Not happy about this one, any idea how long? I just bought a slew of stuff for XMas for my son (external speakers, headphones...)

Mine is bricked here.

Any idea on how you may fix this? I mean how do you apply an update to a device that cant boot?

A little more information about the nature of the widespread issue would be helpful.  I have a device with a Zune logo screen locked up for hours.  Is this the issue?

My zune 30 works fine and its running firmware version 3.1

Hope on it... Mine is still working, but that is because I have not sync'd it to my computer (its on the Xbox 360 right now).

Can you be anymore vague?

Thanks for the update, hope that you keep the open communication ongoing.

The issue they are talking about is the freeze the Zune 30 gb is experiancing. It is frozen with the loading screen on the front, and does not respond to anything but a dead battery.

My Zune 30GB bricked as well. I'm also have a blank screen problem with my 80GB! 2 of 2 is not good track record for something that should just work.  

Hopefully we can file this in the 24-hour bug category, and we will all be laughing about this tomorrow.

Both of mine are dead too...I let the battery die, then rechardged it, same issue still.  

I'm a member of the "My Zune 30 is a brick now club" oh and so is my wife.

I disconnected the battery to unfreeze the zune and then plugged it into the wall after reconnecting.  Everything is A-OK for now.  Thank GOD!  I'm using this for New Years tonight.

The sad thing is i did not sync mine to my comp and it is still not working

I have not connected my zune to my computer in 9 months and it still locked up this morning.  I guess it has nothing to do with new updates.  I have a ton of music on this thing that I do not want to losse.  How can you fix these if they cannot boot?  We will not be able to apply updates that may fix the problem.

I have a 30 g and I plugged my zune into the comp and it froze too. :( guess I shouldn't have :(

Why does this say this was posted on the 30th?  

My 30 bricked this morning...and it wasn't synched with the PC. My wifes 30 is ok, but is on v2.5 of the firmware.

Unbelievable........there better be some kind of restitution for this.......how am I suppose to deal with people at work w/o my Zune?  LOL

How ironic that I just got the weekly Zune email in my hotmail inbox.  I'm sure it's an automated blast message, but still...  on the day the 30s take a dive.  (like mine)

haven't turned mine on in several days. Just tried it hoping it would work.  No such luck, it's bricked

Mine is also a brick, i dont have the tools to take it apart and pull the battery so i really hope you guys give us some indication of when you have a solution, a 4 hour flight Friday will really suck without it.

Happy New Year Zune team!

Good luck.

I never thought I'd consider an iPod until all three of my Zunes locked up at 3 a.m. this morning. This can't be good for market share. :(

Unpluging the battery worked on my two. Not for the faint of hart or someone with a warranty.

Mine is bricked too. It has been locked up with the Zune logo and a full progress bar all morning. I can't even reboot it. First problem I've ever had with it and all I did was hook it up to my PC last night to charge to battery. I'm very upset. I can't get through to phone support eiher. Also along with this problem the PC won't recognize that the Zune player is even connected to it.

MY 30gb zune is stuck on the logo screen

This is not cool.  I just destroyed my zune by taking the cover off to check the battery becasue it would not work.  I am about done wiht Zune.  My wifes is now bricked also.  Please help Ceaser

Mine just turned off (with a full batt) Now will not turn on, just says low battery.

Yeah; same here.  I trust Microsoft will rectify the situation with replacements or a fix.  The problem is I imagine the affected 30GB Zune are bricked and not just locked up.

Mine rebooted and froze sometime during the night while plugged into a USB port charging.  It wasn't syncing though.  The PC was off.

Its the clock, 2008 leap year 366 vs 365, last day of the year.  Microsoft just created Y2K problem with zune.

I can't believe this is happening.  i have a 1st gen 30G brown.  never any problems  . . . till now.

My Zune is getting pretty warm. Hopefully this doesn't any extra problems.

they probably have no idea what has caused it cause it. so it will be some time.  lets be chiil. i mean mines bricked too but you know microsoft will will fix it. i mean they spent a billion dollars to fix the 360

I'd still guess it's an issue with the GMT day, since it seemed tied to midnight PST.

My Zune 30g is stuck on the zune logo screen.  It won't shut off or reset.  Is this the "widespread issue"?  How will we be alerted of the fix when it comes out?

My 30 gig worked great until this morning. Bad day to have it go since it was loaded with New Year's party music.

My zune window just unfroze and the charging screen came up, has anyone else had the same situation?

My Zune 30 got bricked this morning, I am so sad ...

The "widespread" issue is the zune 30 not going past the zune boot screen.

THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. THERE IS NO VIABLE OPTION ON HOW TO EVEN APPLY AN UPDATE TO A DEVICE THAT WON'T EVEN BE RECOGNIZED BY THE COMPUTER. I HAD PLANNED TO USE MY ZUNE FOR MY NEW YEARS PARTY I'M HAVING TONIGHT INSTEAD OF TRYING TO BURN MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF CDS AND FOR THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT ON SUCH AN EPIC FAIL THE BEST RESPONSE WE GET IS THIS. CLEARLY WE ARE GETTING SCREWED ON THIS ONE AND MICROSOFT AND THE ZUNE TEAM NEEDS TO COME UP WITH ONE H3LL OF AN EXCUSE ON THIS ONE.

First my xbox,now my zune.Is it just me or does microsoft have the worst customer service ever?

Oh Lord, this is a disaster!

LucKily for me I got a new 120 GB for Xmas!  But my wife got my old 30 and she is NOT happy!

I'm bricked too. :(

mobilitysite.com/.../z-day-hits-zune-30s

So it's a clock problem?  How are we supposed to fix this one?

Mine is a brick as well.

I un-bricked mine my simply unplugging the battery and plugging it back in. Mind you that will void an Warranty you have, but a Zune 30GB should be outside of warranty now anyways.

Um, this is really OUTRAGEOUS.  I'm hoping there is some serious remuneration planned - I use my Zune every single day.  Except today!  

It'd be nice to know what was wrong, but that's almost impossible to know, since even Zunes that don't have the latest firmware froze too.

it would be nice to have more detail on the issue. we can only assume the 30s have become bricks, displaying the logo screen.

i'm sure they're working hard on the issue. hopefully they'll keep us updated periodically...

im in peru waiting for an answer about this problem, any technical support over here?

Mine ain't workin either...

My zune 30gb is stuck on the logo screen.  I had an error just about a week ago that deleted all of my content.  I just now got most of it back.  My computer won't let me get the rest back, though.  My zune was fine yesterday.  I don't know what happened.  I looked it up, and one suggestion was that I should let the battery completely drain out, then plug it in to a power source.  I'm trying it now.  I hope it works.  I'm sure Microsoft will fix the problem.  We just have to be patient.  It's not the end of the world.  : )

I can't wait to hear how this happened or what caused it.  Very interesting indeed!

Now I have the charging screen showing up.....

I agree with Dave, how can you apply a patch or software fix to a unit that won't boot?

I am afraid if this is not fixed by tonight at midnight since my Zune is under warranty I'll be expecting a pre-paid FedEx package to return the brick to Redmond for repair.

Mine just unfroze also and the charging screen came up. I put it in my dock not connected to my PC and it shows a big icon that it's plugged in but now its frozen on that screen.

Hey all we are working to ID the issue and the fix so please be a little patient while we get this figured out.  thanks again.

Whew I thought it was just mine that seized up.

Now get this fixed swiftly please its big party night & I can't go without tunes also I too bought a bunch of stuff for my zune so it should be nice if player worked.Can't afford to buy another one or go without music & podcast so please fix this.

I'm really sad as well. I love my Zune and I love bashing on people with iClones. But its sorta hard to when I'm holding a brick.

My Zune 30 is also frozen dead.  It'd be nice if they replaced it with a Zune 80 to restore consumer confidence!

This is just a shame. I hope they have a fix up soon because i have to get my zune working for a party later

Add me to the club - 2 devices in my household are bricks.  They make a light humming sound and the unit was getting hot  - until the battery died ! Instead of the boot screen - I am stuck on charging icon now. I'll take an 80 GB replacement model !

OK. After about 10 min. of being stuck with the icon that showed that it was plugged up it looked like it tried to reboot but now is frozen with the Zune logo and the full progress bar again.

Just chill folks. The battery will eventually go dead (mine took 4 hours) so overheating isn't an issue. Let's have the tech team work on it and tell us what to do next.  I imagine it will start with a disk erase using the device itself:

support.microsoft.com/.../927001

and go from there.

Add another brick

My screen just went blank and the battery symbol appeared when I pressed the play button.  No humming.  Have it plugged into the wall charger with the battery & charger symbol.

Defendantly sounds like a clock issue . happy new year

In response to Carolyn, so far you can't use the disk erase or remove content commands or any other for that matter because the device is not responding to any button presses.

Any guidance on what to do if we haven't turned on a Zune/30 yet? One of mine is bricked, but the other hasn't been turned on in a few days. Do I just leave it off?

mine is being stupid too.........its already been refurbished once and i reeeeally hope its not broken

MAN THIS IS DEPRESSING.....I NEED THIS FIXED BY THE TIME I'M OFF WORK! I NEED MY MUSIC MAN!!!

I'd suggest that everyone just take a deep breath and relax. Yes, it's a critical issue, but I am certain that the entire Zune team is at DEFCON 1 and working on the problem. Many of them may have to work on a holiday to deal with this.

Obviously, the reason they haven't released a lot of information yet is because everyone is busy troubleshooting the issue to come up with a fix. I wouldn't expect a full statement with some sort of explanation until tomorrow (New Year's Day). If there's a fix today, that'll be fantastic, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

My Zune is nonfuctional as well...I'm not really sweating it though b/c I really don't have an agenda for it at the moment other than listening to it in my car. I have CDs as backup though lol. I think the problem has to do with the date. My firmware is up-to-date and I haven't synced my Zune in about a week. Hey technology is not perfect or flawless, there is always going to be a problem to fix and always someone to fix the problem. So hopefully it will be dealt by tonight or before Dude's 4 hour flight. I just came back from out of town and my Zune made time fly.

my Zune has officially joined the club as of 5:00am this morning...I suppose no one has an answer yet

Any progress? Please don't just say you are working on this issue. There are so many customer stuck here and please let us know the progress...

So the Zune 30 is NOT Y2K9 compliant...lol

i see that MrStu says that he's Zune works as he has not pluged it to teh computer so far to sinc. with the zune site,

Mine has been weeks since i sinc for the last time, and i have not even updated the sofware, have no games, and havnt add any new musinc so far, and still, my Zune just died on me, this happened last night arrount 12

this happened to my firends zune about 2 months ago, she let the battery die adn now it wont turn on

I'm confident this issue will be resolved to my liking. It's kind of comforting to know that it's such a widespread problem, that is too big to ignore. I just hope it doesn't include spending a ridiculous amount of time Zuneless.

Will disconnecting the battery void your warrenty

I guess I'm relieved that I'm not the only one with a bricked 30.  The consumer in me is upset that this would happen especially on New Years Eve (reminds me of the Xbox Live fiasco of last Christmas), but the geek in me is madly interested in how this happened and how MS intends to fix it.

It's a clock loop error.  There is no fix.  Well until Jan. 1st 2009 when the clock actually realizes that there was a leap day in 2008.  Unless of course the HD burns out trying to boot.  That's a whole other issue. Gotta love MS.  Who doesn't write a leap day into the code of a clock?  ^%&*^# idiots.

Add another one to the club. Im trying to help my mom out with cleaning for her new years party and I have no music. So i borrowed her IPOD and it wont sync to my computer. Happy New Years..gotta love technology

Zune customer service is unavailable due to "weather conditions"

Mines gone it went out while being plugged into my stereo

Is there no way to do a hard reset on these? Or a simple way to take out the battery?

My suggestion: buy something from SanDisk. They make excellent mp3 players.

I unbricked it once by removing the battery ribbon cable, but it bricked again after a few minutes. Tried battery disconnect again and it bricked after a few minutes a second time. Now will wait for Official Guidance. Hope my 120GB at home is still working...

Mine got hit too. I hope they give us all refurbished zunes, like zune 80s.:) Or just new Zune 30s.

Wow... this is amazing!  Microsoft... guys... come on.  I've been all for you and then crap like this happens?  You are supposed to be the number one software company in the world.  This had better be resolved quickly or it will be more than just the Zune 30s that are dead.  Kiss that whole buisness good bye.

Does anyone know aside from opening the case and the Dpad Up/Back button - is there any way to hard reset the Zune?

4 hours later and no news? How am i suppose to do my work without music!! HOW!!

After my boyfriend told be ablouthis Zune's comma, I cheacked mine. i haven't connected it to my computer for a while (not since the first games update). its been working very slow for a while now. I'm very angry that every time I update my zune it went slower and slower! if there isn't some way this can be resolved I'm going to Apple

just another brick in the wall...

they must have spent their support budget on the mohave campaign.

all in all.....just another Zune Brick in the wall

This is madness!

Please save my Zune.  It's like a beloved family pet.

Microft will not fix it like they didnt the 360,I had two 360 one I sent to them with 100.00 three months now.I shouldnt have to pay to fix that they knew it was not working right

I have a 30 gb zune, and the same thing has occurred to mine. And I'm pretty sure mine's out of warranty. So for all of us that threw our money at Microsoft when it hit the shelves, we could be screwed. I'm willing to be patient, but seriously, perhaps Microsoft should straigten out all the kinks in their machinery before they sell it to the public.

Add me to the brick club!

techinical team working hard, my as$

Okay everyone, let's calm down. The Zune team says they are working on it, and until they identify what happened, they can't fix it. Give them some time, okay?

As for those of you screaming for money or bigger replacement models... why? What good is that going to do you right now? You would still have to wait for a check or device to arrive in the mail, and the issue would be fixed in the meantime. Just relax, okay? Stuff happens.

To the Zune team - Keep at it and let us know when the fix is available. And than you for acknowledging there was an issue so quickly. Apple would still be denying it next New Years Eve!

So, mine froze too. Tried letting the battery die and restart from there. It doesn't work, just starts up and freezes again on the logo page. Sadtimes all around. I'm up for a new Zune 80 to restore my faith in Microsoft. ; )

i guess i'm not the only one with this problem either.  what a sad, musicless day it will be.

Thanks for giving us an update on the situation. I hope you guys can resolve this soon. Thank you for the time and effort.

And to all the people leaving negative comments. Things like this happens and you shouldn't be yelling at the people who are working hard to fix it!

It took until 1:00 PM to update the site?  The update states it was posted at 10:58AM?  Where are you guys at?  India?

comon microsoft you can do it. i use this daily in my car so put your heads together and lets get it fixed. though i truly am in doubt about how e can fix it. hard to update the zune when its off ehh? then if it needs to be flashed we loose our media files..not to mention the time to send it off repaire and send it back. whats microsoft ready to do?

True-that Lee, nice try Carolyn. Mine is also a brick. I thought my wife dropped it lastnight while it was plugged into my PC, she did, but I guess that didn't break it.  A friend called me with the news with the same problem.  I like the leap-year guess, I would put my money on it.  I remember hearing 08 was leap year but I would expect this to happen tomorrow?  Looks like they will have to go back for repair.  Try to enjoy your New Year!  BTW -This does suck, what a F***-up!

ALRIGHT IT LOOKS LIKE PROGRESS IS BEING MADE I JUST HOPE THEY CAN FIND A WAY TO GET US BACK UP AND RUNNING TODAY

If all we have to worry/complain about is our Zune not booting in light of all that is happening around the globe and here in the USA, I'd have to say we are truly blessed. If you cannot live without your Zune you've got bigger issues than a hunk of plastic that will not boot. Cooler heads prevail, and I'm confident that this issue will be resolved. This is a minor inconvenience, not a tragedy.

Wow!  This happened to my son's 30 gb zune and to my husband's.  Based on everything I have researched, it seems that Microsoft programmer's forgot to test the 365 versus 366 days.  Hmmm... I am sure the programmer responsible will get a Happy New Year's "pink slip".  Tomorrow they will probably start working again...Happy Quiet New Year!

OMG!!!!! MY ZUNE IS STUCK ON START UP SCREEN HOW DO I START MY ZUNE!!!!?????????

I just took mine apart and did the hard reboot by unhooking the battery. The Zune is working now, but I am not even going to attempt to hook up to computer until Microsoft has a fix.

30g bricked this morning. Stuck on the startup screen. It is always hooked up my computer every night since I use it at work every day.... needless to say, today is hard to work since I dont have my music or poscasts to listen to.

Hopefully Microsoft will come up with a fix very soon. I have had my zune since they came out and have only had one problem with it.... and a full reload worked just fine. That was over a year ago.

Hurry up Microsoft..... I loath to think that I would have to buy an ipod to get a working player

Really interested to see how MS will resolve this as the Zune software nor the PC will recognize the Zune while it is in this state.  I am guessing a Zune 30 fix util.

Yea I have the same problem. I thought my zune broke after 2 years. I have the 30GB. Any hopes of having music for the new year celebration?

mine dont work its like stuck....

I'll take an upgraded 120GB or larger, and request to be on the list for future products, so I can break them on Microsoft's dime instead of mine...

honestly appreciate all the hard work being done on a holiday

My 80 GB Zune is doing the same thing...

another TWO not working.

Add 3 30gb bricks. Just got them for the family. Mine bricked at 12:00am PST promptly. Now I feel stupid for passing the 8gb ipod nano on down, and showing off the wireless download service. LOL! :(

So it doesn't matter what version of update you have, they all crash since mine is still a 2.0.

When I plug into my computer it is not recognized as being attached.  How can we even use a software patch if the computer does not recognize the Zune?  I say Microsoft should replace these 30GB with a 120GB free of charge for the inconvenience!

Good luck Dev'ers. Bugs happen.

So it doesn't matter what version of update you have, they all crash since mine is still a 2.0.

I'm glad it not just me, but I really wish they would provide more information.

Another freeze here...a bit of advice for people though....don't take it apart and remove/replace the battery...be patient and wait for (a) midnight or (b) microsoft to help us out. I don't know how a patch would help though since the zunes won't respond to being synced...

Yea, well I'm Pissed too. I have one my daughter has one and my son, who is in Ecuador and they are all FROZENNNN!!!!

I think M.S. needs to at least appear to care about their customers and quit sending products and fixes and patches out to us before they are tested!!!! I'm tired of being one of their testers and having to pay for the opportunity.

My 2 year warenty just expired 5 days ago I think.  My is stuck on the zune logo screen as most are, I hope this problem gets worked out. I have heard talk that they will start working at midnight, but I don't know if that is true.

Reporting another brick in the fail

I'll take a one month Zune pass as compensation.

If you catch it at the right time, key combos work and you can do a wipe while it's loading.  But ummm... judging from my experience doing that so far, I wouldn't recommend it.  It's been "wiping" for about 20 mins now.

Mine isn't working either..its stuck on the zune screen..it wont even turn off...this makes me mad..i hope the problem gets fixed pretty soon and fast

My 30 GB is in the same state, locked at the boot up screen. I am patiently waiting for Microsoft to correct this issue.  Would like it corrected prior to any New Years Eve events starting.

Holy cow I thought it was just me!!  MS better do something or I am getting an iPod and will advise everyone I meet not to buy a Zune!!!

I have a very lovely ZUNE shaped paperweight for sale if anyone is interested.

Dec 31, 2008 causes Zunes to crash.. xbox 360 update removes sound from hdmi users.. who is testing this stuff at M$?!

Both my and my wife's Zune 30s seem to be bricked as well. Sure am I glad I have an 8 and an 80 too. My wife might be a little mad though.

Hey guys, calm down now, I have a 30GB Device and it is working just fine. I'm running firmware version 2.3 though. They will figure out a way and plus who's to say they aren't going to start working again once we hit the new year?

Maybe Microsoft will credit all owners $200.

I have never had any trouble with my 30gb zune until this morning.  It is stuck on the black screen with zune logo and will not respond.

I wonder if this has to do with this being Day 366? Perhaps there is a bug where no day can have more than 365 days?

Have 4 30GB Zune's in our house.  All 4 frozen as well.  Still wouldn't go back to iPod if given the chance. Not yet anyway.  Fingers crossed this is fixed quickly and painlessly.

It can't be a clock/leap year issue otherwise all Zune's would be effected because of the same OS.

A new 80 gb zune sounds like an excellent repayment for all the trouble all of us are going through.. and a quick fix I might add. No overtime pay for techs :)

Mine is doing the same thing. I let the battery die and I tried charging it but it ended up going back the the zune screen and staying there

Ok, which one of you genius Microsoft programmers forgot to carry over the one? Oh well, that's life, no point in crying over it. I'm sure they will have a fix for this soon enough, in the mean time dust off your CD collection and party like it's 1982!

My 80GB is just as dead as all of your 30GBs...

My husband plugged ours into to charge last night (after a long trip) and then we found it frozen this am. I have cursed and blamed him all day. Just now saw where seveeral others are experiencing the same thing. Guess I better go and apologize to him now. Oh well. He probly deseerved it for something. Just hope this gets fixed pretty soon, without any extra costs to us!!

This is very annoying...

Even if the cause is found, it will be interesting to find out how Microsoft may fix this.  If the Zune device is locked up, can you even upgrade its firmware?

Well i found mine dead in my car as well...(i usually leave it plugged in since i use it the most in my car) Tried re-booting it the old "Back and up" trick...nothing.

So add another to the "I'm kind of ticked and waiting for news" list.

So sad. I miss my Zune. It is one year old and has been my main MP3 player. My 2nd string players are Sansa E200 class units. I miss the Zune.

My Zune 80 freezes at booth too! I get to screen "3, Please wait."

Even in Europe, Zune 30 is frozen!

Good luck Zune team, what a way to spend NYE.  

Can we get some sort of an update on this? This "oh we notice the problem working on a fix" line isn't enough.

Guess they're not so close to a solution since they removed their earlier message. We have two of these Zunes at home and they're both totally unresponsive!

I seem to have the same problem as everyone else today. My zune is stuck on the black screen. I followed the instructions to reformat it and it now seems to be stuck in Step 4 of the process. How will we be contacted about a resolution to this issue?

It's a secret! Only version 3.1 Zune 30s fail! 3.0 Don't.

HAHAHA

KARMA!!!!!!  Curses from all the UNICODE demanding folks!

Can't wait for that Zune Phone to come out! I need a new paperweight!

Mine and the three that I bought for my kids last Christmas all froze this morning.  We'll be patiently waiting for the fix.  NOT!

Very interesting. Hope you all get a fix/replacement.

These are all under warranty. Microsoft doesn't have a duty to do anything.  They might, only to prevent wide-spread defection to ipods....But don't feel like you're owed anything...You're not.

Just saw the email, turned on my Zune 30 and is now frozen on Zune boot screen. Was fine till today. Bummer.

like a Shaquille O'Neal Free throw, mine bricked as well

too bad.  i hope they can come up with a fair solution for everyone, including those whose warranties are expired.

I would suspect the devices will wind up working tomorrow.  There are 366 days this year being a leap year and the devices stopped working today?  Those that reset the battery and don't charge on their PC get a reset date on their Zunes and the devices are working again.  Those that plug them into the PC will most likely sync the date and be bricked again.  Just wait until tomorrow preferably after midnight tonight PST time as the Zune runs on PST time.

I wouldn't recommend anyone take apart their Zune even if its out of warranty Im sure if the issue does not resolve then Microsoft will offer some kind of replacement for the oversight and inconvenience.  They cant deny you a replacement it would be a PR disaster for Zune and Microsoft.  Look they even acknowledged early 360's had an issue and supported those out of warranty and extended existing ones.

DAMM, i just came to work and was going to plug it to my computer, turned ZUNE on and guess what its frozen, what happened???? first my 360 now my zune, DAMM!!!!

My 80GB "works" but all DRM content stopped playing around 2:00 PM EST, even tunes I purchased. Sync problems and marketplace account linking issues as well.

Just take apart your Zune - unplug the battery and put it back together!  ALL FIXED!!

Thanks Paul!

Even with this minor hick-up, the Zune is still the best product on the market.

Keep up the good work!

I was planning on getting a newer model, but if i have to look forward to something like this in the future I might not get one.

yeah, same thing happened to my Zune, at around midnight last night it froze at the boot up screen. As long as it gets fixed or replaced at some point in the near future I'll be happy.

Seriously depressing news, and the fact that its so vague and so widespread is a real bummer. I feel no comfort in the fact that 100's of other users are troubled as well. Hope you ZUNE tech guys can save us fast. A lot of people depend on you for there parties tonight. Sigh...

my zune was dead for a day or so.. just saw the news, charged it and turned it on and it works fine, guess i was one of the lucky ones or maybe death is awaiting me!

Annnd another brick. Apparently there's some kind of hitch in the firmware that's preventing the zune from fully booting and leaving the hard drive running at full speed which is the cause of the warmth you feel coming from it. This is going to turn into a XBOX 360 RRoD fix, I can tell. We're gonna have to send them in for them to fix and be without them for 6-8 weeks or worse. I can see it now. I've despised anything Apple for a long time and have always threw my support behind Microsoft, but they've seriously got me considering selling my 360, buying a PS3 and buying a new iPod. Microsoft, if you're reading this, you'd better do something and soon, or you're gonna lose a whole of of market share in more than just the personal music device market, I promise you that.

I did the manual dissassembly to reset battery (instructions on rapidrepair.com).  It worked fine but after a few minutes went back to frozen mode.

It' the end of the world as we know it!!!

2 years with never a glitch on my zune 30 and today its bricked. i'm so sad. my holidaze were ruined when my zune died.

Damn, I hate when *** like this happens to my electronics.

Honestly, you people make me sick. Whining like Children because your music player broke! An MP3 player is a LUXURY, not a right. Bugs happen, get over it and (in terms most of you will understand) quit yer bitchin! I'm sure there are a lot of engineers in Redmond scrambling around to fix this issue. My guesses are that this could have been avoided by better code review AND its a clock/time problem.

one more in Costa Rica, I thought that was just mine. Someone said in zunetotal.com that if you disconnect the battery and put it back again it will work. It's amazing because i was showing my brother how amazing is the old 30gb zune against his new itouch... and now i just a have a nice black box with a permanent zune logo :o(

another brick!!

Disk erase? Are you kidding me? Who is going to reimburse me for all the data and MY TIME I spent uploading on my ZUNE? May if Microsoft stopped cost-cutting and used well-trained software developers who are aware of leap year existence... What a joke. If boot up process cannot clear BIOS, there is very little hope for a fix...

I guess I'm in the brick club too. I just called my step-dad and he has the same problems as the rest of us, him, my mom, and I all have 30GB Zunes. This is really pissing me off because I'm on winter break babysitting and I have nothing to do, plus I have just downloaded some music.  I got it from Amazon.com but I doubt amazon is the issue.

BTW New 80GB Zunes would gain my consumer confidence! LOL :)

Happy New Year!

Yeah not happy about the battery self draining all day..I would like to see how you apply an update to a piece of hardware that can't boot up.. This is not some little hic-up, this is major.. And its a little snide that it only affects the 30g's not the others.. Makes me think that a team doing the software update didn't bother to double check that what works on the new Zune's works on the older tech.. Gee thanks must have been a slacker team on that code.

I got mine bricked too. I am going to unplug/undock my Zune 30, let the battery drain and wait until tomorrow to plug it back, charge it and see what happens. There are reports from people telling that opening the device and removing the internal battery fixes the problem too, but I can wait 24 hrs listening to my Z80.

Happy New Year Zune Team!

This is mad, I am going to cut over to  iPod now and face the fact this is a dead end street.  Why can't MS ever get its quality control right?

Mine too!  Very inconvenient!

This seriously sucks. Luckily my playlist that I want tonight will fit on my phone but I would hate to be someone with songs they want to hear on the new digital brick.

i hope help comes

SOON

How long I have to wait my Zunes been frozen since this morning and I had to listen to everyone talking on the bus and the train lol. What's going on? I'm frustrated I feel like throwing it in the garbage oh I'm so mad!

i hope this gets fixed fast cus i really wanted it for a partyy!

Of course, after seeing people start complaining that their Zunes bricked today, I decided to turn mine on..... Now I'm part of the crowd.

And it's one of those Halo3 Zunes and I rather liked it. This is simply unacceptable.

The issue is *No Longer* what to do with bricked zunes.  

The REAL issue is why MS has no genuine response.  A meaningless "we working on it" simply reinforces the apparently realistic assessment that MS jumped the shark years ago.

Bury the dinosaur.

Mine bricked as well.  I tried the battery thing and it worked!  When you disconnect the battery leave it off for about 10 seconds to let the device discharge all the way.  Below is a link to get access the battery, you will need a real small screwdriver to get it apart.  Took me about 15 minutes to do it because I was taking my time.  The clock theory seems logical to me, when I did the last upgrade I set the date and time.  When it started back up the time of course reset and it booted up just fine.  Just a thought anyway...  Here is the link

www.youtube.com/watch

Add one more....

Wow, I sure was hoping that this was just a normal Zune crash that required just a button combination fix. I haven't a clue what to do. Luckily its still under warranty; still really inconvient. Good luck figuring this one out

Come on guys lets give the MS Techs some time to figure this all out. I am sure they will take care of it. I am sitting here with 2 30g ZUNES down out of the 5 I bought last year for Christmas presents - (the other 3 I bought I do not know if they are down as well as they are out of state).  All I DO KNOW is if there is a widespread problem like this seems to be it has always been my experience that Microsoft will fix or rectify it ASAP. Stuff happens but they will fix it so hang in there & have a Happy New Year anyway.  

Is Microsoft going to give users of Zune 30s Microsoft Points for the problem?

Ok well just would like to add that i tried unpluging the battery and it did work for about half an hour the it bricked again trying to do device erase using the back, left, ok keys and so far stuck on step 4 wich is clearing content. I wish i could give good news but so far nothing has worked for me. Oh also tried to plug into computer but freezes again after reboot.

I trust that Microsoft will solve this problem, may not be today, or tomorrow...but hopefully soon. We can only trust that they will come through. Hope you all have a Happy New Year.

I tried to call twice to Zune Support Number. Both times told because of severe weather the lines were down. Can You Say "SPIN". My Zune is still under Warrenty maybe I should Exchange it for a 120gb.

Just saw the twitter update - problem confirmed to be day 366 of expected 365 in clock driver. So, the question now is - how do we fix a locked up Zune? I've got one 30 that I didn't power up today and another that locked up and the battery is now drained.

I understand that life happens.  However, what has me upset is the vagueness with which Microsoft has responded to the issue.  They've said they know there's a problem and are working on it.  However, that was HOURS ago.  How about an update every few hours?  If you can't do anything else, would you Keep the public informed?  I'd like to know you're making progress, and if not, what is Microsoft considering to do for us?

Goodness folks. relax (especially those folks using all caps).  they'll fix it. if they don't fix it, they'll offer a replacement. it's Microsoft for goodness sake.  Look at all the xbox troubles and the ridiculous amounts of money they shelled out to replace those. so you're at an inconvenience for today, get over yourselves...

Thousands of 30GB Zune owners have formed a “My Zune is a Brick” club on this New Year’s Eve day after

IS DEAD!!!!

this sucks....my 30gb is frozen thats a nice way to start the new year...almost got fired today because i ussually listen to my zune at work, and get all my work done helps me concentrate but toady could not get any thing done.....thanks alot microsoft....maybe they should look into what the ipod people "apple" were doing last night when they all forze up LOL  

hopefully they can fix it by tonight hosting party and my zune was my D.J. Thanks Microsoft.

any update?

Mine's a brick too. Just sat there on my charger, sucking down power all morning. I haven't synched it in almost two months, and now it's stuck on the charging screen.

WOW...what a mess!! I don't have the thing and even I'm interested in how this gets resolved.....big big problem...good luck MSFT!!!

Does anyone have any ideas how this problem is going to be fixed?

add me to the club...its realy getting to me!

mine's fine, for some reason. upgraded to 3.1 the day it was released. rebooted it a number of times today and worked fine. don't know what the difference is.

First XP SP3 kills my RDP sessions, next brand new XB360 has a bad video card on Christmas Day, now my 30GB Zune locks up. Happy 2008!

The problem will resolve itself after midnight tonight. The internal clock doesn't like leap years. Let your battery drain, and after midnight, reconnect the device. It will work then. Here is the official response in the Zune forums.

forums.zune.net/.../ShowPost.aspx

hope they have a fix up,'cause i have to get my Zune working hard for New Year party tonight

I have two Zune 30's and both of them have this problem.  Having two of them made it obvious that it was some sort of systemic problem. This is unacceptable.  I like the Zune better than the iPod, but maybe Apple is going to get my business soon.

Hey, I got mine to work! It's a 30GB too (Halo 3 edition one). I just plugged it into my computer and left it, after a while (couple hours maybe?) this error message came up "Zune programs has encounter an error with the device, would you like to proceed?"

I hit yes and it took me to the Zune homepage (program that pops up when you connect it). I then dl a patch (that took a while too, like 15min) but after that it worked!

(I probably should say though that it tried to restart once and then froze but I just rebooted it and then it worked fine)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :D

Wow. This is quite insane. Brick. Brick. Brick. lol.

Wait till tomorrow??? What about using my Zune tonight for my New Years party?

Paul, Brian, and Co.,

I am willing to try your fix since the Zune, until today, has been reliable and I, oddly enough, am a Microsoft supporter (also own stock but will not get on that soap box). Still, I DO hope this is working tomorrow as it was embarrassing hearing the Microsoft ribbing from my liberal, iPod-listening friends at the health club. They thought it was funny and, of course, I had no music to drown them out. I know you are working hard. Out of curiousity, have you actually tested the 'after midnight' fix?

If it is a leap year/clock thing then it *might* correct itself when both your time zone and UTC have fully transitioned into 2009.  

It might be worth leaving everything alone until tomorrow and then trying again.

No brick on my 30, my system was dead from being played all week and I didnt charge it last night...just plugged it in charged it up and it booted fine.

Looks like it's time to hope on the iPod wagon.

welcome to the no-cial

I agree that even if the Zune team comes up with a patch or a solution, how will they get it into a device that will not boot. Even though I do not have a warranty I believe I should be compensated somehow, or I will be angry!

Mine is locked to the logo! Not a good sign for the New Year....Please hurry up with the fix

I updated last night and then I put it on my XBOX and I didn't notice that it was stuck on this stupid logo screen until this morning. I will be extremely happy when this problem is fixed. My zune is the shizz and I love it... :(

Well mine is stuck, too.  Since we are all posting at the same time, is this a "date" issue with the software?  I upgraded the firmware last night (thru the Zune software), but it ran for a bit after that. But I noticed around 1 am, it's stuck on the screen.  I will also try to disconnect the battery.   This sux! It figures it would do this just 2 weeks after my one year warranty!!!!  

OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM ZUNE FORUMS!!  DON'T FRET JUST YET!!!!   :)

forums.zune.net/.../ShowPost.aspx

Guys, How long does it take to drain the battery fully?

well, im just disappointed, at the beginning i had the idea to have something diferent than an ipod and i was optimistic with Zune, well thats what you get... i hope just engineers can solve this fast, and agree with those who say "how do you apply an update to a device that cant boot" but once again with microsoft: Let`s wait.

...memo...

Mine was off and turned itself on to die.

Up until this it has been great.

This is crazy

Well, mine is well out of warranty and of course is also locked up.  How did those of you who disconnected the battery get the case open to do that?

No estamos muy contentos con lo que esta sucediendo, esto es muy perjudicial para Microsof, puesto que somos muchos los usuarios que el día de hoy nos vimos afectados por la falla en los Zune 30G de primera generación. Por mi parte espero soluciones prontas y eficaces para que esto no se vuelva a repetir, en ningun país del mundo donde se encuentran los dispositivos, que por lo que he averiguado ya ha traspasado hace mucho norteamerica.

saludos y espero soluciones prontas

Listen don't do anything to your Zunes. Microsoft has issued a statement saying that the problem is with the Internal Clock. Once it Jan. 1 it should go away, the latest plan is to let the battery die all the way no charge. They say this may help the problem

My sons 4gb that he got for christmas froze up this morning. We held the button down and pushed up on the touch pad to reboot, etc. We couldn't get it going. We took it back and got an ipod nano.

Found this on the web...... wonder why nothing has been said here yet

Late Wednesday, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said the outage affected only the 30-gigabyte Zune models and was caused by a problem with their internal clock. Microsoft expected the problem to clear up as the clocks ticked over to Jan. 1, though users will have to jump through some hoops to get their Zunes back to normal, including letting the batteries die down completely before the devices will restart successfully.

I Have a 30G and i'm gla i'm not alone but WTH microsoft???

Tech support:  Good luck and sorry this happened on tonight of all nights.  at least you will be safe off the streets while everyone who is upset is crying in there beer mug.  no hard feelings here.  we are the ones who give computers and software the power that they have over us.  Have faith

RESULTA TOTALMENTE AVERGONSANTE QUE MI ZUNE SE ALLA ENCRIPTADO POR UNA FALLA QUE USTEDES NO VISUALIZARON .

ASI QUE PREPAREN UNA BUENA RECOMPENSA PARA LOS QUE SOMOS SEGUIDORES DE ZUNE LO EH PRESUMIDO CON LOS QUE AMAN EL IPOD Y AHORA ME TENDRE QUE AVENGORZAR POR SU CULPA.

ESPERO UNA SOLUCION URGENTE

Sad that Microsoft can't seem to get anything right.  It seems as if everything is rushed to meet release dates and sadly the end user is the one that suffers.

Let's see how long it takes them to correct the problem, and whether or not the fix is a long term fix or short term.

And please, please, please don't tell us that we need to shell out any money to fix a problem that has affected so many of the 30GB devices.

If Microsoft wants to save face and make a big impact on the Zune community they should adopt a fix or replace policy, meaning if they can't provide a fix, they should replace the affected Zune with a new one.

Need Help.. Creepy..

I have 2 Zune 30GB, both are now bricks. One went on a family trip and played music fine through late yesterday; the other sat at home on a battery charger. Today both sit forever at the Zune screen.

Not sure how these can be fixed without being opened up and reimaged as they won't talk to a PC at all.

Really bad news!

this sad i dont use my zune all the time but i saw a thing on internet expoler so i turned on my zune and it sad the battery was low and it would not start so i pluged it up to my pc and i start loading then it got fully and it froze so i am mad i think we all should get a free 80 zune if you agree place yes at the  end of your comment

Wait a minute.  People actually own a Zune?

I'm having the same problem....was stunned to find this site and see that everyone else's Zune is frozen....help!

I can get my zune to go passed the boot screen but disconnecting the battery, but then it just goes black.  When I plug it in from this state, my computer opens the zune software, but then the zune reboots and gets stuck oin that startup screen again. Hooray for microsoft.

my freaking zune is my life this really upseting ....fix this! i paid to much money for this to happen!

Mine locked up too!  It happened when it was left hooked to the computer all night.  I wonder if it conflics with windows updates or windows live, or maybe my screan saver?  Now what should we do?

This is outrageous. If zune and microsoft are going to be like this and crash all the time I'm going to switch to iPod and never look back.

i cant listen to my zune, does anybody know whats happening?

i'm tired of always having trouble with my zune device. I'm getting an iPod.

whats up i that this would pass when it was jan.1st

Ha!  I had this problem since yesterday!  I should've hacked it to plug-n-play mode....  Damn you worthless microsoft programers!  Now, my NYE will be even more lonely.....

I had to listen to OLDIES on my way to work today! OLDIES!

Next update I want to hear some restitution and a damn good reason why I should consider upgrading from my 30 when such a trivial error as a freaking Y2K bug is present?

9 Years. This *** shouldn't happen.

I have the 30 gb and this thing froze up on start up  i want to listen to music and i can't

Same *** here and now its Jan. 1st and it still broke. Hope it clears up soon.

My 30gb white Zune is locked up too.  The other day Macy's had a glitch where they tripled charged everyone from 1:00 to 2:30, are you saying youll never shop there again.  NO, just be patient and everything will be ok.  

How am I to start my New Year's resolution to work out daily, (while listening to my Zune) with this BRICK? Got the Logo and it won't shut off, or do anything else.

Mine also freeaed with LOGO of Zune.

Is it due to change in year 80-09 (due to latest version Zune 3.1)

My wife and I both have Zune devices..  They both locked up when we turned them on today.. Any solution?  Some Microsoft engineer by design attrition?

ok so its the new year...still nothing

ANother BRICK hits the Wall!

HAHA  I'm imagining that the person who stole my Zune now has a brick!  Awesome

Should have bought an iPod. Damn!

My 30GB Zune locked up earlier today, but seems to have unfroze at about 12:15 am PST. If it is the 366 day issue, maybe it's back to day 1. Anyway it's working, keeping my fingers crossed, hope others are having the same experience. Call me an optimist, but I think this will be rectified one way or another. Happy New Year!

Mine locked up like everyone else's. I let the battery run down and plugged it back in shortly after 12:00 am. Seems to be working now.

AS Microsoft promised my 2 ZUNES are up & charging again in CA. I have to wait for morning to find out but I am sure the three I bought for family in the midwest work but I am confident they too will be all up again. THANKS to The folks at Microsoft for the support & effort they always put into fixing any problems be it software or hardware I am always confident buying from MS! I applaud the support department & all the techs!

my three zunes are still bricks, I thought draining them and recharging them after midnight was supposed to resolve this?

Mine is finally working.  Now I can go back to listening to Jewel on my second rate Mp3 player.

Ipod Touch, here I come!

Waste of time...3 in the house, all 3 locked up. Great design.

Going to go buy 3 Ipods for the price I paid for 1 of these.

5:40... it started working again

all zunes will be working by the 2nd of january if yours is still broken please call microsoft, mine is working as of now colorado

all zunes should be working within another day

Another brick here!

all better......

It's gonna be interesting how they can load new rev when will not boot ???. Another over designed MS product.

so its NooN Gmt time its 8am here 1/1/09 and its still not working

My son and I each have a 30gb, and they both froze.  But, I have been very satisfied with the player.  I have never had any problems with my player.  I do not understand all the hipe about ipod.  I am a faithfull Zune user.

This Software update & the one before it really SUCK!!.. My ZUNE hung up all the time,,,NOW WHAT!!?!?.. Microsoft Must find a SOLUTION & give us a " REAL " update!!

Go to Zune.net under support and follow the directions. As of today mine is working after following the advice isted there.

Yup mine too another brick in the wall. So instead of working on what might happen if their fix didn't work they killed a day by just having the wait and see fix going. I like Microsoft  Zune and try to stick with it but my wife owns a first generation IPod and it still works great no leap year nonsense, maybe microsoft should contact apple for some advice on the fix

Mi esposo, su hija y yo tenemos un Zune de 30g y ninguno de ellos funciona. Espero encuentren una solución al respecto que no represente costo para nosotros los usuarios.

I'm pissed. I'm pretty sure it depreciates, but at the same time we all should be awarded some type of deal on getting the newer model Zunes. Mine, my girlfriend & her son...all 30GB Zunes are now paperweights...wtf dude?!?!

ok...it works ..good job for fixing it!! Now i would like to know what happen .. anyway thanks for the fixing of my zune! and please don't let it happen again!.. GO LSU!

Let the batter run down, plugged it in to the computer again after midnight last night.  Brick again this morning

Let my daughters die over night and recharged this morning.  Everythings AOK. Yippee.  Life is good now, she was lost without it.

Mine is still a brick at Noon eastern time.

it works yes

Mine works again also. MS did nothing to fix it, as it was a hardware issue with the clock, so LDA get a life, and quit kissing butt, as it will only make your mouth taste funny.

Dam that sounds bad.  Just checked mine and luckly it is still working.  Will not be connecting it to anything till this issue is resolved.

It's amazing to see how we are all connected and how with a little faith our Zunes are resurrected.  

Ya this whole ordeal has realy pissed me off and frustrated me to the point that I decided to wipe my memory. But I'm happy to say the POS was locked up so bad that it didn't work, and now this morning I turned it on and it works, all the memory is there. Microsoft needs to fix this like now!!!!

Tried all of the known resets with no luck. It is now past 12noon gmt and my zune still does not work. I let the battery fully die and after charging enough to come on by itself, it promptly froze. In the future i will not be buying any microsoft product...an xbox360 and zune30 that crap out is past unacceptable! I'm done wasting money on MS!

its 12:53 in texas mine still the same frozen,i let it run out,still nothing,whats the deeeal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've let the battery die totally twice today, and then recharged. It's still at the same locked screen as yesterday.

tough break indeed.  first the X-box meltdown and now the this. at least the Zune seems to be more fixable...

still not working here - it's 2 PM on the 1st

I bought my Zune the first month it was released.  This is the first major problem it's had.  Overall it's been a great device.  My kids insisted on getting ipod's for Christmas, but I still like my Zune better!

hey, shut up! they are obviosly trying their best to fix the problem, complaing is not helping at all. grow up, there are problems in life, and you need to learn how to deal with them! stop complaining, and use youtube until the problem mis fixed.

Looks like I have to break down and buy an Ipod Thanks Bill! Thanks a lot

my 30 has bit out of battery since october because my computer needed a reboot itself. so i never recharged in in fear of losing my music and videos. i totally misplaced my 30 in my house so i cant check if it froze! my sister's 30 froze at around 10:30pm last night.

Bricked for 2 hours but mine works great got my 30g on launch day and never had a problem good to see it remains that way

My zune is up and working again as promised by Microsoft!  It was a glitch in the date programming due to the leap year!  As of noon (GMT time) today, all of your Zunes should be up and running!!!  

Will Flow - Buy an iPod? You prefer lower audio quality and iMess software? Happy to buy your Zune 30GB then... :)

It works again.  I'm re-syncing my wife's Zune now.  I feel like there should have been some sort of warning, or e-mailing or even a message sent to members of the zune social.  I just thought both zunes had died of old age.  I was about to buy a non-Microsoft product... I'm glad I don't have to though.  I love my Zune.

mine still isn't working... i get some sort of plug-inside-battery shaped graphic when i plug it in... but when i try to turn it on, i get the exclamation-point-in-battery graphic.

what should i do?

Mine still dosnt work. Its going into the trash can as there is no update in the world that will fix somthing that cant even load, and having it since the zune 30 was released and opening it several times trying to get it to reset voids any warrenty microsft would hypothetically honor. I still strongly prefer Zune over iPod for a number of reasons but now i'm uncertain as to what i will buy next. Thank you MS for your wonderful products such as this and xbox360. I dream of a day where companies dont release known faults to the public market.

360s die all the time, so do windows machines, and now zunes. bahahahaha.

too bad it diesnt come up with a red ring of death like the 360 oes, or even a blue screen of death.

I am aware that the zune is a fantastic product, however I never had great faith in microsoft, you see, I'm a linux user and microsoft left people like me out in the cold, I use an iPod but not iTunes as It works great with my Linux machine, to those people still affected, grab a copy of knoppix, plug in your zune with knoppix booted up, open a terminal window and type lsusb see does it show what's on your usb port It should show some reference to Microsoft Zune, or something, you might even be able to read the disk and get your stuff back

MY 30 g zune is not working, after I downloaded the zuneupdate the zune doesn't even turn on it keeps saying wait nothing else I am unable to charge or play. How can I fix it.

My Zune is still displaying the battery with an explanation point.  If I plug it in, it displays the battery with the electrical plug.  Any suggestions?

OK, my Zune is no longer a brick, but for how long?  I mean, if they can't anticipate a leap year (every 4 years, right?) what is going to be the next "accident" that trashes the Zune?  Valentines, President's Day, April Fools; thousands of people spending several hours cursing.  Screw it, it's like the never-ending Windows patches.  I'm just getting something that works, instead; I don't care if it is iPod or Sansa or Zen or Ivo or iRiver -- there has to be better choices out there.

My Zune only has the backlight come on, when any of the buttons are pushed. There are no words, logos etc just blank screen with backlight on. Any ideas what is wrong? and what to do about it? Thanks

Not working still.  I followed all of the tips!!!!!!!!!

I let the battery drain a dozen times since Jan. 1 and nothing - the damn thing is still a brick. What the @#*$?

I think its really funny, all these people complain about how they had a problem with their zune not working. there are always way around problems if you just have the patience. Microsoft easily has the best customer service Ive had to deal with as far as technology goes. got a problem? call em. theyll either tell you how to fix it or in the case of 360's and zunes still under warranty, theyll just flat replace em (with the exception of the evil program known as windows...) glitches happen, big deal, its not the end of the world. who owns a zune that would honestly consider going back to ipod just because of this little problem? personally, i used my phone as an MP3 player for the day. paid $5 at radioshack for a headphone adapter so I could use my standard headphones and plug it into my car stereo. they fixed the problem (or so they say, either way, the 30gb zunes work now) ye of little faith

Ok it's fully charged but it still won't turn on.  What do I do now.

Mine is working now.

Mine bricked on NY Eve, and I had it working again on NY Day.

First, let the battery drain completely dead.  Plug in to charge it just enough to boot.  Then reset it to factory (I found the technet doc on the Zune.net site).  It erased everything on the Zune.  I rebooted and updated the firmware, and it has now been working fine for a couple of days.  

That makes it sound easy, but it was really not.  There was a lot of monkeying around to get it to reset, and even more to get it to boot again after the reset.  Afterall, you have to do the reset plugged in (because your battery is dead), even though the docs don't tell you to plug it in until after it's been fully reset.    Then once it completed the reset, it didn't reboot, because it was plugged in.  So you have to wait for the battery to die again.  Then it took a couple of shots to get it to boot up again, but once it did, all was good  (other than needing to reload all my songs which took an entire day).

Bottom line is that it works now though.  I can't complain about that.

I have two Zune 30GB players that have turned into a BRICK! I can't get them to connect to my PC with the sync cable after letting the batteries go completely dead as per Microsoft's Quick Fix Solution. I called Microsoft's Zune Tech Support and they said to call back in about a week. Screw this! I went out to Wal-Mart and bought two Zune 8GB players.

My ZUne 30 crashed like all the others.  I had to wait 4 days to get back to work to try any of the suggestions.  After 3 calls to Tech support with no results ( they basically told me the same thing each time), I reformatted my Zune and reloaded the software and all my media.  I had to resync my favorites playlist, other than that, it went well.  I can't believe that MS can't figure this one out.  (And I have had prior experience with Ipods freezing and crashing and having to be replaced.  Not to mention how scratched the older ones got.  No one is perfect.)

George, how do you "reformat" a Zune?????

It just shutdown on the bus at the same time as three others how exactly does that happen unless Microsoft planed it to happen?

Lol, How do you fix something that's already dead? Necromancy maybe? Makes me glad that my 30 gig died a while ago.

Same thing I think. Mine started out freezing like others, now it shows the Zune screen booting, flashes to Please Wait (in a few languages) and then reboots. So my comp never recognizes it so I can never try to put new firmware on it. This sucks!

My computer refused to make the upgrade from 2.5 to 3.x of the Zune software. It gave an error and would not upgrade. That apparantly saved my Zune. The firmware upgrade with V 3.X of the Zune appears to kill the 30GB Zune. My son was able to upgrade his Zune software on 01/20/2009 and his 30GB Zune became a brick. Whatever this upgrade does is not reversed by clearing the Zune and then reinstalling version 2.5 of the firmware. I was able to do this with his Zune and it was still a brick. It would work for a short time as long at it was connected via USB cable to the computer with version 2.5 of the Zune software on it, but as soon as it is disconnected, it starts the cycle again and again. My working version of the Zune firmware is V 2.5 (1614) Bootloader 435.

The Zune 3.X software crashed my Zune software on my desktop (XP) and would not install. I did not attempt to update my laptop. so now I can only add and remove items from my Zune with my laptop (Vista)