Creative Zen

we have 2 of these both had serious problems and had to be shipped back for repair......might be worth looking up some reviews on them.

Both Hard drives went, they were repaired and sent back to us, it took a bit of time to sort it out as well.
 
How long did it take the hard drive to go and which model?

I have had a Creative Zen Sleek Photo over 2 months ago and no pobs-my friend has had a similar model for over a year and no issues.
 
about 8 months If I recall on the first one and about 10 on the other one, took about 3 weeks by the time I had the RMA from Creative sent back and recieved a new one.

It was the Creative Zen Micro 5GB model that we both had.
 
I just bought a Creative Zen V Plus 8GB model from Peats and the Guy in the Shop told me that if I let the battery power go below 5% I will only be able to charge it from the mains with a Creative adapter and not be able to use the USB from my P.C. to charge it(I was stunned) I said so what you need to keep it topped up and he said yes. Is this true? I have googled and cant find any mention of this.
 
BroadbandKen said:
I just bought a Creative Zen V Plus 8GB model from Peats and the Guy in the Shop told me that if I let the battery power go below 5% I will only be able to charge it from the mains with a Creative adapter and not be able to use the USB from my P.C. to charge it(I was stunned) I said so what you need to keep it topped up and he said yes. Is this true? I have googled and cant find any mention of this.
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I have one of these also and have ran it until it stopped a few times. Recharged from USB without problem.
 
Thanks for that -was he just trying to get me to buy the USB/Mains Adaptor (extra commision for him)? -Anyway I'll see how it goes.
I've searched websites everywhere and no mention of this 'dont let the battery drop below 5%'
 
I just bought a Creative Zen V Plus 8GB model from Peats and the Guy in the Shop told me that if I let the battery power go below 5% I will only be able to charge it from the mains with a Creative adapter and not be able to use the USB from my P.C. to charge it(I was stunned) I said so what you need to keep it topped up and he said yes. Is this true? I have googled and cant find any mention of this.
Click to expand...
Father in law recently got one second hand without a charger, battery ran out and it wont charge now. Had only tried from a pc via USB so the <5% battery power may be the answer. note, the charge bar comes up when I plug it in but it wont charge. I also tried to charge it directly from a powered USB hub, no joy. However, as the zen only takes a USB lead, is there supposed to be some creative power unit that that has a USB connector?

As an aside I have a 20GB creative nomad for at least the last 5 years, no issues with battery or disk.

edit..[broken link removed]
 
My daughter has Zen 20Gb Black Model for the past 18 months. She let the battery go totally flat - unused for months. The battery would only take a charge of about 2 hours after this.

After much searching, I eventually found a page on the Creative site which says the opposite to what Peats told you. If the battery has been depleted, you MUST charge from the USB port at the back of the PC - not front or keyboard - I don't know why - maybe the geeks can answer that.

If that doesn't solve the problem, Creative suggest reinstalling firmware - downloadable from Creative site and then charging (via USB port I presume). Backup your music/data first.
 
Seemingly sometimes the USB on the front of the P.C. dont give out as much power as the one's on the back.
It will take a VERY long time to charge when battery flat because there will not be enough charge in the player for the PC to recognise it, so it takes longer than usual for it to get to that stage, then the PC finds it, then it will charge as normal.
 
Hi

Word of warning, Creative's customer service after you buy a unit is terrible - they give you a 1 year guarantee & after that, they don't want to know you .... we had a unit, it broke down about 3 weeks after the warrenty expired & got no help or advice whatsoever.

Creative only wanted to sell us a new one / reconditioned unit, not willing to take the unit in & repair it for a fee, or tell us where else one could get the unit fixed etc.

Oh, btw, there is a guy on Georges Street / Aungier Street will fix them for you, fair price from what we saw .... can't recall the name right now, but if anyone wants it let me know & I'll get it for them. Found this guy with absolutely no help from Creative let me add.

I'd be slow to buy another Creative based upon the above experience - which is a real shame, as liked the unit when it worked, really liked the fact that they have an operation in Dublin & were creating employment here etc etc.

Regards

G>
 
I recently bought a Creative Vision M. The power cable has to be bought sperately and I didn't bother; so far I've recharged it off the PC

I heading off on holidays next week and would like to be able to recharge it from mains. The Creative manual says that mains power should be 5V DC. My wife has a Motorola mobile phone charger that looks compatible, but isn't 5V AC.

I haven't a rashers about electronics. Would using a 5V AC adapter on a unit that needs 5V DC be a mistake ?
 
TarfHead said:
I haven't a rashers about electronics. Would using a 5V AC adapter on a unit that needs 5V DC be a mistake ?
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Pretty sure that it would be and might well damage the device. Are you sure that the phone charger has an AC output though? Sounds odd.

You'd also need to check polarity (e.g. if the centre is + or - and which is needed).
 
i have a motorla charger but it wasn't really useful for doing a full charge, it would light up the player but a full charge would take ages or not happen at all.....i got a wall charger from ebay cheap enough, would be the best idea
 
No probs at all with my own Zen, but I've bought a couple of other electrical items from Argos which have developed faults, and they gave me a replacement on the spot - no quibbles at all.
 
TarfHead said:
I recently bought a Creative Vision M. The power cable has to be bought sperately and I didn't bother; so far I've recharged it off the PC

I heading off on holidays next week and would like to be able to recharge it from mains. The Creative manual says that mains power should be 5V DC. My wife has a Motorola mobile phone charger that looks compatible, but isn't 5V AC.

I haven't a rashers about electronics. Would using a 5V AC adapter on a unit that needs 5V DC be a mistake ?
Click to expand...

I have the Vision M too and ran in to the same problem of how to charge it while on holidays. I found this on ebay which did the job:

[broken link removed]
 
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