi HD, a new zif and still cannot load the firmware. Same problem as the old HD. The firmware loads all the way to the reboot then blank with backlight. Any other ideas to my visions woes?

[HipHopScribe]

Originally Posted by IH8TIPOD

Well a month later, I now have a new hitachi HD, a new zif and still cannot load the firmware. Same problem as the old HD. The firmware loads all the way to the reboot then blank with backlight. Any other ideas to my visions woes?

You formatted the drive in recovery mode first?

[IH8TIPOD]

Originally Posted by HipHopScribe

You formatted the drive in recovery mode first?

Yup I did a format and reload. As soon as it reboots to finish just the backlight.

[ZenChick]

This is a serious long shot, but have you tried using an A/V cable to plug your ZVM to a TV set? For the purpose of this experiment, you can use a standard camcorder cable - just plug it all the way in, then carefully pull it slightly out one click.

Edit: I realize something like this had already been addressed a month ago, but - please... Humor me.

[IH8TIPOD]

Well I tried that again to no avail. When I charge the battery I have to charge in the recovery mode, also I have to such down In recovery mode, when it is just the backlight it will do niether. When I plugged in the dongle and AV connector no change with the backilight or TV. I feel like a doctor who won't give up on the dead guy in the ER.

[IH8TIPOD]

Just for kicks, why one click?

[ZenChick]

Originally Posted by IH8TIPOD

Just for kicks, why one click?

This article might help explain that.

As for the problem you're having... I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. You've already replaced the drive, tried reloading the firmware... I can't think of anything else.

[IH8TIPOD]

Well thanks for all the help anyway. I guess I'll start shopping for a new player. I really enjoy the video out feature on the M. Does the new Zen flash player have the video out feature? I know it dosen't fully integrate the SD into the menu either, do you know of any quality players that do?

[ZenChick]

You could see if you can find another ZVM, or you could send in your ZVM for repair - chances are it would be cheaper than a new player. However, if you'd like a whole new player, I suggest posting your request in the "Other MP3 Players" forum. You're more likely to get a good range of answers there. The best I can suggest is a range of Cowon players depending on what features you're looking for.

Unfortunately, the Zen does not have video output.

[arlojj]

I have a very similar problem with mine, which doesn't sound like a lot of the other dead hard drive issues in that it shows the two logos and then goes black with the backlight on. I haven't read such an exact description in any of the other posts.

I've had some charging issues with mine as well (I realized now that the voltage on my car power adapter had been changed to a fairly higher voltage and I think it fried some components).

Personally, I think I'm just going to go with a new player... which will probably end up being an IPOD Classic 80gig. I like the spirit of the ZVM, but there is no replacement and you can get the Classic 80 off eBay for more than $100 less than I paid for the ZVM.

[alexs0fly]

yea i think im gonna go with another mp3 player. the ZVM was nice but i think id like to try something new