Zen Xtra and Windows Vista

[BobbyRS]

Thread merged with existing thread.

Hello Zen Man. Welcome. Which firmware do you have installed on the Xtra; the PFS (PlaysForSure) or the non-PFS firmware? If you have the non-PFS firmware (1.20.XX), then you may need Creative's legacy driver (here). If you have the PFS firmware (2.10.xx), you will not need any additional software in order to use the Xtra. The PlaysForSure firmware will turn your Xtra into an MTP device, which Vista support natively. After you plug in the Xtra, it should show up as a Portable Device under My Computer. You can either drag-and-drop files to/from or use a media manager like WMP11.

[Zen Man]

i have been attempting to load version 2.11.10, no luck, followed posted instructions, my zen extra is still stuck in recovery mode
i have nothing but time so i don't mind the work i just hope i can get it to work again

[coachop94]

Are you trying to do this on the Vista computer? If so it will not work . You must do the firmware update on a Xp/Sp2 computer that DOES NOT have WMP11 installed. It must have WMP10. On the download page for the firmware click on SHOW DETAILS it's there.

[BobbyRS]

Yes, like coachop94 mentions, you can only install firmware on an WinXP OS with WMP10 installed. So, if you are still using your Vista computer (are you?), you will have to find a different computer to use just to install the firmware.

[Zen Man]

Thank you coachop94 and BobbyRS,
i used a laptop at work that had xp and wmp 10, followed your instructions and after several minutes my zen extra was sync'd with all my old music (i had saved before attempting to load the firmeware)

i just have to try it on my home computer running vista to see if i can add more music

PS
last week i won an ipod nano in a raffle and even though i was in the middle of this zen extra breakdown i gave the thing away trusting that i would get my zen up and running again!

[coachop94]

Good you got it working again. P.S My daughter recieved a nano for Christmas 2 yrs ago Still in the box has never used it. She says"I like my Creative players why would I use that thing?"

[Zen Man]

tried my zen extra on my home computer running vista, it sync'd up and is working fine with plenty of room for additional song!

[coachop94]

Cooking with Crisco now heheheh

[Zen Man]

tried my zen extra on my home computer running vista, it sync'd up and is working fine with plenty of room for additional song!

[BobbyRS]

Good to hear Zen Man! Enjoy!

[coachop94]

I came across this article when I Googled looking for something else. http://mrinternet.wordpress.com/2007...ether-finally/ I have 2 Zen NX's . So I tried this on my Vista computer & it did work. Now I can't auto-sync to it since the old MediaSource crashes,MediaSource5 doesn't see it & of course WMP11 can't either. But I can Drag&Drop to it. Now has anyone tried updating the firmware to the Plays For Sure used on the Zen Xtra if so did it work?

[alidatoo]

Hi, this is my first post and i have a zen 20gb (the one that looks like the micro but is just a bit bigger) Basically had the same problem of it not working in Vista and i can see loads of other people are having this problem. Well i came accross this solution on the creative forums and it worked for me and is really simple. Basically the link is

http://forums.creative.com/creativel...read.id=185453

thanks

ALi

[BobbyRS]

Welcome alidatoo. Thanks for the link.

[chiefcornbeef]

Hi all, this is my first post and im hoping you guys can help

my 40g zen xtra has worked great for several years now (except for rebooting continuosly when the player gets cold) but recently my ancient win2k computer died and i replaced it with a machine that had vista already installed.

i upgraded my player firmware to v2.10.03 to make it an MTP device, connected it to my pc and was able to drag and drop my music using windows explorer. everything was working fine until i opened WMP11 and the program tried to sync to my player. the first time it tried to sync the status bar froze so i closed WMP and restarted it. this time it sync'd but it since then i have not been able to transfer files.


now when i connect the player a buuble displays saying "installing device driver", when i click on the bubble it says "device driver installation failed". device manager shows the player under portable devices but under status it says "the device cannot start (code 10)

ive been researching this for about 2 weeks and tried everything i could find, including installing the xp drivers in xp compatibility mode and nothing has worked. also every time i power up the player it rebuilds the libarary which takes about 10 min and i have at least 3 duplicates of every song

please help!

[coachop94]

I would boot the player into recovery mode & Format(this will erase all the music files) Cleanup & Reboot. Do this function while connected to the wall charger so it does not lose power.

[chiefcornbeef]

thanks coach, looks like that solved my problem. should i not let WMP11 sync my player from now on?

[coachop94]

Since you have the PFS firmware you can use WMP to sync. I would have my settings for manual not Auto -Sync. Don't use different programs to sync. Stick with one so the program can keep track of what's already on it.

[FWilliams]

Uh, hi... I don't really know if I'm in the right place or not, but it feels like I am.

Anyways, I have a problem with my Zen Xtra. It's a 30GB model and apparently it's version 1.03.02. This problem is gonna be familiar to you, but I've read through previous posts and I haven't got a clue on what I should and shouldn't do (I'm not a very technologically minded person).

Basically, I want it to work with my laptop, which has Vista, because I have a lot of music on there (the Zen) that I don't listen to, and a lot of music on my laptop that I can't put onto the Zen because it's full. And as you're well aware, it doesn't work with Vista.

Is there anything I can do so that it will work with Vista that doesn't involve deleting the music on the player or resetting it or whatever??

Thanks in advance.....

[coachop94]

do you have the original install disc?? If so put it in the drive BUT do not allow it autorun. Instead go into My Computer to the CD/DVD drive right click on it choose Properties>Compatabilty>Xp Sp2 >Apply(OK) Then right -click again choose Explore then run the Execute file to install.

[FWilliams]

Hey.. thanks for the quick reply. Nah, I don't have the original CD with me - I'm away from home atm and will be for the next few months. But that'll work?