zen freezes/blacks out

[hostile hams]

FIXED!!

Okay so I got a Zen 8gb as a present but it was freezing constantly, at irregular intervals. It was always after it finished playing a song or was skippping it. I took this one back and got another one. The Zen now has blacked out twice (just randomly the screen turned black, still lit up, couldn't turn it off, had to reset), and frozen a few times, however it does not do it as consistantly as the other one. The firmware is the newest, I think (1.21.01). Because this has happened to me twice, I tried cleanup from the recovery screen thing, and it didn't work. Just to make sure I did it right I tried it again, still didn't work. Please help, as I enjoy this player, other than it's problems.

UPDATE: I just read another forum kinda like this one and I just formatted it.

only now i can't tell whether it will freeze or not cuz theres no files on it

also is there any way I can get the demo files back? (the pics, music and video) although I guess I only want the pics, and only kinda.

[BobbyRS]

Yes, that is the latest firmware. You may want to consider reloading it or returning you Zen again.

Check out this thread for the default files.

[hostile hams]

okay thanks I just finished adding my stuff and I'll add the defaults now. Hopefully it might work.

[BobbyRS]

Hey no problem. Like I said, if it continues you can try reloading the firmware to try and resolve the issue before taking it back, if you like. Good luck and welcome to ABI!

[hostile hams]

So I added all the files, plus the scenery is on it, and it froze eventually. so I thought "well, since I added all of the files on again, maybe there will be a/some corrupt thing(s)," and did the clean up. it froze again. And now I realize something: both the players have frozen on the same song. the first one did it like twice and this one just did it. could it screw up my player if the songs are in wma format?

(by the way, your fAQs are really helpful, thanks)

[ZenChick]

No, WMA files should be fine; however, it would seem there is at least one file in there that is corrupt and causing problems. Finding this file will be a royal pain in the butt, I'm afraid; but if you find it/them and everything starts working again, it'll be worth it. If they were all MP3's, I could suggest a few programs which can scan your entire library looking for errors, but I know of no such thing for WMAs.

[hostile hams]

i don't have many WMAs and I could just delete them.

so I'm open to suggestions

And I'm definetly deleting that one song. (its not a good one anyways)

PS: I looked over my shoulder when I read your location. (right.......behind......you.....)

[hostile hams]

I Think Its Working!!!

after I deleted that song it hasn't frozen yet.

I'll post here if it freezes again.

thanks a lot for the help!

UPDATE: It froze again on a different song (this time a good one ) and I resetted it and clicked it again: it froze again so I deleted the song. It seems I have a few bad songs on my Zen. I'll just delete the songs every time I see them.

[BobbyRS]

could it screw up my player if the songs are in wma format?

Verify your firmware version. WMA playback issues have sort of plagued the Zen since its release. Make sure you are using the latest firmware (1.21.01) because it directly addresses WMA playback issues (I know you said it was; just wanting to make sure). I would give the latest firmware a shot (if it isn't the latest) since it may be able to help (and hopefully not have to delete as much).

(by the way, your fAQs are really helpful, thanks)

No problem. Thank you for the compliment.