Spare USB CABLE for old Zen Portable Media Center?

[JG234]

Hello,

First post here. Hope this is the right section.

I own the Creative Zen Portable Media Player, which is several years old and uses a unique USB cable. I have lost the product's original USB cable and it seems VERY difficult to find a spare one, especially in England.


Can anyone help me?

Here's a picture of the port:
http://xs232.xs.to/xs232/08432/cable473.jpg

[CrowdAds]

[millrat1030]

Sorry to hear you lost the transfer cable. Unfortunately it is also very hard to find in the states, damn near impossible. I suggest keeping an eye on ebay. I have been looking for one for about a year now and still have been unable to find one. Good luck.

[JG234]

Hello,

Thank you for replying.

I found a USB cable on eBay, apparently compatible with:

Creative 3200Z
Jukebox 2
Jukebox 2LX
Jukebox 3
Jukebox Zen
Jukebox Zen 2.0
Jukebox Zen NX
Jukebox Zen Xtra
Jukebox Zen Portable Media Center
Jukebox Zen Touch
MuVo2
MuVo2 dr 2.0
MuVo2 X-Trainer
NOMAD Jukebox 2
NOMAD MuVo2
NOMAD Zen NX
NOMAD Zen Xtr
NOMAD Zen micro

Millrat, do you know if the "Jukebox Zen Portable Media Center" is the same as the Creative Zen Portable Media Center? I did not think the Zen PMC has the same type of USB connection as the others on that list - such as the Zen Micro.

Also, Creative once sold a dock (as good as a USB cable!) for the Zen PMC. Here is the part number: 70PF096000000. I put it into Google and there seem to be a few results for the US - it may help you.

[millrat1030]

I don't know what usb cable they are talking about, but no. The transfer cable for the PMC is one of a kind just for the PMC. Nobody has the Dock any more, or at least last time I checked. Every once in a while you see one pop up on ebay. The problem is the go for ridiculous amounts on ebay.

[JG234]

Hello again Millrat,

I just stumbled on something which may be useful. I realise I could be clutching at straws, but I thought it was worth sharing. The Archos 605 uses a proprietary USB cable and surprisingly it looks identical to the Creative Zen PMC's connection:


The Zen PMC's port is hard to see in this picture, but both appear to have the same number of pins (I counted 17) and the same basic design. Have a look at your's too.

Here's the Archos 605's original picture:
http://www.archos.com/img/archos_605...WiFi_below.png



Edit....... I resized the Archos image to its actual size and the port measures 1.5cm across, which is the same size as the Zen PMC's USB port. The question is, will the cable fit?

[JG234]

Here's an update. The Archos 605 cable fits into the Zen PMC perfectly.
However, it will cause a surge by default. If you take the Archos cable apart and remove the extended red wire (leave the main one), it will stop the surge - now I can charge my Zen PMC via USB cable.

Data transfer, however, is still not working. I have played around with the wires/pins, tried several different configurations and have had no success. A few times Windows popped up with a message saying the connected USB device had malfunctioned and was not recognised - but that's as close as I could get.

I think I was VERY close, and maybe someone with more technical knowledge could have made it work. At least we know that the cable fits...

[BobbyRS]

Yeah, same size/port, but different pinout. This may be the pinout. It's from series 4 and 5 though. From here:

Viewed into Archos socket:
+-+------------------+
|X|123456789ABCDEFGHI|
+-+------------------+

X = Locking clip
1 = Attach sense (R to Ground -> 100k USB Connector, 220k USB Adapter, ? DVR)
2 = D- USB for both Host and PC
3 = D+ USB for both Host and PC
4 = +5V USB Host
5 = +5V USB PC
6 = \
7 = -> Serial communication and IRC Out - details unknow - tbd
8 = /
9 = IRC In
A = Audio CH ? - tbd
B = Audio CH ? - tbd
C = Ground for all!!!
D = Video Out Composite signal
E = maybe SPDIF? - tbd
F = S-Video Out C
G = S-Video Out Y
H = \
I = --> +5V DC IN

Not sure if that helps or not....

[lambsie]

I googled the model number PMC-HD0001 & found one on ebay US for approx £10.

Better late than never.