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Rescuing a Creative Zen Vision W player
2010-Apr-15, Thursday 11:25 amWhen my mp3-player started displaying a "hard-disk problem" message one day, nearly a year ago, I decided it'd be fun to fix it myself. I was wrong.
I have a Creative Zen Vision W. I love this player, the interface, the weight, simply everything. So I googled around and found this teardown. Great! So I went out and found a Toshiba MK1011GAH 120Gb, and fit it. Only. It didn't fit. The drive is 8mm in height, and as it turned out, I have the slim Zen that only fits 5mm drives.
New knowledge! Try again. Get the Toshiba MK8022GAA 80Gb. It certainly fits, but it doesn't work. Turns out the drive is proprietary to the Apple iPod Classic gen 6 video. It uses an extended/encrypted command set which makes it useless in any other device.
More new knowledge! Try again. Samsung HS081HA 80Gb. It fits! It turns on! I can format the drive! I ... can't reload the firmware. New error message: "firmware problem". GAAAAHHHHHHH! The firmware update tool fails. There's also an mp3 player recovery tool, sure I've nothing to lose. As it's downloading the latest firmware for me my player seems to unfreeze, flashing something about plugs, and restarts. I swiftly unplug the usb cable and sit in amazement as it starts up normally, returned to factory-fresh blue theme and everything. I press a few buttons, see that it's empty, turn it off. Then on again. Just to make sure. Apparently it's 02:27:15am, on Monday, 1st August 2005. *SQUEEEEEE* *ahem* Excuse me. To reload with my music!
Helpful information:
- At least two models of Creative Zen Vision Ws. One, that takes 8mm drives and probably came with Hitachi Travelstar C4K60 Slim 60Gb. Two, that takes only 5mm drives and probably came with Seagate ST760211DE 60Gb.
- To force the player into recovery mode, unplug from computer, take out battery. Pull the power switch to the on position and hold it there as you put the battery back in, and keep holding until the recovery menu appears.
- If you are pressing buttons and nothing on screen changes make sure you haven't the hold button locked. If you've opened the player it's real easy to knock it out and put it back wrong, so be careful.
I have a Creative Zen Vision W. I love this player, the interface, the weight, simply everything. So I googled around and found this teardown. Great! So I went out and found a Toshiba MK1011GAH 120Gb, and fit it. Only. It didn't fit. The drive is 8mm in height, and as it turned out, I have the slim Zen that only fits 5mm drives.
New knowledge! Try again. Get the Toshiba MK8022GAA 80Gb. It certainly fits, but it doesn't work. Turns out the drive is proprietary to the Apple iPod Classic gen 6 video. It uses an extended/encrypted command set which makes it useless in any other device.
More new knowledge! Try again. Samsung HS081HA 80Gb. It fits! It turns on! I can format the drive! I ... can't reload the firmware. New error message: "firmware problem". GAAAAHHHHHHH! The firmware update tool fails. There's also an mp3 player recovery tool, sure I've nothing to lose. As it's downloading the latest firmware for me my player seems to unfreeze, flashing something about plugs, and restarts. I swiftly unplug the usb cable and sit in amazement as it starts up normally, returned to factory-fresh blue theme and everything. I press a few buttons, see that it's empty, turn it off. Then on again. Just to make sure. Apparently it's 02:27:15am, on Monday, 1st August 2005. *SQUEEEEEE* *ahem* Excuse me. To reload with my music!
Helpful information:
- At least two models of Creative Zen Vision Ws. One, that takes 8mm drives and probably came with Hitachi Travelstar C4K60 Slim 60Gb. Two, that takes only 5mm drives and probably came with Seagate ST760211DE 60Gb.
- To force the player into recovery mode, unplug from computer, take out battery. Pull the power switch to the on position and hold it there as you put the battery back in, and keep holding until the recovery menu appears.
- If you are pressing buttons and nothing on screen changes make sure you haven't the hold button locked. If you've opened the player it's real easy to knock it out and put it back wrong, so be careful.
