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Posted on Jan 08, 2007 - 10:48pm by John P. in Computing, Dear The Man, Gadgets, Tutorials
After my previous review of the Zen Vision W I had a reader Ask the Man the following question:
Hi,
I just got myself a Zen W last X-mas. I think it’s fantastic as well. I bought the 30gb instead of the 60gb thinking I could probably upgrade the hard drive to a higher capacity eventually.
Do you think it’s possible or know what kind of hard disk format they have in those machines?
Thanks One Man!
No, thank YOU for the question! As far as the answer is concerned, there’s only one way to find out… crack that puppy open!
What you will need to open the device:
The Creative Zen W utilizes a 1.8″ hard drive with the following specs:
Step 1) Remove the battery.
Step 2) There are 6 screws that need to be removed underneath the battery. One is behind a tamper-resistant sticker which, if removed will void your warranty.
In order not to void my own warranty for the purposes of this exploratory surgery I simply used a very sharp pocket knife to gently pry up the sticker so it would be replaceable.
Step 3) Remove the Compact Flash slot screws.
Step 4) Gently pry the back cover off the device. This is the tricky part since you don’t want to break anything. Take your time!
I discovered that the best way seems to be to start on the end with the compact flash slot and begin by squeezing the top of the device together a little to try to release the little plastic hook on the inside. Hopefully the image will make clear what you are trying to get at.
After releasing that hook there will be enough room to use a pocket knife or some other thin flat piece of metal to slip between the cracks and gently leverage the rest of the device apart.
Step 5) Loosen (or remove) the four screws holding the hard drive cover on, then remove the cover.
Step 6) In order to remove the hard drive, peel back the tape covering the ZIF socket and gently unplug it.
Step 7) Take a beer break and admire what you’ve already accomplished!
Now that you’ve got it disassembled you can learn How to Upgrade to a Larger Drive.
By the way, I LOVE comments! Please feel free to leave one below!
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Howdy, thought I was pretty quick on the upbeat, but alas, I’m @#$%@$#
Have a Zen W, downloaded a movie to laptop using cladDVD.net 2.5.6, then use auto GK . . . WELL, plays nice on laptop, but when I transfer to W, video is cool, but NO audio . . . ????
Where did I make a wrong turn?
Thanks in advance for all help and consideration.
Barry
I got the Zen Vision W opened up now and about to put in the new 100 GB HD. Do I need to put back the 2 blue covers on the HD or can i leave that out ???
i have a 60 gig, and iw as wondering if i could put the 100 gig into it? since it says “If you’ve got the 60 GB version, there is no good upgrade path yet.” or would it jsut not be worth it.
What audio codec did you use to encode the audio? You need to use MP3. AC3, OGG, etc. will not do.
Well I ma thinkin . . . if it plays in laptop . . . and using auto gk, only one that works, ahem… ??
Any other suggestions on “how” to “process” . . . . using different programs, etc?
Thanks
Well… no… you need to select MP3 as the output codec. Getting it to play on your computer isn’t good enough, since you have other codecs installed that the Zen does not.
http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN
Scroll down, and look for this image: http://www.autogk.me.uk/Pics/advanced.png
Output audio needs to be MP3 CBR or VBR. Any other formats are likely to cause problems.
See if that gives you audio. =)
I found a case that works great with the Zen W. It’s made by Otter Box. I got one from Amazon.com. The model is 2000. Fits great and if you’re careful I think you could even get a pair of the earbud earphones in as well.
Dan
For all of you that are still getting updates on these comments, I’ve just published a new article on how to actually complete the hard drive upgrade of the Zen Vision W. I successfully bumped mine up to a 100GB drive, so check it out.
John
would you instructions work with a zen vision?
Hi guys,
Today, on this terrible day, I dropped my beloved Creative Vision W… I could almost cry about it. But the main problem is that the on/off switch is loosse now. I dont even mind that much about the scratches. When i picked it up, the screen was frozen, and the buttons didnt work, maybe cause i put it on hold before it dropped.
Then I just yanked out the batteries and i know i shouldn’t but there wasn’t anything else I could do. So i tried to open it up, but I don’t have the right tiny screwdrivers here with me. An attempt to this will come later.
My question was then, since One Man opened up yours, is there like a spring or something which might got loose? So if I would open it up, could i fix it myself? I tried to look for a right angle in your pictures, i just couldn’t find any suitable perspectives. I’ve hooked it up to my pc, and the player says it’s still on hold, thank god it still works. But does this mean that it’s still fixable or not?
Otherwise I’m just gonna take it to the pc shop down the street, cause in a week when i’m gonna travel by myself. Thank you for reading and hopefully someone could help me out soon :)
HL,
I’m sorry to hear about your Zen accident. I know that is terrible. :-(
The good news is that it is possible that the power button has kind of dislodged its self. When I opened the case I noticed that the button has two little prongs which go on either side of a switch. It is possible that they popped off of it when you dropped it. It’s also possible that it broke… but the only way you are going to find out is to open it up and take a look.
If one of the prongs broke off of the button you could theoretically just remove the button and leave the little switch inside exposed. It’ll be quite ghetto, but you’d still be able to flip it on and off with a pen or something pointy.
All I can say is break it open and take a look!
John
Hi John P.
Thanks for your advice, i’ve opened it up, and the connection point is broken off..the exconnection point is about 1 mm big…. :( i cant replace it by myself, but i’ll try to get it fixed at some place later on. I did remove the whole on/off button, and it does look ghetto, but at least i can still use it :)
Thanks again!
I went down to Walmart and bought a black carrying case designed for a Nintendo DS. It’s black and has a clip on it. My Zen in held in there using industrial strength velcro (also on sale at Walmart).
You can also use peel screen protectors that are for the PSP as the screen is the exact same size. Watch out for which one you buy. The one I settled on is the Pelican PSP protector. You can see what it looks like at:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7064874&st=psp+screen+protector&type=product&id=1108125529524
It doesn’t have that annoying sticker-like problem that affects the picture too much. This is a really nice protector that only really costs about $6.
The Zen seems to be the exact same size as the DS original.
Hey lauren,
what is the name/model of the carrying case you bought?
Thanx
-octelnet
octelnat,
I use an OtterBox, model 2000. It’s a great fit and can be had from Amazon.com for about $20US. There’s just enough room that you can also get a pair of earbuds as well.
Dan
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Bensussen-Mini-Folio-for-Nintendo-DS-Lite-06971780/sem/rpsm/oid/176947/catOid/-16485/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
This one’s in pink, but I bought one that’s all black. The device has fallen a few times, but when mine does, it’s zippered shut and has a little bit of protection (not much, but it’s better than nothing).
It has a pouch on the back and on the inside which is good enough for carrying earbuds or even a credit card or cash (in case you’re going for a walk or something.
hey,
i was hoping someone or anyone could help me.
i recently bought a zen vision w off of ebay for 36 dollars. yes only $36! it works perfectly, but the catch is, the screen is very distressed. that is, it is cracked and damaged on one side. now, it still works, but i want to replace the screen of course. i don’t think i am covered by the creative warranty since i am a third pary purchaser, (bought from ebay) so i was wondering if anyone knows of a place where i can get the zen vision w repaired.
now, i personally had a suggestion, maybe someone can tell me if it is theoretically possible or not. the zen vision w has the same size screen as the psp. could i just like buy or use a psp lcd screen as a replacement? now i know there are many other factors to consider, but i just thought i’d fling it out there.
my main goal is to get this wonderful piece of hardware fixed.
any help???
it would be truly appreciated.
hi, could some one please help me. iv got my zen w 30gb, but the problem im havein at the mo is that it wont let me put any .avi videos on to it. it keeps sayin that it isnt connected, or that it could have disconected. but wen the usb is in its charging. so i do not understand why it isn’t allowing me to put the files on. could some one plase help me??? thank you!!
you gotta let it fully charge. charge it 5+ hours and try again.
Hey,
I am freaking out because I dropped my Zen Vision W and now it is stuck on the song that was playing at the time of the accident. All the buttons seem to be unresponsive except for the power and volume buttons (the back button works if you press really hard). So, I can basically move back and forth from the song and the home menu. I’m not sure what to do, and I bought it on ebay so I think the warranty isn’t valid. I emailed Creative customer support and they said that I would need to send it in. Given that my warranty isnt valid, would trying to fix it myself or trying to get it fixed somewhere else a better decision? Has this happened to anyone else? if you know anything…that would be really great
thanks!!!!
Sarah,
Have you tried removing and reinstalling the battery yet? Leave it off the device for about a minute then replace it.
John
This happens to me once. It’s quite tricky though, but worth the try. To fix it,
1.boot it up
2.when the zen logo appeared, press the back button repeatedly until it goes to the ‘now playing’ screen. This had to be done quickly, just when the zen become responsive after the boot until the song is automatically played.
3.If it works, the ‘now playing’ screen will just shows up for a few milisecond, and the screen goes back to the previous menu in the player.
4.Then, quickly turn it off.
5.All the steps must done in quick succession, if it works, the next time you boot it up, it will go to the main menu.
Hi, I accidently fell asleep well listening to my zen a while ago , (little more than a year ago) and I had completly smashed the screen. Of course this had bummed me out, I waited from the announced release date and pre-ordered and everything I even got my Zen 1 month before standard U.S. release date, I had one before CNET, and I had smashed it now after almost a year with it. So I frantically called creative to see if I could be covered by warranty. Alas my warranty was up. They told me , you can send it in on RMA though so we can fix it. So sadly I agreed. I sent it in , payed 20 dollars shipping. 1 week later I got a email back , it was going to cost 50 dollars to replace my screen, “only 50 dollars for the probably most expenisve part of this thing ? wow I guess I’ll pay”. Well 2 weeks later , after reading horror stories of creative not sending products back I got another email saying my zen was on the way , I payed for 2nd day air and they didn’t give me it, they neglected that part of my bill. I opened my package 1 week later, and to my surprise I had not gotten my Zen back at all. To my surprise what they had done was actually sent me , A BRAND NEW ZEN, how awesome was that? and to top things off I had taken my battery off before shipping, AND THEY DIDN’T CARE. So now I had 1 brand new zen for 70 dollars, and an extra battery how sweet is that. And to top things off 2 days later I got a email telling me they refunded me my 14.68 for 2nd day air, I checked my card statement, sure enough they had. Moral of the story, don’t be afraid to send it in to creative, you might even wind up better than what you started and to top things off the guy on the phone when I called to ask about my RMA offered to sell me the official carrying case for 50% off the website price. I’m not sure if it was just me being nice and not trying to be forefull with them about me braking it, or what but they were sure helpfull don’t be afraid to ship it in to creative, you might just get a new Zen like I did. That one experince right there made me a creative customer for life there. Definetly try sending it to creative if you have a problem you don’t know how to fix. I did and look how it turned out for me.
well just as a dumb question how would i even contact creative? I’m having a problem with my zen in that the usb port seems to have been damaged. everything works fine except that i cant update any of my music or use the zen as a portable hard drive. this has me bummed out and well I’m pretty sure my warranty has run out… so i check the creative site and they want me to pay 12 dollars just to reach tech support -_-
that hardly sounds like a good deal
The first thing I did was contact customer support via email as I could not find the phone number. They can be contacted here.http://us.creative.com/support/custsup/services.asp click “Free email support button” and after you get through everything about choosing your model etc. Send them a brief message saying what happened and what is wrong. Within a day or so you should get an email telling you who to contact and what phone number to call/ the address to ship to. Once in their wearhouse they tell you the price total they only give you an estimate before. At least that’s how it was with me. Pretty simple pretty quick.
what phone number did you uSe to contact Creative i NEED TECH SUPPORT.
To Sarah:
It sounds like the front cover control buttons are misaligned and possiblly/damaged. You’ll have to pop the front cover open and investigate. If you aren’t tech savy, find someone who is.
For example:
A couple of weeks ago salad dressing spilled all over my device (long story). I used the instructions above to get me halfway, and then I took my time and took the everything apart, and believe me the ‘guk’ was everywhere. I thought the device would never work. But I cleaned everything I could. Happy to say the device still works. There are some residual effects on the screen & the casing looks more worn due to the prying.
Hope this helps
-Octelnet
One thing I found out today, the wallpaper function even works for zoomed in pictures, meaning that while zooming in pictures that is too large for the screen itself, the current part of that picture can be turned to wallpaper, cool!. I’m stupid, I know.
Hi there!
Can anyone help me? I spilled tea on my creative Zen Vision:M Now it won’t respond to anything I do, as the connection port was damaged. It has some really important photos saved on the hard drive.
Does anyone know a way of connecting the hard drive to a computer in order to retrieve the data? The drive is a Toshiba HDD1442CZX01.
Thank you for any suggestions,
Olivia
hello, im looking for some help can anyone let me know where i can buy a new housing for a ceative zen vision m (30 gig one) as the one i have is quite scratched, your halp would be appreciated thanks
To Olivia:
find a website on google where it will show you how to yale your :m apart. remove the battery and let the zen dry for a day or so on a windowsill. put it back together and it should work
general comment:
I have a zen vision w and it is fantastic but i dropped it. the down button does not work normally so you have to push it on the left part of the down button hard. Great player though. im thinking of upping to 100gig
Convert Video to Flash, FLV
I’ve got a Zen V w newly as a Xmas gift for my cusion. However, he is not right around me, and i just wanna show him the new one.I made a video with my camcoder, and want to show him through my blog as he is a regular to my blog.
However, I can’t figure out the way how to convert the AVI to Flash video. I’ve looked up all the comments here in vain.
Anybody has done that before, please let me know, and thanks in advance.
First you need adobe flash. if you go to their website you should be able to download a 30 day fully functioning demo for free if you don’t already have it. then make a new flash document in flash, Then under File go to “import to library” navigate to your file and click OK. Now flash will want to convert it to a FLV, basically keep clicking next, you can choose a different skin or quality setting if you like, click OK and it will convert it. Don’t forget to save.
is there a way to take a FLV and convert it to MPEG or MPG or somehting on the like, so i can put it on my vision w? like when you use real player to download videos off googlevideo or youtube, its in FLV format, and they wont be read by my vision.
will adobe flashw ork?
Could anyone tell me what size screws are those at the bottom. My apparently were loose, b/c I never tried to take it apart. The little plastic piece fell off the bottom and I couldn’t find any screws that apparently fell out. Please help. I don’t want my Zen to just fall apart.
ok well my zen creative vision W has a cracked screen. i cant see any of what should be there, i dont know if my warranty is up and i was wondering if there is a way to just replace the screen? if you know of anything plz let me know
does 8gb creative zen work with real player??? i cant find the answer anywere so i thought i would try this. i am thinkin about getting one as soon as possible so try to get back to me asap! Thanx