Reviving Your Dead Zune

While the folks at Microsoft are “working on the problem” there are some folks that are taking matters into their own hands. A word of warning about this fix, cracking your Zune open to access the battery and hard drive will void your warranty. That may or may not concern some of you that just want to get your Zune working but I thought I would just point that out.

Follow Rapid Repair's guide to taking your Zune apart to step 4, so you have access to the hard drive and the battery. Disconnect BOTH the battery and hard drive, and then plug 'em back in. This apparently resets the Zune's internal clock, which brings it back to life. Put it back together, and it should be 100 percent again. (Assuming you don't screw it up.)

Well what do you know, after checking it, my Zune is frozen too....I won't crack it open unless they don't get it fixed before Tuesday.

wasn't Y2K like.. 8 years ago?.. 9 in a few hours?

Originally Posted by Wshmaster0

wasn't Y2K like.. 8 years ago?.. 9 in a few hours?

Yes... apparently this is a leap year issue though.

yep affecting mine too

Maybe it will fix itself tomorrow?

A little off topic, what mechanism informs Microsoft that your Zune has been opened?

Originally Posted by Myg

Maybe it will fix itself tomorrow?

i doubt it. its literally frozen, as in the back + down buttons to turn it off wont turn it off, it does nothing but sit at the load screen frozen at 100%. im gonna let it fully die and see what happens.

Originally Posted by rflcptr

A little off topic, what mechanism informs Microsoft that your Zune has been opened?

The scratch marks around the seams.

Oh and my Zune is dead too. Finally tuned off. I assume the battery is fully discharged.

Originally Posted by fuelvolts

The scratch marks around the seams.

i doubt it. that would suck for people like me who are a little rough on things but havent opened it up.

Originally Posted by mnewxcv

i doubt it. that would suck for people like me who are a little rough on things but havent opened it up.

I know I was joking. I'm sure there is a seal that is ruptured when it is opened.

Originally Posted by fuelvolts

Oh and my Zune is dead too. Finally tuned off. I assume the battery is fully discharged.

If we connect it by USB cable to another computer and just charge it will it still freeze?

i opened mine up while at work. there is no real seal or tape to give it away, outside of any scratch marks in getting the screw cover off. anyways ran it off of an ac power adapter at work after the hard reboot and it work perfectly. get home and connect it to re-synch and its bricked again.

moral of story. hard reboot, then stay away from the computer with it

Mine bricked this afternoon. Great timing with MS Support on holiday.

Originally Posted by Guitarrasdeamor

Well what do you know, after checking it, my Zune is frozen too....I won't crack it open unless they don't get it fixed before Tuesday.

Patch Tuesday for the fix

The official fix is out: http://gizmodo.com/5121822/official-...e-zune-30-fail - Just wait until tomorrow and the device will fix itself. Of course if you still have the device in 4 years, it will probably happen again.

Originally Posted by siliconnerd

The official fix is out: http://gizmodo.com/5121822/official-...e-zune-30-fail - Just wait until tomorrow and the device will fix itself. Of course if you still have the device in 4 years, it will probably happen again.

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2008/...al-update.aspx has the direct source.

If it's a driver problem with the old devices, they could theoretically fix that through a firmware update. Just not quickly enough to fix it this year.

I am surprised that it's smart enough to know it's not 2009 yet, but not smart enough to handle the 366th day of the year...

Originally Posted by LhasaCM

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2008/...al-update.aspx has the direct source.

If it's a driver problem with the old devices, they could theoretically fix that through a firmware update. Just not quickly enough to fix it this year.

I am surprised that it's smart enough to know it's not 2009 yet, but not smart enough to handle the 366th day of the year...

It sounds like it is a hardware problem and there is no fix other than to wait for the last day of the leap year to pass.

Q: Are you sure that this won’t happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices?

This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.

It just amazes me that some people can't wait a day without music, and result to voiding the warranties to get it working 12 hours sooner