Last chance before throwing away my Zen

[seba]

Hi,

I have a problem with my Zen V Plus. It was running fine under Vista 64-bit, but after charging it in my truck I saw a message 'overheating, shutting down'. Since that time my computer does not see the player. I was trying everything I found in this forum.

Now I stuck with erased firmware. So when I turn the player on, Recovery Mode appears and nothing more I can do. I cannot reload firmware, I cannot start the player normally.

Is there anything else I can do? Any ideas?

thanks
seba

[CrowdAds]

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by seba

I have a problem with my Zen V Plus. It was running fine under Vista 64-bit, but after charging it in my truck I saw a message 'overheating, shutting down'. Since that time my computer does not see the player. I was trying everything I found in this forum.

What are you using to charge it in your truck? It sounds like I would stay away from charging it there in the future. It could be somethig along the line of it charging too quickly or applying too much current and tripping the temperature sensor in the charging circuit.

Originally Posted by seba

Now I stuck with erased firmware. So when I turn the player on, Recovery Mode appears and nothing more I can do. I cannot reload firmware, I cannot start the player normally.

So, you erased the firmware? The Zen won't boot back up normally until it is recognized correctly by the computer and the firmware reinstalled. Check Device Manager to make sure that it is being recognized correctly and the driver loaded without error once connected.

[seba]

Thank you for your answer, BobbyRS. I charged it in my truck using charger designed for charging Zen (you could still listen to the music while charging). But the problem was caused, I guess, that the truck has higher voltage than regular car and it probably caused overheating. The player was still working after overheating but computer didn't recognize it.
So I thought if I rewrite firmware it will be fine. But it wasn't.
I can't put new firmware because computer doesn't see it. I was trying to install microsoft driver for portable devices but it doesn't help.

Everything just started after overheating. Could it be helpful if I change battery? Thanks for help.

Sebastian

[BobbyRS]

No problem. Did you check Device Manager to see if the Zen is being detected and for the status of its driver?

[rperez414]

It's been my experience that the Creative Firmware upgrade program won't see your Zen if there is no firmware to begin with. This happened with my Zen V. I deleted the firmware and could then not re-install new firmware no matter what.

The computer see's the Zen V just fine and drivers were not an issue. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling just to be safe. Even tried on a 3 different computers. But nothing worked.

So, if you accidentally delete the firmware, start shopping for your next player.

If someone could prove me wrong that would be great. Because I kept my Zen V just in case. It's a great little player. Perfect size for me.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by rperez414

It's been my experience that the Creative Firmware upgrade program won't see your Zen if there is no firmware to begin with. This happened with my Zen V. I deleted the firmware and could then not re-install new firmware no matter what.

The Zen's are made to be fully recognized with or without firmware loaded. The firmware is actually stored on the hard drive and when booted into Recovery Mode, you are booted into the Recovery utility ran from the ROM and not the hard drive. The Zen should be recognizable by Windows when booted in either mode; firmware or Recovery Mode.

Originally Posted by rperez414

So, if you accidentally delete the firmware, start shopping for your next player.

Absolutely not! Most times, not having firmware on the Zen is just a matter of reloading it to correct.

Originally Posted by rperez414

If someone could prove me wrong that would be great. Because I kept my Zen V just in case. It's a great little player. Perfect size for me.

Just read around the Zen forums. There are literally hundreds of threads/posts regarding this same issue that have been corrected.

[seba]

BobbyRS and rperez414 thanks for answers.

I did the same way like rperez414. I tried to install player on 3 different machines (xp, vista32, vista64) without success. Everytime I got a message 'usb device not recognized'. System loads by default MTP driver with yellow icon. After removing it in device manager and reinstalling computer founds nothing.

If I look at the player I can see (it's very shady, but readable) the message 'overheating, shutting down'. Firmware tool doesn't see the player as well.

So my next Zen is just on the way from Creative warehouse

I will keep my old one just in case.

thanks
Sebastian

[rperez414]

SEba- Good luck with your new player.

Bobby - I stand corrected about the firmware. After I saw your note I tried using the recovery tool instead of the firmware upgrade app and THAT worked. Yay!!!

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by seba

BobbyRS and rperez414 thanks for answers.

No problem.

Originally Posted by seba

So my next Zen is just on the way from Creative warehouse

Good to hear.

Originally Posted by seba

I will keep my old one just in case.

Always good to have parts.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by rperez414

Bobby - I stand corrected about the firmware. After I saw your note I tried using the recovery tool instead of the firmware upgrade app and THAT worked. Yay!!!

It's no problem. Happy to hear you got it worked out. Congrats!