Creative ZEN 32GB locks when synced

[BrandonK]

Windows XP SP3 w/ latest updates
MediaMonkey 3.0.6.1190
Creative ZEN 32GB player

Just switched to a new laptop (previous laptop didn't have this problem with same Creative ZEN). Here is what's happening:

- Start MediaMonkey

- Connect the ZEN via USB cable
MediaMonkey shows "Creative ZEN" player in tree
ZEN screen shows "Docked"

- MediaMonkey automatically starts synchronizing (I configured it to do this)
ZEN screen shows spinning "Docked" icon

- MediaMonkey shows "Synchronizing Creative ZEN: (Preparing list of tracks)"
ZEN screen shows spinning "Docked" icon

- MediaMonkey shows "Synchronizing Creative ZEN: (Removing old content)"
ZEN screen goes black. Power switch still shows blue light, indicating turned on

- MediaMonkey shows "Synchronizing Creative ZEN: (Copying [song title])"
ZEN screen still black
Copying process is not immediate, but seems faster than it should be

- MediaMonkey finishes synchronizing
ZEN screen still black

- I close MediaMonkey, then disconnect the Creative ZEN player
ZEN screen is still black

At this point the ZEN is completely unresponsive. I have to hit the reset button on the player to interact with it. After resetting, the ZEN goes through a "Rebuilding..." phase, then shows the normal menu screens. The files that MediaMonkey said were copied during the last sync are not on the player (either in playlists, or when viewing the contents with Windows Explorer).

This is a repeatable condition that is not resolved by restarting the laptop. The only difference I see between my old laptop and this new one is that the Creative ZEN appears in MediaMonkey and Windows Explorer with a different icon (black device with red screen, system tray tooltip says "Portable Device"), which may indicate a different version of the MTP driver? Don't know if this aspect is relevent.

Thanks for your assistance.

[nohitter151]

Try this: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=16

[nynaevelan]

Nohitter:

That is an entirely different issue.

Brandon:

I've seen this problem with my Zen, especially if you synced it to another computer. You will have to go into the restore and format the player. Then it will be able to sync fine. You can try scanning it first but I usually just format it.

Nyn

[BrandonK]

My gut instinct said that this was a driver issue, and sure enough it was.

My current laptop had Windows Media Player 11 installed. When the ZEN was connected, Windows Device Manager showed the following drivers for the ZEN:

• wpdusb.sys - 5.2.5721.5145 (WMP_11.061018-2006)
• wudfrd.sys - 6.0.5716.32 (winmain(wmbla).060928-1756)

I uninstalled "Windows Media Player 11" and "Windows Media Format 11 runtime", then installed the "Windows Media Formal redistribution installation package" from the MediaMonkey Wiki.

After this change, Device Manager showed the following drivers:

• wpdusb.sys - 5.2.3802.3802 built by: dnsrv(bld4act)

The ZEN now shows up with the old MTP icon and synchronizes with MediaMonkey properly.

@#$%! Microsoft

Hope this helps somebody.

[nynaevelan]

Brandon:

I will test this on my machine when I get home, I assumed it was an issue with the Zen since I do not have this problem with my Vision. I will let you know if it works, but thanks for the info.

Nyn

[nynaevelan]

Ok:

Silly question, I cannot find an uninstaller for WMP. I've looked in the \program files\windows media player\ folder and the Control Panel. Anyone know what file I am looking for to uninstall WMP in Vista??

Nyn

[BrandonK]

This might depend on which version of Windows you are running. When I staged the new (problem) laptop, I manually installed WMP 11 over the existing version (version 9?). I uninstalled WMP 11 using the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs applet.

If you're running Vista, WMP 11 might be the default version. I'd be more interested to know what Creative ZEN drivers/versions are being used on your PC.

[nynaevelan]

Both files say version 6.0.6001.18000

Nyn

[gyro]

Hey,
i have exactly this problem but cant seem to find that wpdusb.sys file to download anywhere (and windows wont let me roll back my WMP).

Do you have a link to somewhere i can download it or are you able to email me that file?

Thanks,

Gyro

[BrandonK]

Do you have a link to somewhere i can download it...

It's available at the MediaMonkey Wiki.

...and windows wont let me roll back my WMP...

Are you on Vista? This could be a problem, as Windows Media Player 11 (I think) comes pre-installed, and these drivers are older. I'd still give it a try and see how it goes.

[Damage, Inc.]

This is definitely an issue for Vista users. I was using XP until the beginning of this year and never had any sync issues (other than the random duplicates, which is a known bug), but ever since I switched to Vista Business x64, my Zen locks up right after I click "ok" to remove old content. I've searched around various forums, including Creative's, and there isn't much talk of this, but it may be a problem that isn't just associated with MM and Vista.

The suggested solution for this was to reformat the player every time you sync it (which is a hassle for me because my Zen is full and syncing 32GB takes a while, especially when you have it re-encode higher bittrate songs down so save space), but I think I figured out a solution that doesn't require a reformat every time. Because it always locked up as soon as you hit ok to remove songs, I decided to delete those song manually via Windows Explorer before I synced so that MM wouldn't have to and the dialog wouldn't come up. Lo and behold, the Zen went straight into copying files without locking up! This explains why a reformat did the trick, because it didn't have anything to remove. Unfortunately though, because of the random misplaced duplicate errors (discussed here, almost every time you sync, garbage tracks will need to be removed. But what you can do is wait until the remove old content dialog comes up, remember what needs to be removed, hit cancel, go manually delete it, then sync again and it should work.

Hope this helps and can shed some light and actually solving the problem completely!

[nynaevelan]

You all should post in the thread that Damage referenced, because I am assuming the devs are thinking this is only affected a couple of people, so the priority is not that high. Maybe if more people are showing that they are plagued by this problem the devs will move this higher up on the priority list and we can either get a Zen dedicated plugin or a solution that does not involve such convoluted methods in order to get our players to sync the first time around. And although my method is not to clear the player but for once every couple of weeks, I do have to sync at least three times in a row in order to get a 100% completed sync, and this is with the junk files on the player. I find that if I scan the drive in the ulitilities mode first, I have less problems. BUT, this removes all my settings on the Zen, which is a PITA. But I will reference this topic in that one so that the devs can see the problem is growing.

Nyn

[BrandonK]

I'm now officially scared to upgrade to Windows 7. The drivers will be newer and not down-gradable.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but my diagnosis was that the MTP driver from Microsoft was the problem. How can the MediaMonkey software developers fix a Microsoft driver issue? Write their own driver?

[nynaevelan]

If not a fix the driver, maybe find a way for us to use the XP driver??? If they can hack the ipods to get them to work in MM, I am sure we can get a fix for this. BTW, I didn't know is was the MS driver that was the problem.

Nyn

[chrisjj]

which is a hassle for me because my Zen is full and syncing 32GB takes a while, especially when you have it re-encode higher bittrate songs down so save space

Agreed. To partially workaround this, I two a two-stage sync: first one converting all the files to a SUBST drive, second one sending the SUBST files to the wiped ZEN.