Creative zen micro firmware reload how to#

Please let me know if anything is unclear or you have suggestions on how to improve this article.

Creative zen micro firmware reload update#

Perhaps if they send me one to test out I’ll give an update later if it works. However, I have not tried this so I am not advocating it.

Creative zen micro firmware reload upgrade#

Once you’ve completed the upgrade you could, in theory, order this case to repurpose your old drive and use it as a USB external storage device.

Use the Creative Media Explorer software to reload all of your music, movies, photos, etc.

At this point it should boot up into the full interface except that the drive is completely empty.

The firmware installer will begin and after a minute or two when it completes you can disconnect the Zen and power it on.

Select the Reload Firmware option, plug the Zen into the USB port on your computer, and execute the firmware which you previously downloaded.

Select the Format All option to format the drive for use.

Power on the Zen, and it will boot into the Recovery Mode menu.

You will have to trim back the rubber shock protector a little so it fits the shape of the new drive.

After the new drive is inserted replace the red tape over the ribbon cable and Zif socket and re-assemble the Zen.

If that happens just turn the drive over and insert the ribbon cable the other way. If you happen to put the ribbon in backwards, when the Zen boots the menu will not work correctly.

Gently insert the ribbon cable into the ZIF socket on the new drive taking care to insert it with the first pin aligned to the correct side.

Remove the blue rubber shock protectors from the edges of the old drive and set aside to reinstall on the new drive.

Remove the tape on the existing hard drive connector and, with a tiny flathead screwdriver, flip the white ZIF socket clip up and gently remove the ribbon cable.

After the upgrade you will use this data to restore the Zen back to normal. You MUST do this or you will lose all of your data when you remove the existing hard drive.

Using the Creative Media Explorer, create a backup directory on your computer’s hard drive and copy all of your content from the Zen to the computer.

Download the latest firmware from the Creative site.

Once you get to the point where you are down to the bare hard drive follow these steps: It is the 100GB Toshiba MK1011GAH.Īfter you get your new drive, follow my instructions on the Creative Zen Vision W Teardown page. Clearly I would recommend ordering the exact one that I upgraded with from. Well now, thanks to the generosity of Aaron Vronko and for supplying a 100GB drive and Dan, one of my loyal readers, for playing guinea pig using my previous post to repair his Zen, I now have the largest drive in any Zen W in the world – and the theory is now a reality!įirst of all, you need to order yourself a new hard drive. At the end of that post I theorized as to how one could upgrade the hard drive when larger ones came available. Six months ago I published a guide to the complete disassembly of the Creative Zen Vision W personal media player.