MY Zen can not be recognized by Windows. I went to the recovery Mode And erased the Firmware thinking it migth Solve the problem but it still not being recognized By windows. It showed up as "unkown device" In the Device Manager. I put in a lot of money in this Zen And I would thank anyone for the rest of my life if anyone helped me solve this problem! ( Oh, Just incase you need it The recovery mode version Is "v1.21.01_0.3.1"

SOURCE: Zen Sleek not recognized by firmware: not connected msg

try the information here remove MS Media player 11 http://193.95.171.84/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=366,E=0000000000255567421,K=6463,Sxi=6,Case=obj(16737),Kb=ww_english_add,VARSET=ws:http://uk.europe.creative.com/

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SOURCE: Another Firmware/Recovery Mode problem

Try this: My computer --> Control Panel --> Portable Media Devices Is the Zen showing up? If not, your Zen has a bad motherboard and you will need to take it to a technician to have it replaced, or find a motherboard and do the replacement yourself.

SOURCE: Firmware reload

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.
go to my computer > click on hardware tab >
click on device manager button > in the is next screen on the bottom should have>>universal serial bus controllers
(write these down just in case it cant find them)
right click on them and uninstall
reboot let windows reinstall them
Also told Microsoft hotfix causes this problem try uninstalling the last hotfix
If that doesn't fix it try the USB cable

SOURCE: Creative Zen MicroPhoto 8GB, in recovery mode, the device is not connected

WTF my sis has the same thing and she thinks i broke it .. =.= i dont know if she still has the software or the plug to the computer ..... i dont know what im supposed to do to fix this retarded problem =.= IT WONT GET OFF THE F**IN SCREENNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =.=

SOURCE: Zen Sleek not recognized by firmware: not connected msg

I had the same problem with zen v (video). My pc (Xp s. pack 3) recognized the player in device manager, but reloading firmware failed, as that small app. was still asking me to connect it.
I used my friend's pc Xp sp2 with automatic updates disabled and eventually loaded firmware into my zen using ' mp3 player recovery tool' from creative website http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/MP3PlayerRecoveryTool/welcome.asp? (,because that small application - firmware pcfw_l22_1_32_01 didn't recognize player again.

Good luck!