How to Get a Creative Zen Out of Recovery Mode (20 Steps)

By Nick Davis

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With a capacity to hold over 1,000 songs, the Creative Zen MP3 player not only lets you store a variety of songs, but its small size lets you carry it in your pocket or purse. The player contains a rechargeable battery, FM radio and a voice recording feature. The Creative Zen also has a built-in recovery application that restores the player to its factory settings when a problem occurs. Normally the player will exit its recovery mode once the device is restored. If the player fails to exit the recovery mode, you can return your player manually to a working state.

Firmware Update

Step 1

Open your computer's Internet browser.

Step 2

Enter support.creative.com/Products/Products.aspx?catid=213&catName=MP3+Players in the URL box at the top of the browser.

Step 3

Press the "Enter" or "Return" key on your computer's keyboard. The "Creative Worldwide Support -- MP3 Players" website will open.

Step 4

Click on the Creative Zen MP3 player you have.

Step 5

Scroll to the bottom of the website representing your MP3 player. Click on the "Download" link under the heading "Firmware."

Step 6

Click "Agree" under the "CREATIVE END-USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (for Web Software)" wording.

Step 7

Click "Save," "Save File" or "Save As" when the "Opening XXXXXX" dialog box appears. The "XXXXXX"s represent the file name for your MP3 player's firmware.

Step 8

Plug your Creative Zen's connection cable into both the MP3 player and your computer's USB port.

Step 9

Navigate to the directory where the firmware application downloaded to. Double click on the application's icon to run the program.

Step 10

Click "Upgrade" to start the updating and recovery process on your Creative Zen MP3 player. If you receive an error while the upgrade process is running or you can't access the "Upgrade" feature, restart your computer and click on the firmware application's icon again to attempt the updating and recovery process.

If you still can't upgrade the firmware, proceed to step 11.

Step 11

Open Creative MediaSource Organizer.

Step 12

Click "Tools," then "Settings."

Step 13

Click on the "Detector" tab. Click on the check box next to the wording "Enable Detector" to remove the check mark in the box, if the check mark is present.

Step 14

Click "OK."

Step 15

Click "File," then "Save."

Step 16

Click "File," then "Exit."

Step 17

Restart your computer. Repeat steps 8 through 10 to install the new firmware on your Creative Zen MP3 player. If the player still fails to install the firmware, proceed to section 2.

Reformatting the Creative Zen

Step 1

Select the "Format All" option on your Creative Zen MP3 player. This process will erase any songs and other data on the player.

Step 2

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the formatting process. If you receive the error "Harddisk problem," it is a problem with your MP3 player's hard drive. Have the player serviced at an authorize Creative Zen repair shop.

Step 3

Complete steps 1 through 10 in section 1 to update the firmware on your Creative Zen MP3 player and return it to a working state.

References

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