Zune 30's Suffer from Y2K9 Bug
Nothing happened when we hit year 2000 - no computers broke down, no armageddon. Just when everyone thought we were in the clear, Y2K9 comes along and brings doom to 30GB Zunes - a day early.
Just as we hit December 31th, 30GB Zunes all across the board went dead and are now stuck on the loading screen. Microsoft is working on the problem but no-one knows what the problem actually is. No reports on this happening to other Zunes and no solution has been posted yet.
[Engadget|Victim list @ ABi forums]
Update: A Microsoft representative just swung by our forum to reassure everyone that the problem is being looked at.
Update 2: The bug had to do with the internal clock and calendar. This issue will resolve itself in the next 24 hours. Here are the details & here.
Update 3: This actually turned out to be a bug in Freescale's code affecting Toshiba Gigabeats as well.
Comments
Luca on December 31, 2008 1:12 PM
I'm sure they can fix all the Four zunes sold by now
H30 on December 31, 2008 1:29 PM
I lost count of how many times I heard that "joke" today...
Mikhail on December 31, 2008 2:50 PM
Your kidding me right?! I just turned on my Zune 30 this morning to listen to my new podcasts I downloaded last night and it wont budge from the loading screen, no button combo, no plugging into wall/pc, no nothing. What the hell Microsoft?! I gave up using windows a long time ago because it failed to do what I needed it to do, and now your mp3 players are also broken?! Think a new mp3 player is in order, and this better get fixed ASAP!! :@
Oscar77 on December 31, 2008 2:53 PM
When my Microsoft Mouse died, Microsoft wouldn't honor the warranty unless I upgraded my computer to the latest version of Windows so I could run their diagnostic.
I expect Windows will release a Vista-ONLY fix for these Zune machines. (After all, who still runs XP except all of the business world and a majority of home users...)
KStov on December 31, 2008 4:02 PM
Is it me, or does Microsoft have a total screw up about once a year??
My 30 G Zune also locked on the "Zune" loading screen today.
Worthless slugs at MICROSofty are working it, yuh right!
jkj1962 on December 31, 2008 5:10 PM
You know this is REALLY stressful news to hear after purchasing a Zune 120 last week. So far it's still working, but we'll have to see what tomorrow brings.
joeholyjnk on December 31, 2008 5:36 PM
jkj1962 it only affects Zune30 owners. Nobody else.
Patrick on December 31, 2008 5:40 PM
The problem is with the Zune 30's internal clock driver. It doesn't like leap years. Everything will be fine once Jan 1. 2009 is here.
This is unique to Zune 30s because that is the only model with this specific component. Here is the official response from Matt on the Zune Team.
http://forums.zune.net/2/43/408989/ShowPost.aspx#412215
Brian on December 31, 2008 7:43 PM
I love the "solution" to this issue. "Let the battery in your player die, then don't use it until January 1st. Our bad." Nice one MS.
Mike on December 31, 2008 11:30 PM
I think there is more to this than Microsoft is saying. Each of my daughters received a 30 gig Zune last Christmas. One gets updated regularly. It is locked up. The other hasn't been updated since March. It works properly. It would be really nice for Microsoft to come clean at least sometimes when discussing their problems.
bingzhong on January 1, 2009 3:11 PM
haha OWNED!
steveballmer on January 1, 2009 5:20 PM
Your tongue is not worthy to utter the name of one such as Steve Ballmer (Bless on him)! But I shall answer dis question! You see the Zune is the most sophisticated device ever created by man! It was programed with sooooo very many features that even the whole of Microsoft cannot remember them all! What other device that pretends to compete with the Zune has such a feature? A self-improvement-vacation day mode? NONE! None I tell you! You all should bow and kiss Mr Ballmer's naked unwashed feet and praise the fates that such a one as he even bothers to explain anyting at all to your most unworthy selves!
jkj1962 on January 1, 2009 5:55 PM
@joeholyjnk:
Sorry, my sense of humour just doesn't translate to print very well.
@Mike:
Just what "more" do you think there is? Obviously there's a bug in the more recent firmware updates that doesn't exist in the earlier ones. It happens. Deal with it. I think MS has been quite forthcoming on this issue. They admitted there's a bug, and that they will fix it, even thought it won't be a problem for another 4 years, what "more" do you want?
Clockworthy on January 1, 2009 8:31 PM
Oh no, not another scenario to encourage people to buy Ipods!
It must be stopped!
...anyways, This isn't the first time my Zune has keeled over on me.
ZuneLoon on January 2, 2009 4:51 PM
Good thing nothing bad ever happens with those other fruit related players. Oh, wait...
http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/
Nevermind.
SansaRulez83 on January 4, 2009 4:33 PM
I'm just glad this didn't happen to us D2 users. You can't even tell the D2 has a Date function unless you get a flash app or skin that takes advantage of it. Plus, could you imagine the amount of time it would take to run a full charge down on that thing compared to the Zune 30!
Drive-In-Freak on January 5, 2009 9:09 PM
So..something as simple as a user replaceable battery would have fixed the problem with little effort.
Go figure.
And people wonder why I have been complaining and waring people about non-user replaceable batteries.
Again...like I've said probably said 100 times before...A built in battery is one of the worst ideas in the history of electronic engineering.
Marcus on January 13, 2009 2:53 PM
Its not a leapyear bug, if it was then my zune would have fixed itself, its been 2 weeks since the first and still frozen! secondly, zune.net nor microsoft .com have anything else to say about this? well except to let it die and then reboot and it will fix itself? thats not fixing the problem thats ignoring the problem completely. Third, Ive been seeing posts on ever forum related to the zune about this "bug", we're talking about 20 million zune 30 gigs dieing, doesnt microsoft care about that? Yet they have nothing else to say about this"bug" nothing, nada, not on zune.net, microsoft .com. No forums, no updates no nothing. What gives with that? If theyre working on a fix why arent they saying anything? I mean at all? Just "wait 24 hours" and thats it? Its been 2 weeks!!!!!!!!