Creative Zen Micro...

By PaulCabby
in Hardware Hangout

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Grand Master

altezza Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Just last week I had the similar problem with the headphone jack. I follow the above procedures in order to open the ZM. Although I lost my warranty but I have successfully fixing the headphone jack by inserting a piece of folded paper to fill the gap between the headphone jack and metal covering. At first when I put the parts back together my ZM was not even turning on power. I thought I have done something wrong. Then I took a careful look at the pins that connect between the unit and the board where the headphone jack attached to. The pins were bent! With careful fix to pins...I managed to straighten the pins and put back together and it finally works! The headphone jack is also working fine as new. I proud what I did...thanks to the guide above. In order to prevent more damages to headphone jack, I unplug the headphone everytime I finished using it and put it back on whenever I am using ZM.

  • 2 weeks later...
Neowinian

AndyNYC

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the breakdown on how to fix (this extremely annoying!) problem with the Zen Micro. I have had my Micro since February of this year, the 5 gig model, and the headphone jack problem started up two weeks ago. Not realizing it was an internal issue, I bought new headphones thinking that one side of my headphones had simply given out (as headphones usually do after a while). The new headphones revealed that the problem was not corrected, so I looked around online and discovered that this headphone jack issue is common to the Zen Micro. Anyway, following the great directions posted here, I was able to completely fix the issue and now the player is as good as new!

I have no clue whether my warranty is expired or not, but since it's about 6 months since purchasing the player (and considering that I have filled it to capacity), I decided to just go ahead and fix it myself, this way.

I did come across a few unexpected things. The rubber microphone cover (black half-ball thing) came off, but I just stuck it back on, and the two little mettle "used staple-like" springs fell off the plastic case, but I put those back as well.

In all, it took me about 10 minutes to get the unit apart, the folded postcard piece I put in between the metal casing over the headphone jack and the jack itself in place, and the whole thing put back together. Much better than waiting weeks (I'd imagine) for the unit to be serviced or replaced by Creative.

No more sound issues!

My next "big endeavor" with the Micro will be to "bling it out" (ok, so shoot me) with Swarovski crystals so I can be as cool as Paris Hilton!

AndyNYC

Apprentice

MixMasta

Posted
Posted
The Zen Micro is warrantied for a year.

http://us.creative.com/support/warranty/warranty.asp

586264772[/snapback]

But only three months labor.

Anyways, I have had three issues with the Zen Micro, and I am done with that POS. First off, right out of the box, the stock headphones were broken. Then, 3 months later, the headphone jack goes bad. Now, on a brand new Micro replacement, the headphone jack has gone bad AGAIN. I'd stay away from this product. I loved it, but too many issues to make it worthwhile.

Now I have an iRiver H10 20GB.

  • 2 weeks later...
Neowinian

k2doggo

Posted
Posted
Hey, THANKS HEAPS for this fix.  I lost my receipt, couldn't have gotten warranty service, and wouldn't have had a clue how to fix this myself.

I registered just to say THANKS!

586377684[/snapback]

You're welcome. But I have to confess that in my case, my "fix" only lasted a month or so. I mean, think about it--you've got a broken solder connection, and you're trying to just mechanically hold it together with glue. It's destined to fail.

But I then returned it to Creative Labs, even though I'd blown the warrantee, and to my surprise they didn't charge me for a replacement.

BUT, then the new one failed in two weeks! Same headphone jack problem. So now I'm trying to negotiate with them--I don't want yet another sample, and as we've learned (in a gigantic discussion of this over on the Creative forums), there is no redesign of this feature, and all of them regardless of serial number are equally likely to fail.

So good luck with your Micro, but just know if it fails, you may at least be able to get Creative to give you a new sample. Whether you then use it or sell it on Ebay is up to you...!

Neowinian

iamtheghostoftomgoad

Posted
Posted

i am now methodically going around every chat room telling everyone that zen micros are completely unreliable. I got my first player in december and it broke after 4wks. It then took Creative a month to send me a replacement, which then developed the dreaded headphone jack problem about a month later. My third player then lasted for about 3months before that too developed the same fault.

We tried to get a refund but they won't let us have one because i had the player for over 30 days. It doesnt help that we cannot contact anyone except through email. Apparantly i can chose another creative product now though instead. Does anyone know anything about the creative sleek 20gb mp3 player? If i go for that will it just develop the same fault all over again.

arg. i should have just been a sheep and got a damned ipod! so much for giving something else a chance!

Neowinian

Kube

Posted
Posted

Lol. Didn't want to wait for a replacement, plus my zm's already 5 months old. So I pried it open and jammed a piece of paper between the jack and the metal casing. No problems yet. One thing though, something came out. It was like a bent metal piece, like a twisted stapler. Not sure where it fit, so I put it one side. IS this something critical?

  • 10 months later...
Explorer

RapTxt

Posted
Posted

i've got the zen micro since 14-15 months now with no problems until a few weeks ago.

Now i have both the headphone problem and the battery super drain.

i think this is due to the many falling of the zen.

that's ok anyway, after one year and a half i can change it with no regrets.

Collaborator

3284lmm

Posted
Posted

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.

Wrong, the headphone jack comes loose because of poor engineering, plugging the headphones in and out of the player only plays a small roll in failure. The soldiering points of the original micro's (not the microphoto) headphone jack were very poor to say the least. I've had my micro for almost two years now, i use a staple to keep the headphone jack connected to the board.

Grand Master

icecaveman

Posted
Posted

The only people I know who didn't have any problems are those who "lab test" their products. Most people like to put stuff like this in their pockets. The "lab testers" are the only people I know who had their DAP last more than 2 years. They also usually have no scratches at all or dust problems.

The headphone jack problem of the Zen Micro was even worse because the remote connects through the same plug meaning if your jack gets damaged it can easily short circut causing your player to reset if your jack recieves slight pressure while running. I brutally destroyed my Zen after it started to reset and I'm wondering if I'll ever purchase Creative DAP again. The best way to make headphone jacks suitable for pockets is the way Sony does with their "remote controls" like on the PSP, it has 2 pins instead of 1 eliminating almost all of the pressure from the soldering.

It's just like AK's VS M-16's... in lab testing M-16 beats AK-47 in most tests but in real life M-16 is difficult to use under tough situations because it was only "lab tested" :)

Oh and people this is an ancient thread.

  • 1 month later...
Neowinian

Dirty skillz

Posted
Posted

:alien:

I just bought one of these and have a major problem I dont know if I can return this or not, but maybe you guys can help.

Windows 2000 service pack 4

Wont detect?

It wont install the software nor will it let me see the micro.

I have winodws media player 9.

Please help. Dont want to give it up. tried installing the drivers aswell and i Guess the MTP is the problem. There a way to get around this?

Proficient

kickenchicken360

Posted
Posted

all of creatives plaers are awesome but the micro and nomdad jukebox these two players are horrid. the rest are awesome... especially the zen vison m but the micros just not agood player if your gonna get one get a sleek sleek photo or microphoto or zev v

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