Creative Zen Micro...

[PaulCabby]

Well, there is a on going thread in the creative forums (around 54 pages :s). And it was ALL about the loose headphone jack on the Zen line. If you guys have a Zen Micro, can you please say if it has been replaced or if you haven't returned it (it is still fully working). Can you also state what colour you have, the first 6 numbers of your serial code and how long have you had it? Trying to see if the jack problem actually affects certian Zen Micros or if it is just the luck of the draw.

[OPaul]

I had mine replaced but because the "Back" button wouldn't work if the headphones weren't in. I discovered the serial numbers played no part in whether you got one that worked or not.

[Mutex]

I got a black unit back in December (first bunch w/ extra battery offer & different touchpad), ran into the headphone jack issue after about two weeks, returned it early February and Creative sent me a brand new package around late February. The new unit has been working fine since then. :)

[PaulCabby]

I had mine replaced but because the "Back" button wouldn't work if the headphones weren't in. I discovered the serial numbers played no part in whether you got one that worked or not.

585945051[/snapback]

OPaul, did you get your ZM replaced or just fixed?

[OPaul]

OPaul, did you get your ZM replaced or just fixed?

585945784[/snapback]

Replaced

[Druw]

mine is fully working

[thepunisher713]

I have the same problem with the loose headphone jack, i was delivering papers this afternoon when it started. looking to find a way to open it myselg, i realised that my warranty sticker was ripped, i think that happened putting the battery in place, and cuz of that i probably won't be able to send it to creative labs. And like that was not enough, there seems to be a wrong contact inside the mp3 player due to the headphone jack, cuz when i have headphones pluged it and i move the cable a lil bit too much, the mp3 player sends me a shutting down message and it does shut down. i have that "limited edition" package and it's silver.WHAT SHOULD I DO!!

[OPaul]

I have the same problem with the loose headphone jack, i was delivering papers this afternoon when it started. looking to find a way to open it myselg, i realised that my warranty sticker was ripped, i think that happened putting the battery in place, and cuz of that i probably won't be able to send it to creative labs. And like that was not enough, there seems to be a wrong contact inside the mp3 player due to the headphone jack, cuz when i have headphones pluged it and i move the cable a lil bit too much, the mp3 player sends me a shutting down message and it does shut down. i have that "limited edition" package and it's silver.WHAT SHOULD I DO!!

586001546[/snapback]

Contact Creative and explain the situation.

[PaulCabby]

Yeah, but i think you will have to pay to get the ZM replaced as the warranty is voided

[J=n=o]

sorry for this stupid question

What happens with the headphone for it to get that problem?

[SkaterAustin]

I dont own a zen micro but have fixed my friends. What i had my friend do is bring me his zen micro, I took it apart (not all the way) and stuffed some paper between the jack and the actually player. Re-assembled the player and it hasn't moved since and i made dam sure that the warranty label wasn't hurt and it looks good.

Thought id throw that out in the air for those of you having this issue. Theres also a few guides on the net to dissasmble the micro.

Other than that if you got a store warranty id return it, or send it back to creative them selfs. Ive also noticed my local wal-mart and circuit city have gotten a revision model and im thinking just maybe they have fxied it.

[kak]

Its mostly from people disconnecting their headphones too much from the unit. The jack could be better, but its by no stretch as bad as people make it out to be. The easiest thing to do to prevent the problem is to buy an extension or set of earbuds that have a 90 degree bend on the jack. It provides less torque on the headphone jack that would otherwise make it move around.

I've had my player (silver) for several months and haven't had any problems. Don't jiggle your jack around, disconnect the headphones every time you pick it up, or any other dumb things and you won't run into the problem. Its cutting edge tech, take care of it.

As noted, the serial numbers don't play a big part in the case. Not that I've read up to this point at least.

[thepunisher713]

Contact Creative and explain the situation.

586001723[/snapback]

i will, i'm just waiting to find my bill to get the purchase date. and if their anwser is negative i'll probably open it and fix it myself.

[thepunisher713]

here it's done, i'll keep you up to date as soon as i get a reply from them. anyways, g2g to bed, i have exams 2morrow, bye!

[thepunisher713]

okay, i got creative's e-mail, here's what it looks like :

With regards to your enquiry, you might like to try connecting another

pair of earphones to your player. Did you encounter any issue?

If issue persists, we can conclude that your product may be having some

issue. If possible and if the product is in-warranty, try exchanging the

product for another from the vendor, for this will be much quicker and

easier than having an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) issued.  If

this is not possible, do reply back to me and an RMA will need to be

arranged to have your product tested for repair/replacement.

Please note that you are subjected to the return policies of the place

of purchase.

so i guess they know it really is their fault. if you have this problem, go to the shop where you bought it if it's still under warranty, if not, send an e-mail to creative labs (there's a RMA section on their website to do that) and get it replaced.

[sharpy2k4]

whats the problem with the jack? i got a zen mirco and aren't sure what your on about. is the bit where the headphones plug into loose, so they fall out easier or what?

[PaulCabby]

whats the problem with the jack? i got a zen mirco and aren't sure what your on about. is the bit where the headphones plug into loose, so they fall out easier or what?

586010348[/snapback]

It is the bit where the headphones plug into which has come loose.

[devyant]

I'm actually facing the software problems but usually get resolved after taking out the batteries and placing them back.

I have a few friends who also got it and had tones of problem with the headphone jack and the touchpad. I'm not facing any just yet. I got my set for 2-3 months already. :)

[k2doggo]

This headphone-jack thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. I got the RMA from Creative, but realized that if I was going to pay a hundred bucks for an out-of-warranty repair anyhow, i might as well try to fix it myself. (All this refers to the 5 gig model, and don't sue me if you try this and it breaks. I didn't tell you to do this. This is for entertainment purposes only, and it'll void your warrantee.)

Here's what I did:

Take the back battery cover off.

Take the battery out.

Set the player's on-off switch on "lock" i.e. all the way toward the headphone jack.

Take a jeweler's flat-head screwdriver and use it to gently pry off the plastic top plate that surrounds the headphone jack etc. You do this by pushing the screwdriver blade into where the on-off switch slider is, and prying in the "on" direction. This top faceplate is just held with a little contact glue, and won't even need to be reglued when you put it back.

When you pry that off, you see two little screws, philips as i remember. Take those out and don't lose them.

Now hold the Zen right-side-up in both hands, with the open battery compartment facing you. Put your two thumbs on the metal back of the compartment, and pull down. The metal will slide down about 1/4". This releases all the catches that hold the damn chinese box together. (This is where you just voided your warrantee.)

Now gently pry the back and the front apart.

You see that there are two units here: the main unit, and then a small unit that stays with the white plastic back, and carries the jack and the on-off switch. This is the part that is badly designed and's causing all the trouble. It's held on to the casing with two little screws--remove those and take the unit out.

See, the headphone is soldered to the little motherboard, and then unfortunately they've added another layer of chips right over that spot for miniaturization purposes. So it's no good hoping to resolder it; you'd have to detatch the top layer of electronics first, which is insane.

You could either get Creative to send you this whole headphone-jack unit as a spare part (I had no luck finding a phone number for that), or else do what I did and epoxy the jack back to its motherboard where it was coming loose.

You see that there's some play in the headphone jack. There shouldn't be. That's what you want to fix, by firmly and permanently fastening the jack to its little motherboard.

There is a metal plate with two screws that cover the jack and the plug. Take those screws out, but there's no need to remove the plate. You'll just be prying at it a little bit later on.

Get some two-ton epoxy (as opposed to the quick-drying kind that doesn't hold as well, you don't want to do this twice do you?). Mix it up. Pry gently at the jack so it's coming away from the motherboard slightly. Using a toothpick or something, apply epoxy very carefully to the gap. Notice that the jack is kinda perforated in places: you DON'T want to get epoxy inside the jack, or you'll never be able to get a plug into it afterwards.

Find all the spots you can along the inside edge of the headphone jack that you can reach for this gluing.

Then pry up the metal plate from the top, just enough so you can fit a shim in there. Your shim can be a bit of paper folded 4 or 6 times, for instance. The idea is that when you refasten the metal cover, it and the shim will be pressing down on the jack assembly and tending to force it into the motherboard where it's supposed to live. This also will make a nice clamp for the epoxy while it's drying.

So put the paper shim in there and re-attach the two screws that hold the metal plate on. Nice and tight. Then you can actually just reassemble everything by reversing these steps. Be careful when you put the two parts of the Zen back together, since as you can see, the back and front communicate with each other using two rather fragile sockets, and you don't want to damage them.

But it's all pretty easy, and for me it's resulted in a free permanent fix (so far!)...whereas if Creative replaces it, how do we know the same thing won't happen again?

Edited June 7, 2005 by k2doggo

[phedot]

Well I own one for about 1 month and I'm not having any issue with the headphones jack... The only problem I'm having and it's a known issue it's the unabillity to delete contacts once they are transfered into the ZM...

[thepunisher713]

This headphone-jack thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. I got the RMA from Creative, but realized that if I was going to pay a hundred bucks for an out-of-warranty repair anyhow, i might as well try to fix it myself. (All this refers to the 5 gig model, and don't sue me if you try this and it breaks. I didn't tell you to do this. This is for entertainment purposes only, and it'll void your warrantee.)

Here's what I did:

Take the back battery cover off.

Take the battery out.

Set the player's on-off switch on "lock" i.e. all the way toward the headphone jack.

Take a jeweler's flat-head screwdriver and use it to gently pry off the plastic top plate that surrounds the headphone jack etc. You do this by pushing the screwdriver blade into where the on-off switch slider is, and prying in the "on" direction. This top faceplate is just held with a little contact glue, and won't even need to be reglued when you put it back.

When you pry that off, you see two little screws, philips as i remember. Take those out and don't lose them.

Now hold the Zen right-side-up in both hands, with the open battery compartment facing you. Put your two thumbs on the metal back of the compartment, and pull down. The metal will slide down about 1/4". This releases all the catches that hold the damn chinese box together. (This is where you just voided your warrantee.)

Now gently pry the back and the front apart.

You see that there are two units here: the main unit, and then a small unit that stays with the white plastic back, and carries the jack and the on-off switch. This is the part that is badly designed and's causing all the trouble. It's held on to the casing with two little screws--remove those and take the unit out.

See, the headphone is soldered to the little motherboard, and then unfortunately they've added another layer of chips right over that spot for miniaturization purposes. So it's no good hoping to resolder it; you'd have to detatch the top layer of electronics first, which is insane.

You could either get Creative to send you this whole headphone-jack unit as a spare part (I had no luck finding a phone number for that), or else do what I did and epoxy the jack back to its motherboard where it was coming loose.

You see that there's some play in the headphone jack. There shouldn't be. That's what you want to fix, by firmly and permanently fastening the jack to its little motherboard.

There is a metal plate with two screws that cover the jack and the plug. Take those screws out, but there's no need to remove the plate. You'll just be prying at it a little bit later on.

Get some two-ton epoxy (as opposed to the quick-drying kind that doesn't hold as well, you don't want to do this twice do you?). Mix it up. Pry gently at the jack so it's coming away from the motherboard slightly. Using a toothpick or something, apply epoxy very carefully to the gap. Notice that the jack is kinda perforated in places: you DON'T want to get epoxy inside the jack, or you'll never be able to get a plug into it afterwards.

Find all the spots you can along the inside edge of the headphone jack that you can reach for this gluing.

Then pry up the metal plate from the top, just enough so you can fit a shim in there. Your shim can be a bit of paper folded 4 or 6 times, for instance. The idea is that when you refasten the metal cover, it and the shim will be pressing down on the jack assembly and tending to force it into the motherboard where it's supposed to live. This also will make a nice clamp for the epoxy while it's drying.

So put the paper shim in there and re-attach the two screws that hold the metal plate on. Nice and tight. Then you can actually just reassemble everything by reversing these steps. Be careful when you put the two parts of the Zen back together, since as you can see, the back and front communicate with each other using two rather fragile sockets, and you don't want to damage them.

But it's all pretty easy, and for me it's resulted in a free permanent fix (so far!)...whereas if Creative replaces it, how do we know the same thing won't happen again?

586031635[/snapback]

thanks for telling everyone, it really is the thing to do cuz i've done it last week and it worked. kinda unexpected from creative tought, having to put paper in the headphone jack!! ans by the way guys, if you want to do it, i aproove these instructions! :yes:

[Fog Dogg]

Yes, thanks for the info k2doggo... And welcome to Neowin!

[Jim2386]

You see that there are two units here: the main unit, and then a small unit that stays with the white plastic back, and carries the jack and the on-off switch. This is the part that is badly designed and's causing all the trouble. It's held on to the casing with two little screws--remove those and take the unit out.

586031635[/snapback]

Hey k2doggo, those two little screws holding the board to the plastic frame...are those the same screws that hold the metal plate over the jack and usb plug? I only see 2 screws, but in your instructions, you say to remove the screws to remove the board them remove the screws that hold the plates over the plugs. Can you clarify?

I'm so nervous about this!!!

[Fog Dogg]

Here is a nice guide with pictures on how to open your zen micro:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view....=9&id=1331&pg=1

[k2doggo]

Hey k2doggo, those two little screws holding the board to the plastic frame...are those the same screws that hold the metal plate over the jack and usb plug? I only see 2 screws, but in your instructions, you say to remove the screws to remove the board them remove the screws that hold the plates over the plugs. Can you clarify?

I'm so nervous about this!!!

586054969[/snapback]

well, when i wrote that, it'd been a week since i'd done the operation. so i could have gotten that detail wrong. if the two screws that hold the metal cover over the jack are also the screws that hold the whole assembly to the plastic frame, then just take the screws out. my screws were gooped up with some blue loktite gel, but don't worry about that. just take out the screws, and remove the board, but as i said there's no need to remove the metal cover altogether. and don't be nervous. it'll work i hope!