Creative Zen 4GB problems

Now convinced this is bad boot sector on the HD and searching for a repair utility (the inbuilt zen reformat option doesn't sort it) or have to replace HD with new one.

You could try using creative's software.
I know it's not very good, but it works.

Its took months................. but at last it worked.

1. If WMP 11 is installed, remove it including Media Player 11 runtime
2. Install WMP 10, it must be 10...
3. connect your zen, it will show up as MTP
4. click on your firmware, and at last it showed it was connected.

job done.................... at last

good luck

Hey Sheikhea!

You won't need to download or install any programs if you have Windows Media Player on your computer. You can use other programs but WMP is probably the easiest!

1. Plug in your MP3 player using the USB cord (should be in box)
2. Open WMP
3. (If your songs are already in Library skip this step). Click "File" (top left hand corner) then "Add to Library..." Click "OK" WMP will now find all music on your computer and add it to Library.
4. If the internet is connected WMP will attempt to find song info such as title, artist, album etc. Otherwise right click on song and click "Edit"
5. Click on "Sync" tab (top of player). A sidebar should appear with "Creative zen.. etc" written on the top.
6. Drag songs into sidebar.
7. Click "Start Sync"
8. The songs will now download onto your MP3 player.

To organise your files into folders etc. go to "My Computer" then "Creative Zen etc" then "Music" and create folders (right click "create folder") copy, paste, and drag your songs in folders as you like.

You can now unplug you MP3 player and turn it on!

Please reply so I can know if this information was helpful or not and can help you further.

Happy MP3ing!

From Kat

What you have to do is flash the firmware. And this is another huge problem. If you have WMP 11 you have to downgrade/uninstall it from you computer or use a computer that doesn't have it on.
Next connect your MP3 player after you have:
1. cleaned it
2. formated it
(you get to the recovery menu by holding play/pause sign and inserting a paper clip into the reset orifice.
Once it is recognized a menu will pop up asking you if you want to do various things, one of them is to sync or add files to your player using WMP 9 or 10, depending on the machine you have. CLICK that option.
Next you have to run the firmware application provided on the Creative website and that will flash your player with the firmware. It should work fine afterwards.

Make a backup of of the files if you care about them before you start this adventure.

Use PocketDivXEnvcoder and run the outout through it's video/audio sync option before copying it to your Zen.

Start up Window Media player on your computer. Plug your Zen device into the computer. Wait until you see it listing in WMP. Unplug the Zen and see if you can play the songs.
The licenses on the device should be updated by WMP when you plug in the device

im not sure but i think you have to create the playlist first then transfer to mp3

· Make sure you have media player 11
· If you can, the best test is to try your player with another PC, to see if you still have the problem. This localises whether the problem is with the PC (most likely the USB) or the player. See the link below (search on "connection problems") for a lot more troubleshooting on this.
· Download recovery tool off creative's website.

Some USB ports are not powered. I've had problems on certain computers with it working/charging correctly. Laptops especially. Car charger works great everytime. Go figure. Some PC's may have an older version of WMP on it, which somehow gum's up the detection processes. Make sure the PC has WMP 11, and the drivers you need/Creative software on it.