I just acquired a 40 GB unit on Ebay. After charging it up I turned it on and it went through the Creative splash screen and went directly to recovery mode.
I've tried re-loading and upgrading both software and firmware and every time I try to re-load the firmware I get one square away from completion and it hangs, generating a "Firmware Upgrade Failed" error.
I've tried formatting the disk, tried all of the above plugged in and on batteries, tried to format through My Computer in XP and each time I end up in recovery mode.
Another quirk that alarms me is that XP sees the drive as only 20 Mb, not the 40 Gb the model number indicates.
The drive makes some mild grinding and ticking noises... not unlike a hard drive with problems. Any assistance would be most welcome...
I wrote to Creative Labs support and their suggestion was to send it back with $127.00. Finding the complete contents of the install disk has proven to be a major obstacle as well.
Be very wary of purchasing from Connect-Comp if their description includes words like "As IS"...
An expert who has achieved level 3 by getting 1000 points
All-Star:
An expert that got 10 achievements.
MVP:
An expert that got 5 achievements.
President:
An expert whose answer got voted for 500 times.
Master
4,402 Answers
Re:
Detach your player from the PC if it is connected, and turn off the player.
If the player stops responding, you can reset the player. To reset the player, gently
insert a thin object into the Reset hole located below the power switch.
2. Press and hold the Play button while powering on your player.
3. When the player displays the Creative logo, release the Play button.
It will display the following options:
Clean Up
Scans the player and removes invalid links from its music library.
Does not affect music files themselves.
Format (All)
Caution! Erases all content!
Save a copy of your player's content before formatting.
Reload OS/ Firmware
Caution! Erases your player's firmware.
DO NOT select the Reload Firmware option unless you have access to a PC and you have downloaded the necessary firmware to install.
Reboot Reboots the device. I actually had this exact problem a little while ago with my Zen Sleek-- Booting straight to the Recovery menu, and only getting a generic "Harddisk problem" error screen any time I would try to do anything.
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box above.
- Better answers use proper spelling and grammar.
- Provide details, support with references or personal experience.
Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.
Tip: The max point reward for answering a question is 15.
The recovery tool mentioned above is not designed for the sleek photo. You need to download the firmware for the sleek photo from creative's site. Now we need to get your player recognized to get the firmware loaded. If you have Windows Media Player 11, it needs to be removed. Also remove WMP runtime. After that, restart the pc and your player should be recognized. You can then double click on the firmware program to run it. It might say something like, this firmaware is already installed...do you want to reload it? Click yes to reload.
I had the same problem with my sleek photo. Once I got rid of WMP and the runtime everything worked like a charm.
I have the sleek photo and mine bugged out yesterday. It would go to the splash screen and then go blank and just sit there. Nothing would respond. I tried reset, reboot and other things too. My pc also would not recognize the player. To make a long story short, I tried other suggestions I found on the web. They didn't work and my player would now only go to a garbled splash screen and go right to the recovery screen.
I had the new firmware, but I couldn't use it because the pc wouldn't detect the goofy player. Then I ran across a site that mentioned that Windows Media Player can cause player recognition problems. I removed both WMP (mine was 11) and WMP runtime using the add/remove programs option on the control panel. I restarted the pc and BAM! the player was now recognized. I ran the new firmware application and the player works fine now. The key for me was getting rid of WMP and the WMP runtime.
The hard drive is bad and you will need to get it replaced. There is a repair service box on this page if you scroll down; just enter your zip code to find a repair service near you.
Sounds like it may be the index in your Music Library. Try going into Recovery Mode the routine way; remove battery(are they charged and good?), hold power switch to ON, replace battery, release power switch when the Recovery Mode screen appears on the screen. Run Option 1 CleanUP, after it completes run Option 4 Restart/Reboot. You will get a Rebuilding Library screen when it reboots, that's normal, then it should go back to your startup screen.
Good luck
and let us know what happened
×