Screen Problems and the WSOD (White Screen of Death)

[TheElite]

Lol sorry to hear that. But I'd say give it one more chance; as said before, buy it from somewhere other than Best Buy. I guarantee you'll love it when you get it up and running. =]

[CrowdAds]

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by swy81

Dont get me wrong, on paper, the Zen really is a fantastic tiny "PMP". Tiny credit card size with a gorgeous 2.5 inch screen. Once all of these major issues are sorted out, I would definitely get another.

Originally Posted by swy81

But for right now, the player is an unfinished player that was rushed to the market. Umm QA testing anyone?? Just too many issues.

I understand you are just trying to help, but there is a way to discuss issues without having to make broad inaccurate opinions and trying to pass them off as absolute. The Zen looks good "on paper" AND in tangible form. This may be a more common then usual problem for some, but that doesn't mean it deserves to have statements like the ones above said as supposed fact. All new devices will have issues when released. No new product released will be without its issues. For every problem discussed here, there are many, many more people with the Zen who aren't experiencing the same. People do have a tendency to post problems they are having and seek help more so then people not experiencing any issues and don't need help.

Originally Posted by swy81

As far as having 16.7 million screens vs. 262,000 pixels, it really doesn't make a difference. Pictures on my 262,000 color P2 look far better compared to my previous 16.7 million color Zen. Pictures looker clearer, sharper, and more vibrant on the P2.

Come on.....doesn't make a difference? You may not see a difference (many other factors involved here like encoding and resolution), but they will not look any "better".

Creativezenlover: I know your patients have been tried, and I must hand it to you, you have been really optimistic about your situation. I would suggest, like it was mentioned before, purchase a Zen from somewhere other then where you bought the first two. When you get a working unit, I believe you won't regret it. Keep in mind that Creative tends to be one of the better companies in regards to releasing firmware revisions to address issues.

However, if you are looking into other players, personally I prefer the Cowan D2 over the Samsung P2 (if you are into touch screens, which I am not). The D2 has great codec support (Divx/Xvid) and buttons to use instead of just a touch-screen.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by Qboi

for anyone who has this problem still, i found that putting it on hold until the screen turned off and then taking it off of hold resolved the problem. you might have to try it a few times.

i havent had this problem for a while though, and it used to happen to me daily.

Good post! Maybe there should be a sticky here about known work-arounds to problems/bugs.

[swy81]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

I understand you are just trying to help, but there is a way to discuss issues without having to make broad inaccurate opinions and trying to pass them off as absolute. The Zen looks good "on paper" AND in tangible form. This may be a more common then usual problem for some, but that doesn't mean it deserves to have statements like the ones above said as supposed fact. All new devices will have issues when released. No new product released will be without its issues. For every problem discussed here, there are many, many more people with the Zen who aren't experiencing the same. People do have a tendency to post problems they are having and seek help more so then people not experiencing any issues and don't need help.



Come on.....doesn't make a difference? You may not see a difference (many other factors involved here like encoding and resolution), but they will not look any "better".

Creativezenlover: I know your patients have been tried, and I must hand it to you, you have been really optimistic about your situation. I would suggest, like it was mentioned before, purchase a Zen from somewhere other then where you bought the first two. When you get a working unit, I believe you won't regret it. Keep in mind that Creative tends to be one of the better companies in regards to releasing firmware revisions to address issues.

However, if you are looking into other players, personally I prefer the Cowan D2 over the Samsung P2 (if you are into touch screens, which I am not). The D2 has great codec support (Divx/Xvid) and buttons to use instead of just a touch-screen.

Broad inaccurate opinions? So users having WSOD and users having their Zen just flash white without turning on is a broad inaccurate opinion? So sites like epizenter acknowledging this WSOD on their front pages is not a big deal? Look at the reviews on Amazon.com and what people say about their Zen just dying on them. No one said my opinion was absolute. It's just that when you have more than "a couple" of users having their Zen just shit on them, it's not cool.

And yeah, the screen on the P2 displays pictures better than the Zen. It might have less colors but, still displays pictures better.


On another note, when did you become Creative's PR person?

[Chili]

Though I understand your personal frustration, making broad attacks on a Creative player in a forum populated mainly by users who actually love their Zen, is not likely to get you any help. All the owners of a Zen, who have never had problems, will not be more sympathetic to you of you attack their intelligence, or their new toy. Again, I understand that after the time and money you have spent, it makes you very angry that you still don't have a working player, but it won't hurt to try and be constructive about it.

If you get one from another store that may well fix the problem for you. There is such a thing as a bad production batch.

Or if you don't want a Zen anymore, just return it for refund. You are not going to convince anyone who is a regular in this forum that their player is a piece of unfinished scrap metal barely fit to be a paper weight, and you are wasting your time trying. Turn your energy to something constructive instead.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by swy81

Broad inaccurate opinions? So users having WSOD and users having their Zen just flash white without turning on is a broad inaccurate opinion? So sites like epizenter acknowledging this WSOD on their front pages is not a big deal? Look at the reviews on Amazon.com and what people say about their Zen just dying on them. No one said my opinion was absolute. It's just that when you have more than "a couple" of users having their Zen just shit on them, it's not cool.

And yeah, the screen on the P2 displays pictures better than the Zen. It might have less colors but, still displays pictures better.


On another note, when did you become Creative's PR person?

Yes, broad inaccurate opinions. My comment wasn't directed towards you or anyone else experiencing the WSOD. I was referring to your comment alone about the Zen only looking good on paper. From where I sit and what I hold in my hand and use, it is far from only looking good on paper. I never said anything about someone else saying your opinion was absolute; you did with how you wrote it. I agree, the WSOD is a major issue and isn't cool. However, that doesn't condemn all of the Zen's because some have it. Many do not.

Again, the display does not look "better". At least from what I've seen and compared. That is my opinion. 262K vs. 16.7M..... no. Again there are other factors involved that can affect the quality of the pictures and videos though.

I don't know. I guess since I bought two of them and have enjoyed them thoroughly, but my comments were directly more towards what you said. I would have said it about any other device if under the same circumstances. It just happened to be about the Zen. Anyway, does it really matter? A discussion is a discussion and points are points regardless. After all, this is the Zen discussion board.

[ZenChick]

If I may throw in my own two cents here... It's a well-known and documented fact that few people who are truly happy about a given product ever go online to proclaim their happiness about it; whereas the vast majority of people who encounter a problem with a particular product have no qualms whatsoever about posting their dissatisfaction everywhere they can. Even if a product enjoys a 99.5% customer satisfaction rating, you rarely hear from those people. It's the remaining 0.5% that you hear from most of the time. For this reason, it is dangerous to apply blanket labels to an entire product line based solely on what you read in help and discussion forums.

With that said: Let's keep this discussion civil, m'kay?

[Valdr]

But does this workaround remove the problem permanently or is it still better to replace faulty player? I agree with some sticky for problem resolving, especially for some immortal questions like how to add album art

[ZenChick]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

Good post! Maybe there should be a sticky here about known work-arounds to problems/bugs.

We already have such a thread, titled "Zen Hints, Tips, and Common Questions". You can find it here.

[Valdr]

Don't know about Bobby's suggestion, but I meant something like numbered Q&A list in the thread with one or few posts, so new forum users wouldn't have to read many (sometimes off-topic) posts to find out if their question is already answered.

[BobbyRS]

Yes, maybe a simple reorganization would work....

Hints, Tips, and Work-Arounds and then a separate FAQ section.

[ZenChick]

The FAQ subforum is in the works. Unlike with the ZVM where I was able to compile it nearly instantly, I don't own a Zen, so it's taking me longer to compile.

[Satsumomo]

Hey everyone

Well I have my ZEN sitting here next to my computer, it's currently off, however I've noticed that every 20-40 minutes, it will suddenly turn on with a white screen for a fraction of a second and remain off. What is this? At first I thought maybe it was shutting down completely from Quick-power-on, but it has been doing this for the past 2-4 hours.

Is it coming alive? D:

[RCM]

you have a ghost in your ZEN could be another one from the bad batch, but could you try updating the firmware and see if that fixes it

[Satsumomo]

It doesn't seem to cause any problems, I just find it weird going crazy when it's supposed to be off. It's currently using the 1.13 firmware, I'll see what happens if I use the newer one. So far it hasn't done it again since my first post, then again I went to kitchen for some water so maybe I didn't see it.

[creativezenlover]

Hmm... it seems there was a bit of an argument going on here... well it's safe to say that i have finally refunded my zen.... no one from bestbuy knew what on earth was wrong with it... I guess I'll just try ONE MORE TIME..... im buying another zen... from a different store this time... this better not fail me AGAIN... I've been VERY impatient these past couple of weeks... I guess I'll try ordering it online... this is my third zen that i''m getting... after all the comments i've read about the zen, it seems to be a pretty decent player IT MUST be the stores fault or something cause the chances are slim for 2 defective ZENS that were new, unopened and purchased from the same store AND FROM THE SAME CUSTOMER....

[ZenChick]

Originally Posted by creativezenlover

I've been VERY impatient these past couple of weeks...

Honey, considering what you've been through these last could of weeks, I think you've been remarkably patient!

Here's hoping that the third time's the charm! *thinks happy thoughts*

[Valdr]

Does it look similar to the flash we've got when plugging headphones?

[swy81]

Originally Posted by creativezenlover

Hmm... it seems there was a bit of an argument going on here... well it's safe to say that i have finally refunded my zen.... no one from bestbuy knew what on earth was wrong with it... I guess I'll just try ONE MORE TIME..... im buying another zen... from a different store this time... this better not fail me AGAIN... I've been VERY impatient these past couple of weeks... I guess I'll try ordering it online... this is my third zen that i''m getting... after all the comments i've read about the zen, it seems to be a pretty decent player IT MUST be the stores fault or something cause the chances are slim for 2 defective ZENS that were new, unopened and purchased from the same store AND FROM THE SAME CUSTOMER....

BTW, you said you bought your Creative Zen's from Best Buy the past 2 times. Best Buy doesn't carry Creative mp3 players anymore in the US. Are you in Canada by chance?

[Qboi]

Originally Posted by Valdr

But does this workaround remove the problem permanently or is it still better to replace faulty player? I agree with some sticky for problem resolving, especially for some immortal questions like how to add album art

not permanently. what i think is that with faulty players, they is a small chance that when the screen is turned off, it will not boot back up fully. there is no need to look for some small twig or needle to use for the reset hole, just put it on hold and put it back on.


i started a thread months ago about how i was going to get a warranty replacement for my zen, but after the 1.20 firmware i haven't encountered the problem at all.


i abuse my player pretty bad, and it's still solid lol. i bring it to the gym, i sleep with it, keep it in my pocket with keys and a cell phone, drop it, etc.

it's a trooper and i've gotten really attached to it.

the only way to add album art is to use tagging software like mediamonkey or windows media player. if its already on the player, i havent found a way to add album art. you have to remove it, add the album art, and then sync it back up.