So if I am still using my Zune in four years, the same thing will happen on Dec 31, 2012?

*cough* free marketplace points *cough*

Mine went out at 10 pm mountain time last night, but is back on now as of 3 pm.

maybe everyone will calm down now?

I LOVE YOU GUYS! Such a fast response, better than Apple could do. Microsoft <3

So, because you aren't changing the software, we have to deal with again in four years?

Thanks for the info!  I got home today to find my ZUNE lit up with the start up screen.  I got scare when I couldn't reset it using the UP + BACK combo.  Looks like it will need a good charge tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Noooooooooo!!!!

We're doomed, Captain Mainwaring.

I would hope that the team is working on a patch to make sure this don't happen again in 4 years???

I like how they don't actually address fixing the problem so it doesn't happen again in 4 years' time.

Well that's a relief.  The iclones surely enjoyed today's fiasco... more ammo for their i-flatulence...

When is the zune touch coming out

Well, simple enough. Thanks!

What if a person went ahead and began a reformat process to fix the issue, but finds themselves stuck now in that process with the zune acting like it is frozen. What should I do?

The issue should resolve itself = LAME

Quote-"a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used)"-Endquote...in terms of phrasing, this seems to indicate a certain amount of suprise that a.) In this day and age people would still be using something from 2006 and b.) that they would be able to use something from 2006.  Kudos to Microsoft for not only making a product that can't handle the transition from one year to the next but also for hiring employees who are short sighted enough not to realize that sometimes people hold onto products for more than six months.  Thanks...hopefully this WILL all take care of itself.

Thank you for the update.  I still hear a lot of hesitation in the official response when it comes to the units automatically working just fine tonight at midnight.  Are you not 100% certain that the units will work just fine?  Will there be a patch to resolve this issue so we do not have to go through this again 4 years from now?

Great to know that no new firmware will have to be pushed out. (At least until 2012, right?) :)

So will this happen every leap year?

What should we do if it is not fixed by Midnight, and what is all this talk about fire wall and takeing the batter out and putting it back in

I think a free Zune pass is in order for anyone affected by this!

Thank the team for cracking the whip on this. Thanks for the info!

Word

If this doesnt fix the problem do rhey still have warranty on them?

Excellent! passing the news to my contacts. thanks!

Thank you! I kinda thought that was the problem. lol. But at least it will be solved and all the Zune 30 owners won't have to worry until 2012 lol.

What is Microsoft prepared to do if the Zunes do not fix themselves???

So the "official" word from the Zune team is "just wait for tomorrow, it’ll fix itself" and that you're not doing anything to fix the root problem (like fixing the internal clock driver to recognize leap year properly)?

So, we should expect the same problem to occur with our Zune 30's on EVERY Dec 31st in a leap year, right?

Sure, that's not for another 4 years, but isn't a bit arrogant to know about the bug and to not commit to fixing it, knowing it will only surface again in the future?

How about compensation for not being able to use our Zune's for the day?

- www.JoeLevi.com

Glad to hear my zune will come back to life

So you aren't going to fix it so we can use it today. Nice. Thanks.

If you look in the official Zune forum, there's is one last question and answer:

"Q: Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)?

Yes."

Personally, I'm glad this will fix it self soon and for the prompt response.

If your stilling using a Zune 30 in 4 years Apple should give up an MS wins all.

Whew, I'm so glad to hear it wasn't something more serious then a driver issue.  I wasn't sure how I was going to live without my Zune.  If nothing else, Microsoft has learned just how passionate the Zune community is and how many people are still happily using the 30gb device (I just purchased a 120gb for myself for Christmas because I ran out of disk space on the old 30gb Zune).  Music is a wonderful thing.

Yes, it IS a surprise when electronics are not replaced every 6 months.  I actually have my first Creative Nomad that's about 6 years old now.  But then I'm not a teenager spemding Mom and Dad's money either.

Thanks Microsoft for keeping us updated.  And thanks to your techies for idendifying the glitch so quickly.

;c)

Does everyone really need to allow the "battery to fully run out of power"?  Will that just happen automatically once you try to boot into the Zune and have it hang?  Do people whose devices aren't frozen need to allow the battery to drain?  

Honestly...i WAS going to plug my zune in at a party tonight...but now i cant, you should have figured this out before the problem occured!

Thanks for the information Paul Davidson.  Please note however, the out of date, antique, or down right ancient 2006 30gb Zune I own, I hope, will work for at least 3 years or until the end of 2009.  Then I will get the HD 500gb unit.  Happy New Year    

Nice Work! I <3 my Zuney!

i dont like the idea of "sit and wait"...

I almost shat myself what would i do without my zuney wuney

my sisters zune works just fine

so a word of advice to anyone...

if this happens again in 4 years  make sure your zune is on all night playing music hooked up to your charger.

then in the morning just dont let it die.

that solves the issue however mine died last night and is still frozen 6.14 eastern time

Many Thanks for this!

Happy New Year.

So I guess we probably won't be using these things by 2012, but it would be nice to have a patch released just in case. Thanks!

cool! i was getting worried for a while there, i thought that this was their way of saying we needed to upgrade, since they are not making the 30g's anymore :(

Just fully charged overnight, how's it going to run the battery down if it won't turn on?

So if I hard reset my Zune, connect it to a PC with a date from earlier in the year, it'll work fine, presumably, until the Zune's internal clock hits today again.  But if I change the date on the PC to tomorrow, and connect a hard resetted Zune. it won't work, it resets and bricks.  From my testing, it's not gonna fix itself, but keep telling yourself it will...

Remember, at the same time it happens again in 2012, we'll all be dead as "the world will end in 2012"

Good to hear it will work again, but, honestly, why do I need a clock in my mp3 player in the first place? That is why I have a phone/watch. I have an mp3 player to listen to music, not plan my life.

This is like the movie "The Happening" except its for the 30GB. Just gotta ride it out dust off your cd's & hope the same thing happens  to ipod.

They will fix the problem with a firmware update, so that it will not happen again.  Go to the support page, and under service status, click the link.

Oh man, i thought i was going to have to buy a new zune.  I had my 30GB zune (which i did buy in 2006) plugged into my computer all last night.  Then when i wake up, i come to see it stuck on the loading screen.  Nothing would work, not even the reboot.  So i let the battery drain while i was at work thinking that would fix it.  Plugged it back in, let it charge a bit, and it went back to being stuck on the loading screen.  Thank goodness it's a bug that can be fixed and not my zune having a hardware problem

Leap year was the problem.What? how can that be the problem? Who has written that piece of code who does not even know how to handle leap years.

But I wanted to use it for a new year's party tonight.  I guess I will have to use an iPod instead.

ugh im hoping that this can be fixed.i was using my zune at 1 this morning and nothing happened. i didnt use it for the whole day and when i just went to charge it the loading screen came up and didnt g away. i think i should be comepensated for this! switch to ipod maybe? tech.yahoo.com/.../63809

Note to ZUNE TEAM - I'm actually hitting the exact same symptoms on my 20GB zune (same model year).  

Well, it's almost 3am 01/01/2009 here, as it should by on my zune. It ran out of power 6-7 hours ago. I've just charged it up, turned it on, it's started to load and... froze again.

So they are all working in Australia and New Zealand right?

yeah, they said they would like to thank us for our patients. Do you think they really ever will? I am interested in seeing if we get compensated for this. As a mobile DJ I depend on my Zune as a back up incase my Microsoft computer goes down. What am I supposed to do when my back up breaks down?! A Zune pass or free songs would be great, Thank you Microsoft.  The iPod touch is looking appitizing.  we will see what happens.

Didn't have time to clean up all the crap before I left! Sorry!

Thats it for my.. never buying another Microsoft product.  you guys suck

I just spent the last five hours looking for a replacement for my zune. I'm relieved now. I just hope it comes back to life tomorrow, if it does not this will be my first and last Zune ever.

So glad my Zune will be fixed soon.Thanks and Happy New Year!

I've got two of these units. One purchased new in December '06 and the other purchased new in December '07. Both have locked up but the one from '07 works after a reset but the one from '06 is nothing but a blank screen. It has been sitting for hours with a dead battery and when I finally charged it up (with the AC charger, not the PC), it's still hosed. NO WAY is waiting for January 1st, 2009 going to fix mine.

This "wait and see" attitude will cost Microsoft dearly in customer loyalty.  

think that is bad I spent the same amount of money as the 120gig on the 30 gig not knowing the 120 would be available the following month.

AGHHHHHHHHH....i only have 1 and i can't listen to just it until tomorrow at noon...and what about all my videos that i will like to watch before the 2008 is over. And all those pictures i was planning on flipping through with my zune sideways, to welcome in the new year. Damn it! Microsoft...you suck. I'm off to buy an iPod.

Dear Zune buyers: Our "solution" is for you to just wait. Then, instead of being able to use your device (you know, the one you paid us good money for), you need to sit around for hours and drain the battery. After that, your subscriptions might or not work. Other than that, everything is fine. Thanks again for your money.

Sincerely,

Micro$oft

I really don't understand why so many people are freaking out and angry/worried that the solution is to wait until the clock error is fixed by TIME because that's how clocks work. For Microsoft to have rushed out some sort of software update in under 24 hours, with no bugs, calling in coders on NEW YEAR'S EVE would be ridiculous. This solution (if it works, which I believe it will) makes far more sense than anything else. Also, how and why are people assuming that this clock issue won't be addressed in the next update (which will obviously be before the next leap year)? Get ahold of yourselves.

I really don't understand why so many people are freaking out and angry/worried that the solution is to wait until the clock error is fixed by TIME because that's how clocks work. For Microsoft to have rushed out some sort of software update in under 24 hours, with no bugs, calling in coders on NEW YEAR'S EVE would be ridiculous. This solution (if it works, which I believe it will) makes far more sense than anything else. Also, how and why are people assuming that this clock issue won't be addressed in the next update (which will obviously be before the next leap year)? Get ahold of yourselves.

This sucks!  I sure hope it comes back to life tomorrow!

I have to say those that can't live without their Zune for 24 hours needs to...ah what do kids say...get a life, yea that's it.

But if this was Apple, no one would be working on it since about 6:00 AM in the morning.

Wow, that should teach the people that cracked their Zunes open to have a little patience. Take a breath. oooommmm

Guess I'm gonna have to wait till next year to use my new years eve playlist... oh wait.

its 830pm here. do i have to wait till midnight my timezone? sounds stupid i know but i have been reseting my zune all night with no success.

I have a 30GB I Bought new December 2007 and it froze up early this morning. It wont reset or do anything. I let the battery die and then tried to charge and it froze again. I thought the bug was only messing up the 2006 models. What should I do???!!!

My Zune just died, stuck on the boot screen and i was sure it had crashed...i was about to re-format or even buy a new Zune 30 off of ebay when i stumbled across this....im so relieved. was about 1 minute away from rebooting and formatting

im so glad that this promblem is going to be fixed i just love my 30GB zune i dont know what i would do with otu it. i do agree that a everyone who was faced with this problem should get a free zune pass!!!

I hope it doesent happen again

"a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices" I purchased my Zune brand new in Jan 2008. So you are telling me it was leftover inventory from 2006?!

Are you people serious?!? Talking about 2012 as if it's next month. As slow as you might think Microsoft has been with device updates, I'd be shocked if there weren't at least 5-6 firmware updates between now and 2012! And even though I still love my Z30, are you guys really sticking with it for another 4 years? Surely the 6th or 7th generation Zunes will eventually lure us away!

If I load Vista on my Zune - will they both fix each other?

Jack wrote: "So they are all working in Australia and New Zealand right?"

Nope. Jan 1 2009 3:30pm here in Auckland and my Zune is still stuck on the startup screen, running the battery flat. Fingers crossed. Black mark, Microsoft. Very elementary. Who was checking this drongo's code?

thanx so much!! love the fast response! i was getting so freaked out!!!

free zune pass, free zune pass, free zune pass - it's te least you could do since I couldn't use my zune while stuck in stopped traffic for 2 hours due to a traffic accident.

So any content thats already on the zune won't be erased right? Cuz i have a ton of stuff on my zune and I dont want it to be erased. Also does anyone know how to edit the playlists on the zune?

most computer hardware clocks use the number of seconds since 1/1/1970, Grenwixh Mean Time...GMT....

I find the comments praising Microsoft for their fast response and bashing Apple for not having the ability to react so quickly massively entertaining. All Microsoft did was to identify an obvious issue (calendar, leap year, duh) and reset the clock on a test Zune to confirm that the next day would see the Zunes revive. That must have been harder than brain surgery and rocket science combined! They offered no fix beyond simply "wait until tomorrow," and promised a software fix within four years. Yeah, right--NO ONE could have acted as fast as THAT! And it took them about 12-14 hours from the onset of the problem to do only that much. If this is what you consider fast and superlative action, then your expectations a a wee bit low. I myself would be rather miffed that the Zune team allowed such an obvious bug to slip by them at all (I mean, really, what programmer doesn't handle *leap years* correctly? Can you saw "newb"?), not to mention that it would have so dramatic effect as to shut down the device for a whole day. YEAH, ZUNE, MICROSOFT, YOU GUYS *ROCK*!!! APPLE SUCKS!!! Um, yeah. My iPhone is working right now. How about your Zune?

Funny that I got an email today, 12/31/08 from Zune titled "New & Necessary" and it failed to mention anything about the 30gb crapping out due to Leap Year.  I just stumbled across the answer surfing the web looking for a reason why my Zune was locked up.  Nice job communicating such a major incident?!?

Guess they should have partnered with Casio.  Why does my Z30 need to know what day it is anyway?  Count three days and disable the song... who gives a s**t WHICH three days?

Question - my Zune is parked in an A/V dock... do I need to run the battery down as well?

Thanks for the fast response

But it sucks that I won't be able to use our Zune for music at the party tonight =(

my zune still isnt working.

and the master reset wont work.

im not sure what to do.

uhmm yeahh we should get somthin for this cuz i really needed my zune today!!

For anyone who said something like "I needed my Zune for a party tonight":

You use a Zune, you don't have friends--therefore no party.

Stop lying to yourselves.

You guys are such WHINY little kids. Just wait and see, one day without your music player isn't going to kill you.

And with Apple, you WOULD still get the problem next year because they can't be bothered fixing it.

You'll just have to wait till tomorrow, at noon to reset it. I'm just still wondering if this 'fix' will actually keep everything thats already on the zune intact. I just dont want it to be formatted. I have near 3000 songs, buncha pics and videos, i cant get back. If what microsoft suggests to do, doesnt work then i'll unplug and plug in the battery. heard that works, and also heard that doesnt work. ehh.

Happy Zune Year!

still not working =[

This is pathetic. You guys are lucky the Zune wasn't invented before Y2K. You forgot one important question on the FAQ section: what happens if I want to listen to music on my Zune TODAY?

You'll just have to wait till tomorrow at noon to drain the battery and reset it. I have nearly 3000 songs,buncha pics and videos, i cant get back. Microsoft doesnt know if this 'fix' is gonna format the zune hard drive or not. I dont want to lose any of my content thats already on the zune. Some people have taken apart their zunes and unplugged the battery and for some people its worked, and for others it hasnt. but i dont want to do this and it not work, and wait till tomorrow and boot up my zune and found out that ive accidently erased my hard drive. If microsofts solutions doesnt work then ill unplug the battery.

People who are trying to reset before midday GMT will not have any luck.

Trying to reset it before then will do nothing.

A leap year bug went two years without being noticed? and it took microsoft how long to figure this out? What sort of scrub programmers do they have working on this thing? Seriously, no programmer could possibly get a degree without knowing how to take care of leap years.

It's 12:31 am EST and my Zune still won't boot.

I don't believe all the people trash talking MS...

If you hate them so much why did you buy a Zune, and if you didn't buy a Zune, why are you posting trash talk about the fix...

Obviously they are going to fix the issue before 2012, that is the stupidist question one could possibly ask...

Will they work on an alternate fix (now, not within 4 years) if this doesn't "fix itself"?

Are all of you people daft?  Microsoft saying to wait it out is not a fix at all, it's as if your heart stopped and the doctor says, "let's wait and see what happens in 24 hours hopefully it will start up again without doing anything to it, then if he makes it, we'll try and solve the problem within four years"

i cant believe how insanely stupid 90% of the commenters here are. The official FAQ above clearly states that MS intends to have a fix for the next leap year, so to all of you who keep crying about that, stfu. And to all of the apple-fanboy dbags who keep loling and trolling about how MS is slow to the punch and how zunes are bricked lawl, seriously, go play with yur ishits and get off of the MS/Zune forums. srs bsns only. Also, people, CHILL OUT. Your zunes are toast for 1 freakin day. Im certain that your lives will not end. It speaks NOTHING to MS's customer service that their fix is to wait. Think clearly and logicaly please, instead of whining: if your sh!t is bricked, it wont boot properly, and thus, releasing a patch while the patch cannot be uploaded is a waste of time. And ALL devices nowadays have internal clocks, because a) they're all digital devices, and b) most of the stuff requires it.

So it isnt a matter of a 'fast' or 'slow' response: its a matter of an appropriate response. And remember when the y2k scare happened, and everyone whined then? "OMFG, how could you coders and computer manufacturers not see this coming? OMG!", and yet, nothing major happened. The world didnt end, etc. And this is the first post-y2k leap year. Its far far easier to release a faulty product, make the money, and patch it later. Look at Pc games, even some console games, firmware updates, etc. Even new iterations of hardware will occasionally only be to fix bugs or issues with the old version of the hardware. everyone here needs to just chill out, realize that its the new year, and chill out.

PS i dont even own a zune, or an ipod. i just saw this from Penny arcade, lol'd, and then lol'd more at the nubs commenting.

@PY:

There is no such thing as a 20 GB Zune.  Unless you opened it up and replaced the HD with a smaller one, which would be pointless.

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

This bricks, still a brick. Nice. What i always wanted. An expensive brick. Its 1:03 am EST. Still not working

Give the guys a break they worked on the issue & hopefully all will be resolved as promised. Whatever did we do before our Zunes if indeed it has thrown us into a tizzy not having one for a day? Most New Years parties have their own music & in this time with all else going on it is so very trivial to think a single day without music will be so horrid. Remember people are sick, dying, & losing their jobs & homes! If you need music tonight get together & sing a song - who knows it might be good for a barrel of laughs & the best New Years you ever had! Let’s get this into perspective here too. It is a glitch period - my Zune never gave me a bit of problem before this nor did the other % I bought last Christmas! If you really think IPod has not had their own issues look into it - I am sure there are many unhappy users there too! Microsoft support DOES try to get to the bottom of every single problem & correct it - so be grateful you bought a Zune to begin with. We will all be up and running again soon & if not I am sure they will deal with that as well. I for one will always stick with Microsoft because it has proved to have more great products than bad in my book & I CAN TRUST THEM! You can't fix a problem before you even know it exists can you? There is NOT ONE company or person that I know of that makes everything 100% perfect every time. If you know of anyone who is 100% perfect I would honestly consider changing my mind & getting married again - if he can put up with my imperfections that is! ;-) THANK YOU MS & THE TECH STAFF FOR YOU HARD WORK & KEEPING US INFORMED THROUGHOUT! BRAVO TO YOU ALL!!!

Wow I mean WOW!!!   What a lousy response. Has any testing been done to prove this theory or is it just an educated guess.  

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE ZUNE NOT YET WORKING, Didn't Microsoft say in the official response,

WAIT UNTIL:

Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that's 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).

So where I am, in Chicago, I will have to wait until 6am.

People in New Zealand would have to wait until something like 12am Jan 2 or 1am Jan 2.

Wow I mean WOW!!!   What a lousy response. Has any testing been done to prove this theory or is it just an educated guess.  

People quit asking for stuff, this isn't something that Microsoft screwed up, it was the hardware manufacturer with a faulty driver. If anyone actually took the time to read the post, you would know that this will be fixed by tomorrow by itself as well as fixed so it doesn't happen again in 2012 through one of the firmware updates between now and then. Quit acting like it's the end of the world and Microsoft owes you because you couldn't use your device for 36 hours.

@Renuz apparently you don't know how drivers work, as they aren't created by Microsoft they are created by the hardware manufacturer and and errors in them is not Microsoft's fault. Since you obviously don't own a Zune you don't realize that Microsoft can't update a device firmware today that a computer doesn't recognize because it isn't turned on. Plug your iPhone into your computer, make sure it is off and stays off and sync music to it, if you can I'll stop supporting Microsoft and switch to Apple.

By the way how is Copy and Paste going in your iPhone, yup speedy delivery that is Apple.

Its 12:19 of January 1 2009

And it doesnt work!

Its frezzed up

The progress bar doesnt even move

Help

My zune is still broke and its january 1st 2009 this is bull ***

I am getting same problem, it did hang simply at logo screen. I discharged and charged no use. Here India time is 11:51am Jan-01. (US 1am jan-01). still getting same problem.

I made blunder mistake by choosing Microsoft Product. I supprised that just to copy files we need windows updates, zune updates, what's this non-sense.

earlier I was using just 20$ small media player(not branded). I was simply connecting through USB and new drive will come in my my comuter, and then simply copy paste.

Microsoft Zune is just 250$ FM Radio. and even this FM is not good, if channel is broadcasting 100% clear then only it is catching properly, other wise lot of distrubencens.

I should seriously think to for Apple Ipod or Iphone.

can microsoft will pay back the money if any chance.

My Zune still isnt working!

Ist 12:26am Of January 1 2009

Wath to do?

Please technics Help Us

I think we'll have bigger problems to worry about come next leap year... 2012? Anyone? 2012?

Its 1:30am, January 1, 2009 and my Zune is still dead, this is not the only problem I had with my two day old device! When I downloaded songs from the market place it had the wrong song titles and the wrong pics! I'm gonna upgrade to an I touch. I like surfing the web for free. To much time and effort for a device that was supposed to be a bargain. I guess you get what you pay for. I hope they extend my pass, for the 24+ hours I lost, as well as give something for all our inconvenience!

Learn to read.

"Q:  Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)?

Yes."

THEY WILL FIX IT BY NEXT LEAP YEAR.

Did we learn nothing from Y2K?? They still can't figure out how to program a clock??

done with working iPhone stupid Microsoft users

To all you people who are mad that ms didn't forsee this problem, grow up. If 1st gen zune was bug free there'd be no reason to have an update. And the people who are mad they have to sit and wait, last I checked you can't update a brick. So stop whining and be happy that ms dealt with such a huge problem on a holiday. Posted from my iPhone. That works. On new years.

My zune still has not fixed itself and it is past midnight so what am i suppost to do?

Noon GMT...  6am Central Time Zone... Resolved as time moves to Jan.1, 2009...  Huh?  When does the next day start in Redmond, anyway?  (It starts at midnight around here.)

This is Microsoft not some 3rd rate company.  Microsoft owes some satisfaction guarantee, seeing as this product was neither cheap nor flexible with a competitive selection of accessories.  My husband is looking at purchasing a new Mp3, based on Microsoft Zune response, I am less than pleased.  Just for the simple inconvenience of not having access to my Zune and having to research solutions/ information has thoroughly distressed me.  I will inform all I come in contact with of my situation.  MICROSOFT, you better fix this fast! Or the Zune will be the product of last year.

For what it's worth, mine has resumed working now, so it looks like they did in fact know what they were talking about.  Which is good, since I'll be spending 24 hours at airports and on planes in a couple days, and I really didn't want to not have anything to listen to for that time

My Zune's back - 09:07 CET.  Thanks Zune team for keeping us posted.  Still loving my Zune 30.  

Crap i was hoping for a recall!

Thanks for the info!  I got home today to find my ZUNE lit up with the start up screen, zune logo and a full bar not moving.  I got scare when I couldn't reset it using the UP + BACK combo.  I will wait it out, and hope for the best.

Apple products don't break :P

Yea mine 30 works again good the i'm on EST. only had to keep partying til about 3:40 to make sure I still got tunes & podcasts

Listen here monkeys and, pay attention as this takes some math skill;

"Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT)"  The prob will be better at 12 PM GREENWICH MEAN TIME, meaning that it's useless to try and reset your Zune before 7 AM EASTERN STANDARD TIME.  Seriously, you f'in MS people!

eh... bueno no pude poner música en mi fiesta de fin de año por esto... :s    espero que mañana se arregle.. deje descargando la batería

Hey I made a simple parody of the problem we are having. I hope it does get resolved.

I made a parody video of the situation with Zune. Here is the Youtube link:

www.youtube.com/watch

My Zune is alive!!! We all have to admit that this was an interesting funny freaky Zune event.

No matter what, I'm still a Microsoft fan.

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006

Mine is back also 2:30 AM Mountain Standard Time!!!

Yeah, my Zune is back as well :)

It's not a problem with config. leap year...it was a variety of things that lead to this that most of you will never know.  "xxmitnik" is soley responsible for the problems on Microsofs Zune sites...a challenge, a hacker, xxmitnik did it...and if things are still problrmatic...xxmitnik will forward all info to correct the problem whick should take no longer than 30 minutes.

xxmitnik  

Ha Ha Ha. Seriously.

I'm on the west coast, and my zune is working now

So, why would the date matter at all?  Why would it *stop*, instead of, say, displaying the wrong date?

Is this some sort of DRM that went awry?  If so, how about offering some sort of compensation to the customers for the inconvenience they suffered over someone else's incompetence?

Jan 1, 2009, 3:36am PST. Zune works. Hopefully everyone else on the west coast has had the issue resolved too.

Mine is working just fine now, I think there are quite a few people who think it's just going to magically switch over, read the instructions, you have to let the battery completely deplete then hook it to power and it should restart. I did exactly as the instructions said and it worked like a charm go figure instructions work, who'd have thunk it.

Man, am i glad i didnt follow advice floating around to crack the zune open and mess about with the battery. hope the clock thing works. and thanks to microsoft for coming up with answers,despite some of the feedback comments slamming them for not doing more on New Years Eve. honestly, hope microsoft is paying their tech team double pay for having to deal with a major issue on what should have been a day off. my zune is now working!

So, at 5:45 am, after countless hours of draining and short recharges of my Zune, it has finally come back online.  I must say, this was a horrible inconvenience and, despite your response time, I am thoroughly disappointed in the fact that this issue ever existed at all.

My birthday is coming up and I'm getting an Ipod Touch.

Yes, my Zune 30 is working fine. No issue.  I turned it on at 4am and its still churning out videos for me. Zune is great and MS responds quicker than Apple. Much quicker.Thanks!

In the Netherlands the Zune is back up again.

My Zune is working again. Just pluged it in, charged to minimal power to boot, and all content is there. No issues with subscription tracks, all is good again.

Thanks again!

Plugged it in when I got up and it came back to life...  and all is well in the world.

"Just for the simple inconvenience of not having access to my Zune and having to research solutions/ information has thoroughly distressed me"

honestly woman, could you not find something to busy yourself with for 24 hrs?

and I love how people are pissed that it wont be fixed for next leap year, if you want to get an ipod, listen to this: apple things a life of 2-3 year for an iPod is acceptable, do you want to be spending that kind of money every 2 years? or would you just want to tough it out for ONE DAY out of every 1200+ with *gasp* no portable music?

Mines working. ^_^

Its 1335 in UK and my Zune appears to be back on.

My Z30 has returned from the grave. The resolution worked exactly as Microsoft said it would and it couldn't have been easier to plug in and let it recharge/resync. No content lost. Now hopefully everyone can stop hyperventilating about this little incident...

I'm looking forward to a compensation but meh, it would be unfair for all the Gen. 2 zunes :3

Well, I dropped my Zune off yesterday at Circuit City.  So, I hope they haven't shipped it off and I can pick it up.  I wish Microsoft had made this announcement sooner.  I am a programmer and went on the website yesterday afternoon and there was nothing about it.  I can't tell you everything I did trying to get it back working.  Better and faster communication in the future would be appreciated.

Um if these were released in 2003 why didnt the problem crop up in 2004? I could be mistaken but that was a leap year as well...

Mine works now. (8:30am ET) I do agree no product after Y2K should have a date time bug, especially one from Microsoft! I also think throwing a free month of zune pass, or some zune points to registered zune 30 owners would be a nice "were here for you and not just your money" gesture!

8:00am CST and my Zune has recovered from its nap.  Microsoft: It doesn't matter if the fault was yours or a third party's you owe your loyal customers compensation.  A Zune Pass or MS Points will go a long way in convincing me to buy Microsoft when I eventually replace my Z30.

To everyone complaining that the 2012 question was "answered", and that posters should "learn to read".....the last FAQ was not in the original blog post.  Paul added it after a half-dozen people asked the question in the first 20 minutes.

Your superiority complex is misguided.  Go back to watching Fox News.

Zune's Back YA'll- 9:44 am EST

Ok, a few things:

1) Studies have been done that say there's 5-15 bugs for every 100 lines of code, imagine how much code went into your Zune and think about the likelihood that a bug that surfaces once every 1461 days would be to find.

2) Yes, it sucks you can't use your Zune for your New Years party, good thing there's a free-for-everybody option for music called the RADIO.  Yes I get it's fustrating that nobody was there to solve the problem besides wait a day, but you probably had the day off as did most MS coders.  The ones working probably didn't get into work until 6am, and since most bug reports people send are "My Zune frozed up!" it takes a while to diagnose, I'm sure the only reason they diagnosed it quickly was the trend in the fact it was all 2006 model Zune 30's.

3) Yes it seems shortsighted to not think people will be using their Zune in 2-3 years, but think of the product life of it, it lasted this long.  The average computer monitor dies within 3 years, desktop computers are replaced on average every 20 months and iPod's don't last that long (when's the last time you saw somebody with a 3rd gen iPod?  3rd gen was a 2006 model.  My fifth gen mid-2007 model has had to be warranty replaced twice and your Zune from 2006 is still working except for ONE DAY?  I'm jealous and planning on a Zune to replace my current iPod now that it's failing.)

Gee, Both of the 30s here are working again. Somebody alert the media...the word is a safe place once more.

Woke up this morning, plugged in my Zune, waited 5-6 minutes to get a charge. It booted, all my content is there, I watched a movie and life is back to normal. Happy New Year!  

I'm glad Zune has a site to check out issues.  Mine went down all day Dec. 31, back up Jan 1st as they said.

Back in action, hope everyone else is getting the same good news this New Years morning so that they can quit whining about the great Zune tragedy of 2008/2009

Shouldn't the bringing in of the New Year be spent with friends and family rather than your beloved electronics anyway.

Happy New Year

Amazingly, when you WAIT until the time Microsoft said to (noon GMT) the fix works.

Glad to see this mostly resolved itself and will be fixed in future software updates. Happy New Year Zune folks!

I have to correct one thing. Apple wouldn't actually fix the problem they'd just release a new version for you to buy.

Laucian.... they came out in 2006...this is the 1st leap year these units have ever seen....

@ SecurityCoder:

Get your facts right. The iPod 3rd gen was released in 2003. My iPod 4th gen (2004) still works; even on new year's eve!

Others have mentioned this, but I have to chime in too. I can't believe the utter selfishness of people who are demanding compensation for this. Your Zune didn't work for ONE DAY and you think you deserve a free month of Zune Pass or something like that? Seriously??? People are just so incredibly selfish. It astounds me. It's a freakin' MP3 player people! It's 100% luxury! There is nothing about this product that is a necessity in any way. Just be happy it works again and stop being such whiny crybabies.

once it is fixed turn off your clock

Mine still is locking up ! Any advice?

Ok, so mine is NOT working this morning like everyone else's.  There is an icon picture showing up when I plug it in that looks like a plug.

Anyone have any suggestions?

this is appalling.

for my zune to fail for 1 day after ive used and enjoyed it for  year is obscene. obscene i tell ya.

microsoft should give us all free downloads until we reach retirement age, a gas barbecue, and a free car. just a small one.

im not switching my zune on till this is agreed too.

hope you're all with me

This is a test in our trust in Microsoft.  Has anything like this *ever* happened to an iPod? Are there other latent bugs with greater impact still lurking for old or new Zune users?

I've been an iPod user for four years and a Zune user for two. My iPod (a first generation Shuffle), nor my wife's iPod (a first gen 10mb) has never suffered such an event. Like any other electronics device, my Zune will now be considered "the device that failed" and may fail again.

This is similar to what happens if your car leaves you stranded by the side of the road. Afterwards it takes a long time before you will absolutely trust your car (if you ever do again) to get you there in any weather or circumstance.

Sasha, just wait a few minutes. It will come back. Mine did just what yours is doing.

SecurityCoder: my FIRST gen iPod is still alive and well, thank you. We use it every day, and it still has the original battery.

Mi zune come back to life!!!

But i got to put all the music,videos,pictures again in my zune

Thanks

It's amazing to me that people flipped out that much because they couldn't use their precious toy for one day. ONE DAY. You want a brand new $300 item because you were slightly inconvenienced? Are you serious? Nothing like starting out the year being astounded by the selfishness and absurdity of a bunch of spoiled babies. Ridiculous!

It’s been has been over 36 hours since my Zune stopped working and it still does not work. Is anyone else having this problem? My wife’s Zune, which never had the firmware updated, never stopped working. It looks like the original firmware that came from Toshiba did not have this problem. It seems to be caused by the Microsoft updated firmware.

My husband and I both have zunes and neither of them are working, I have tried letting them die twice and then recharging and when the unit gets a charge, the same screen is frozen..... any ideas?

I let the battery deplete yesterday and fired up the Zune this morning (8:00 am PST) and it started immediately, everything seems to be working just fine now.

I actually didn't realize how much I enjoyed my Zune until this happened. I enjoy getting my favorite podcasts and like to listen durning periods of downtime. I am glad everything is resolved.

"The issue should be resolved..."  AFTER NEW YEARS EVE!  WTF! HEY MICROSOFT, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CUSTOMERS OR THEY WILL DISAPPEAR!  DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A GOOD DEALER FOR AN IPOD?

@securitycoder:   Liar.

Money for nothing, chicks for free.  Bollocks; stop whinging, crybabies!!

Even though everything says that the Zune 30gb will resolve itself as of 7:00 am eastern time min is still frozen and I am wondering if you would know if it will fix itself still.

What a worthless response from Microsoft!

Sasha: It will show a plug icon until there is sufficient power in its battery for it to boot up.

I can't help but express my dissapointment at this whole ordeal. I have been set upon by my family members to "fix" their zune, and to find out that the best Microsoft has to offer in the way of customer service is to "wait it out"?

Poor planning ahead and an even poorer responce to the public. Shame on you.

Mine is working finally, but all my info on it is gone. But at least it works.

Is anyone else tired of all the Microsoft techs posting "feel good" responses? "I love my Zune...Life is good.."  You pay for something, it should work!

It's 12:46 Central Time on Jan 1. 2009... And my Zune 30 still won't start up.  It still gets stuck on the startup.

Hey, MS, we don't need more proof that your soft is a POS. You can stop now, thanks.

Cool, all is working now - phew!

Thank you, Peter.

It's 1:00 PM January 1, 2009, central time (Chicago).  I let the battery drain, then plugged the Zune into my PC to recharge, and once it restarted it AGAIN got stuck on the startup.  Why is everyone else's working but mine still stuck?

This WILL happen again if it happens once it will happen again. Seeing the world ends in 2012 lets just hope they fix this mofucn problem now

Loling at all of you has got it right. You guys are nuts. They posted what the problem is and that it would fix itself and you still ***. It almost makes sad to be part of the Zune community. I plugged mine back in at 2 am and it was fixed. Some people are really pathetic..

For everyone who thinks Microsoft has promised to "fix" this bug before it happens again, next leap year, go back and read the press release again.

The official statement from Microsoft is “Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)? Yes.”

Notice how the statement was NOT “Will you update the firmware ~to correct this bug in the internal clock driver~ before 2012?”

They only promised to update the firmware again sometime before 2012, but they have not committed to fix the bug at all!

My battery drained overnight, plugged it into my PC this morning and after it charged, I was still at the froze up screen. I unplugged it, let the battery die again for several hours and after showing the plug screen again and charging for at least 2 hours, it back to the froze up screen. It's not looking good for my Zune. Any one else still having this issue?

Ever since I paid like $200 plus for this player its never worked right.

Countless hours on the phone with MS help people. Nada. I finally had to pay someone to get into this thing and fix it, because otherwise I'd have to ship it in and pay for service even though arguably it was still under warranty. I figured what they might charge me at MS, I might as well pay someone who actually knows what they're doing to fix it right.

It worked fine until yesterday.

I don't subscribe to zune tunes or any of the podcasts, etc.

All I do is listen to my CD's which are packed into the device. I have some vids and pics in there too.

I let it run out of juice, and have waited and mine won't restart at all. I got the big plug and all of that but its still frozen.

Of all the Zunes out there, I had to pick the biggest loser after getting burned by Apple so many times.

I guess I'll have to go back to Creative and get one of their Zen players.

Which means MS will forever lose my business, and I will be forever skeptical of their products.

And PS, I don't expect MS to give me anything. Of all the selfish bastards out there, MS charges the most money for the least product.

Not to say that Apple is any better, just not as big overall. Though admittedly the iPod dominates PSP type devices.

No whining here. They've just lost my business like Apple did before them.

i opened up my zune and unpluged the battery in hope of reseting it but now its 12:36 for me and it still wont boot.

Any suggestions?

how do i know when the battery is complete ly drained? will it have like a battery shaped thing with a plug in it on the screen? cuz thats what mine looks like now.

Oh for goodness sakes: to the complainers and whiners on this thread. When iPods get problems - the usual Apple response is either no response or "go buy yourself the latest iPod". Good work Microsoft and good response.

@ SecurityCoder

I just met one who is using a 2nd gen iPod. So there.

Mine still is not working at 4pm EST

Ok...so I did exactly as the official site said to do... DO NOT PRY OPEN YOUR ZUNES!!! Got this from the official site. :)

My Zune 30 is frozen. What should I do?

Follow these steps:

1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.

2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.

3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that's 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).

4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.

Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required—you can go back to using your Zune!

THIS DID NOT WORK!!!!!!!!  Tried it twice now...just one big black screen - NOTHING!!!!  NOW WHAT??

thanks for the information. I am so happy to have that all figured out, hurry up as much as possible! please!

Dan, Somehow i think your zune is still set to yesterday if that is even plausible.

Both of my  30GB Zunes (bought day of release) are working fine today.  One is running 3.0 and the other is running 3.1.  I pluged them in this morning at 7:30 EDT snd they booted up after the battery came to charge.  No issues with my content.

Found a trick that might help you guys with frozen Zunes .... Drain it completely, then plug it in (to the wall, not the computer). Watch and wait for the loading screen to come up (mine took about 2-3 minutes), then do a reset (back&up) while it is loading. Good luck!!

Some of you people are ridiculous.  No one could have seen this coming so you can't really blame anyone.  It happened, it's unfortunate, get over it.  They said it should fix itself and if it doesn't I'm sure Microsoft would do something to satisfy the affected customers.  They extended warranties for the XBOX with the RROD issue I'm sure they'd do something here as well.  Calm down, nothing is perfect, shits gonna happen.

Mine is working just fine...this is the first and only problem I have ever had with a zune.  All of my friends constantly complain about how shítty ipods are and how frustrating Itunes is for them.  

Turning off the clock will NOT prevent this from happening again. Did you ever notice you can set the time but not the date? It's an internal clock used for the DRM on the Zune Pass.

Don't see why you're all complaining.

The main problem is the Zune's bricked, so you can't refirmware it.  So solving the brick problem IS the primary solution.  If the easiest fix is 'wait a few hours' then that's that.  Do you honestly think 'Redo the firmware' is a faster solution?  Do you honestly think they'll have a rewrite in a couple days for firmware they didn't expect to go kablooie?

That stuff takes longer than 'wait a few hours' to make.  So they executed the quickest solution.  Now they have four years before the problem is a problem again.  

It's like you won't be happy unless they instantly gratify you by building something that is next to impossible to build in that time-span.

You need more realistic expectations if you're going to survive life.  First they fix the problem (the bricking) then they can work on solving the underlying cause with the urgency it requires (four years is enough time for that.)

Perspective.  I has it.

I'm currently trying what BC suggested. I did everything i was told to but it still wont work!!!

I like how everyone that is an apple fanboy is bitching about 24 hours of bricked zune when not a year ago Apple released a firmware update that bricked PERMANTLY the iPhone!!! and apple's response to that issue was "oh well"!!

It was a bummer for this to happen.  But, this doesn't mean I am going to jump ship to Apple.  Nope, I am sticking with my Zune.  

I have drained my battery and recharged my **** Zune 4 times today.  All after 1:00 PM Central time.  And I STILL get stuck on the f***ing startup screen.  I have tried charging plugged into the wall, and through the USB port on my PC and it STILL GETS STUCK!!!!!!  Is there any other solution for me to try, or do I have a $200 paperweight on my hands now?

Let it run dry.  Plugged it back in.  Good as new!  Not a real big deal.

i am also having no luck getting my zune to boot. i followed all of microsofts instructions and noting. anyone have any ideas? customer support told me to keep checking zune.net/support which to me means keep waiting and hopefully it will magically heal itself.

What a joke. Way to party like it's Y2K Microsoft.

I've had my iPod mini since 2005... works without a hitch. I considered getting my (Windows) boyfriend a Zune for xmas but decided to get an iPod for him instead.... and boy am I glad. :)

I use a mac my self so all zune's are bricke for me.

Hell-uh-lu-yah! Up and running, so far... I gueass we'll se what happens.

Seriously if you guys still have 2006 model technology in 4 years time i would say you deserve to be without your music for 24 hours.

I want my money back

I'm a zune 30, xbox 360, and zune 8 owner, and I haven't had one problem with my devices (except for today)but One mistake big deal!

Mine is still locked up tried almost everything except the wall charging option if that doesnt work it will become fodder for my sledge hammer.  Good thing my 80g works fine.

To the Zune Team : Thanks for the communication. This is the big difference with your competitors. When there is a problem, you put it into light and treat it, as fast as possible.

That plus the for now constant updates on the whole range of Zunes (Gen 1 + Gen 2), this is the way the market should bu runned.

For the persons afected by this problem, yes, this is very ennoying, but MS shown us before that it never let down a customer, we saw that with the XBox problems, or even if you give a try to the support when you have a problem with a keyboard, a mouse or a lifecam. My experience is that the ones that had bad experiment with them are the one that tryed to fix the problem (hardware speaking) by themself and did not give the time for MS to correct the problem.

I'm sure we will have Zune 30 bricked "forever", very low percentage, but still... and in few days, because the affected customers will call or write to the support, a recall plan for the affected devices will be in place.

The Freescale clock driver code is opened to everyone on Freescale website, and the fault is well on their side, with a silly while loop error. Still, it happen to every devs and this particular bug is tricky to check. Not an excuse for the Zune Team (they are responsibles of their partners), but just to say that every devices could have an issue like this one day.

I'm quite surprise that the Thomson player on which the Zune30 is built have not apprently suffer the issue. Maybe drivers have been remade with the recents Firmware updates ?

Thanks again for the good work, and see how your community need quality products. When you fail, you are bashed way more than the others. Keep up the good work, I love my Zunes. Just spread it worldwide now...

wow. this wouldn't have happened if Apple made something like the Zune ;) Oh wait, they do. The iPod. Forgot about that since the Zune killed the iPod when it came out last year. Not!

OK, after reading this forum up to this point, the response of a still not working Zune hasn't really been answered.  Jon was the only one who proposed the idea to Dan that maybe the date is set a day earlier than what it's supposed to be.  Possible?  I've been noticing many people are having the same problem here as I am, it just still won't work.

Several people have written saying that there was no way to see this coming, that Microsoft shouldn't be blamed. You're dead wrong. Go to this address: hbfs.wordpress.com/.../the-zune-freezes-a-stupid-avoidable-bug to see an explanation of how the bug (a) should never have been introduced in the first place, and (b) Microsoft could have caught it with a standard test that would have taken very little time to run. Someone mentioned that Microsoft didn't write the code; even if that were true, Microsoft presented the code, they owned it, they should have checked it. No passing the buck.

As for those who criticize others for "whining" that their device was bricked, you gotta be kidding me. These people have every right to be ticked off, and you're incredibly unreasonable to suggest they not be.

Some have mentioned that iPods have issues. Well, duh--there isn't an electronic device in existence that doesn't have issues. But I'm pretty sure that no iPod model ever had an issue that bricked the entire line for everyone, universally.

Some suggest that Apple either ignores customers with broken media players or tells them to trash their current model and buy a new one; baloney. Mine had a hardware failure once, a problem with the chip. Apple replaced it immediately. If I have a problem, an Apple store is usually nearby, at which I've received immediate relief, often for out-of-warranty products, for free. Apple has been #1 in customer support and for good reason--but keep on lying to yourselves if that makes you happier about suffering through this stuff.

As for 3rd Generation iPods: I got mine in 2003, it still works fine; I still use it for workouts. Never a problem (oh, the cable is loose at one end by now, but it works).

Mitch: Copy and paste was never promised by Apple and I'm doing just fine without it, thanks. I'd rather have an operational device than a semi-useful feature. I'd rather have software that works *right* than software that breaks the machine. Wouldn't you? I think that, with the Zune, the product not turning into a brick *was* promised (even if implicitly) by Microsoft--and from all appearances, not all Zunes are starting back up again, even after battery drains and waiting till midday. As for not updating a bricked product, if I am not mistaken, that's what the battery drain is for, to force a reset. But even that is lame. With an iPod/iPhone, you don't have to do that; just do a hard reset and reinstall everything, including the firmware. I did it once, no problem. All my data was backed up too, didn't lose a thing. Why can't you plug in a Zune and tell it to reset and reinstall everything? Sorry, just face it: the Zune doesn't measure up.

Now, there's one type of commenter on this comment thread who deserve real credit (and I'm not one of them): those who calmly suggest fixes for others. Good work, people, your posts stand out.

This is ridiculous. How can the QA team not find this out since 2006? Last thing MSFT needs. Embarassing. This is not a complex device guys. Hard Drive and a small OS, can't you build a full proof one?

There directions doesnt work at all >.< mine is still frozen. Thank you microsoft for starting the year like this.

I cant believe how insanely stupid 90% of the commenters here are. The official FAQ above clearly states that MS intends to have a fix for the next leap year, so to all of you who keep crying about that, stfu. And to all of the apple-fanboy dbags who keep loling and trolling about how MS is slow to the punch and how zunes are bricked lawl, seriously, go play with yur ishits and get off of the MS/Zune forums. srs bsns only. Also, people, CHILL OUT. Your zunes are toast for 1 freakin day. Im certain that your lives will not end. It speaks NOTHING to MS's customer service that their fix is to wait. Think clearly and logicaly please, instead of whining: if your sh!t is bricked, it wont boot properly, and thus, releasing a patch while the patch cannot be uploaded is a waste of time. And ALL devices nowadays have internal clocks, because a) they're all digital devices, and b) most of the stuff requires it.

So it isnt a matter of a 'fast' or 'slow' response: its a matter of an appropriate response. And remember when the y2k scare happened, and everyone whined then? "OMFG, how could you coders and computer manufacturers not see this coming? OMG!", and yet, nothing major happened. The world didnt end, etc. And this is the first post-y2k leap year. Its far far easier to release a faulty product, make the money, and patch it later. Look at Pc games, even some console games, firmware updates, etc. Even new iterations of hardware will occasionally only be to fix bugs or issues with the old version of the hardware. everyone here needs to just chill out, realize that its the new year, and chill out.

PS i dont even own a zune, or an ipod. i just saw this from Penny arcade, lol'd, and then lol'd more at the nubs commenting.

by loling at all of you at Thursday, January 01, 12:49 AM

*clap clap clap*

Seriously people. One day. Without music.

No, they're not gonna give you zune passes. Or songs. Because it was one day.

They don't care about your party. Or your traffic. Or your boredom. It was one day.

To quote Tom Hanks:

"Sh!t happens."

Next:

I myself would be rather miffed that the Zune team allowed such an obvious bug to slip by them at all (I mean, really, what programmer doesn't handle *leap years* correctly? Can you saw "newb"?)

by Renuz  at Wednesday, December 31, 10:23 PM

Can you spell 'Say'? I dare not ask you for grammar, it's a concept lost on you.

P.S. I care not for your Apple VS. MS battles. Merely saw this off of Penny Arcade.

Seriously? get over it, who cares if they freeze one night, does'nt anyone still own cd's? I hate when people complain, the zune rocks.

Followed all directions and this thing is not working yet.  Let battery die and fully recharged, opened the Zune and pulled battery etc...

This is outrageous. First XBL now zune. I demand a free game for my lost play counts... oh wait. Yay zune

Thanks so much for the quick response to the dilemma! That's why Zune rocks!

yo drake every one get frustrated about stuff like this so you feel the need to flame everyone if this forum grow up...when i bought GTA4 the xbox spring update turned my 360 into a paper weight and when i called microsoft they told me they were working on a fix still 6 months later they have no fix and my 360 still sits in the dark. so when people get mad about 1 million zunes breaking all at once take the high road and shut your mouth a**hole

The fix:

What are the odds you are still going to be using a 30gig media player in 4 years?

We are going to have, like, STORED IN YOUR BRAIN stuff by then.  Where you just think the tune/vid and it plays directly to your senses.

I'm in the beta, it's pretty awesome. But i wish it wouldn't make me yell the advertisements out loud.  That's pretty annoying.

Funny how some people think they're entitled to free stuff because they couldn't use their Zune for a day. Same retards who want to sue a game company when a server goes down for a few hours. Get over yourself.

I love how a tonne of you are complaining that it will just happen again in four years or that nothing is being done to correct it and yet if you read the last two lines of the article they are as follows:

Q:  Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)?

Yes.

I've tried Microsoft's solution of draining the battery 3 times now and mine is still bricked. I'm definitely not an iPod fanboy but this will be my last Zune. It's not about any dire need to use my Zune (there's countless other ways to hear music after all) but if I spend hundreds of dollars on an item, I'd prefer it to not be plagued by what I'd consider to be a pretty sloppy oversight.

WixosTrix, have you ever heard of "testing"?  No?  Apparently, neither has Microsoft.  You see, it's actually not only possible and easy, but really stupid not to test for precisely this kind of problem.  Any software that rolls dates is always tested for second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, leap year, century, and millenium rollovers by programmers that have more than 7 neurons in their skulls.

So where was QA? No-one ever thought to test the leap-year on the Zune? Is someone adding it to the test suite now? Guys?

I have done everything, just like the website has told me. My Zune 30 is still won't reboot. This is ridiculous I tell you. Please if anyone can help.

lol, I guess you'll have to spend one day 4 years in the future without your music. Such suffering!

I like how people are saying "if this happened to apple people would be screwed forever lolz" www.macworld.com/.../leap_second.html

Apple actually thought about this issue way before MicroSoft even realized how they screwed up.

Mine completed DIED after following instructions on how to fix the issue!!! Nothing will turn it on, i'm gonna have to get a replacement. I'm going through withdrawls!!!

Its 1:22PM (January 2, 2009), and still my Zune 30GB continues frozen...I did everything you asked us to do. NOTHING is happening. PLEASE HELP!! Compensation....a discount to buy the second genenration Zune?

The poor response on this issue just makes me angrier. It didn't take more than 5 minutes for the dev team to realize this was a leap year issue, but the official line was silence all day. This is the end of the road for me and the Zune.

okay guys, firmware updates take DAYS to code obviously the fastest fix was wait!  they said they'll fix the underlying problem within the next four years (will anyone still use an original Z30 by then?) the problem was not MS's fault, how do you find a problem before it even exists?  as for you itards: STAY OFF ZUNE SITES!!!  I had a Z30 but had to sell it when I filled it to afford a Z80 but still i am very happy with microsoft's swift response (even if some dissagree) as soon as the problem showed itself MS got to work on a fix.  Zune has free updates and i'm very happy with my experience from Zune, i avidly listen to the Zune insider podcast to learn the latest news about Zune.  please stop whining about not having music for one day!  big deal? i think not.  Microsoft OWES no compensation for an unknown problem!  if they provide it, GREAT! but it is NOT necesary!!

should of got an iPod!!! : )

To the guys giving ups to MS about speedy fix:

THEY DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING!

There's the reason for a speedy response.

For anyone who is saying "oh haha it won't work four years from now too, way to not fix the issue," The last question on the FAQ pretty much makes you look like an idiot.

My Zune still won't work. I have removed the battery, disconnected the HD, nothing. It still stops at the Logo screen and white bar.

Kevo,

right, what i meant was the response to the Zune comunity and figuring out what the actual cause of the problem was in the first case.  

Loren, maybe it got stuck because you removed the battery. If the battery is not attached to the device, it could reset its internal clock to before the issue.

It's a really bad idea to disassemble a device when you don't know what you're doing.

Maybe it is better to follow only the official fixes. www.zune.net/.../zune30.htm

Type "ipod bug" or "iPhone bug" into any search engine.  Microsoft appears to have plenty of company.  For some reason Apple gets alot more leeway in the media.

Loren, maybe it got stuck just because you had removed the battery. By this, it maybe had reset its internal clock to before the issue.

Let's stay with the official fixes, ok?

www.zune.net/.../zune30.htm

seriously. all the people that posted on the page before the fix pissing and moaning. Personally, Id love to see apple come anywhere close to having an answer in twice the time it took microsoft. i saw a few people complain about microsoft's customer service and i wish I could hit em in the head to knock some sense into it. glitches happen and sometimes the only way to find them is to have them happen and correct them after the fact. suck it up, the zunes work again. go back to your peaceful music filled lives and wait to freak out about the next tiny problem in your lives

Did it all, still no operational Zune, Please help

My Zune 30 works fine here in London! I have followed the instruction as posted, and my brown Zunee is back from the dead!

I'm in the same boat. My Zune is absolutely FROZEN. Any suggestions, cause the "it will fix itself" thing didn't work. Ugh!

this just in, i'm a loser

i cant put my zune back together because i stripped the screws when opening to unplugging the battery

OK, I finally got my Zune back up and running. It took some doing, but hopefully this information will help someone else.

First I'd like to say thanks for this site and the help and replies that I received from some of the people here. I really thought my Zune was done for. I was on here because my Zune wasn’t working when everyone else’s was coming back and working for them the next day like Microsoft said it should. I couldn’t believe some comments like, “Seriously people. One day. Without music”.

Now for what I had to go through, like many others, I let my Zune battery go dead I don’t know how many times trying to get the thing to come back up. It would always start loading and then get stuck once the white loading bar got to the other side. There was even a point where the loading line would get to the other side and the Zune would reboot and then get to that point and freeze up again. I’d have to let the battery die and try again and again and again ….you get the point. I was even opening the thing up, unplugging the battery and letting it restart. This didn’t help so don’t even go this far with yours if you haven’t already.

What I finally did to fix it was first hooked it up to a PC that didn’t have the Zune software installed. I just wanted the battery to start charging. Once hooked up, I got the plug screen where I knew the battery was dead and it was charging. I held the Zune in my hand and was ready for my plan.

As soon as the Zune screen appeared, I held down the back key and the left key so that the Zune would erase everything on it, even the firmware. This took many tries as it would keep going to the loading screen and freeze up on me. I’d have to unplug, let the battery die and try again. I finally got the screen that said it was “clearing contents”. Finally, I was deleting everything on it. I believe this is like reformatting a hard drive on your PC. It stayed on this screen for quite some time, but I didn’t want to touch it, it took too long to get to this point. After sitting on the “clearing contents” screen for 2 hours, I finally unplugged it and let the battery die once again. After it was dead again, I plugged it back into the PC, the one without the software, so I could charge the battery back up again and see what would happen. I was hoping that everything went ahead and got deleted even though it was froze up again on a different screen.

Once the battery got charged to a certain point, I had a message on the screen that said to turn on my Zune software and install the firmware, or something to that point. I unplugged it and took it straight to my PC with the Zune software, plugged it in, installed the firmware and then synced it up and am back to normal. I’m going to let it charge overnight as it probably needs a good charge.

Thanks again to everyone that helped contribute to this site and I hope this helps someone else that is still having problems.

Jeeze some people like to complain.  Demanding to get free stuff?  Yeah, MS is a wealthy corporation, but that doesn't mean they owe you for a minor defect.  C'mon, you can't bear one day without music while other people are starving to death!?!

Now I'm pissed.   I wasted 2 days formatting it, and reloading everything only to find out that it's a software bug.  Why wasn't that posted on Zune.net...or in the FAQ on Zune.net?  I looked there first.  That's where I found the procedure to reset the device....

Typical Microsoft.  i should have known it was a software bug.  I bet if this problem would have happened with Windows Vista, they would have made the fix a little easier to find!

Turning it off for two days is something I can live with.  Resetting and reloading everything....That sucked.

Communication Microsoft.  Communication.

No matter what, where is the evidence that microsoft properly tested this product? It seems to me that this is the real story. It's more evidence of the problem microsoft seems to have with quality control processes.

it jan 3 and my Zune still does not work how much longer do i need to hang on?

I was not affected as I own a Zune 8 but I have to say that I was impressed with the speed that Microsoft identified the problem and advised the community of the solution.

I'm sure it was a hell day for Microsoft CS reps but all in all... well done!

Dave...

Earliest posts on zune.net support forums were at 3am 12/31. By mid-morning there was a status message about the issue, that MS was aware of it and was working on the issue. By late day 12/31, the fix was posted on the forums AND the status at the top of the support page. I followed the issue virtually all day as I also had a bricked 30gb. Information was plentiful and timely in the zune.net support forums. Given that is was New Year's Eve, I was really impressed by the speed of Microsoft's action and by their communication... not sure what communication issue you are having problems with.

I'm quite impressed by microsoft's response. not only did they figure out what was wrong in a short amount of time, but they also made it clear through MSN that anyone with the problem should wait for them to figure it out. So to anyone who tried to re format their zune and are pissed, you should have just looked up microsofts page and you would have found that you should wait instead of trying to fix it yourself.

MY zune 30 still does not work after Dec 31, it is already jan 4, but it still froze on the boot up screen

I think that the people that are still mad are the ones with the zunes that are still frozen. This I can understand, I have not seen this mention on any of the MS sites. I know mine has not worked since new years eve and I miss it.

After only reading a few posts, I must add to the ones calling for some of you to get a grip!  I am sure Zune will fix the clock problem in the next software rollout, but even if they didn't, how many of you have anything computer related that is 4 years or more old????  Refurbished and retooled does not count!  Enjoy your tunes and keep rockin' in tha free world!

Cesar, what are my friends in Redmond cooking up to resolve the fact that my Zune 30 is still bricked? I even unplugged the battery to reset it and no luck. I love you guys and all, but this is a tough way to tell someone to upgrade to the 2nd generation product.

james, others - looking into it! stay tuned

Cesar,  thanks! I made the mistake of opening mine up and unplugging the battery.  Mine is also still frozen.  I appreciate the help!

beagle - why'd you go and do that man? you didn't know that voids the warranty?

Short-sighted!  I got caught up in the panic.  Also, I didn't think the warranty would still be in effect after 2+ years....

I am a little embarrassed. For a man with no shame such as myself, this is quite a feat. I was not trying

I'm really confused about the anger at how they aren't doing anything to fix it.

I mean honestly say to yourself that you plan on using the 30 Gig Zune until 2012.  The turn over rate for new iPod's and Zune's is like... in the months time span.

If you're still using one by 2012, you deserve to have it crash, and have everyone else make fun of you for having an outdated PoS.

So here it is, 1/7, and my Zune 30 is back to the 12/31 antics.  The sad thing is that it had recovered and was working after the 12/31 lock, but now has locked up again.

The unfortunate thing is that I leave it at work, sitting in a powered dock, letting it draw power all night in its locked state.  So now I have to wait until the end of the day for it to drain and try it again.

Travis, others - try contacting support if you're still having issues - www.zune.net/.../support - click the link on the bottom right to "contact support"

Cesar, I formatted the drive and reinstalled the firmware...problem fixed.  I am back to listening to my music.  Why doesn't Zune give this as a potential solution for others to try since it obviously seemed to work for me?  And to think I cam 1 click away from buying a new 120.  Now I can wait to see what you guys are cooking up for the 3rd gen.

ok, for all whos zunes are still not working, like mine wasnt one hour ago, here is a solution to fix it if you haven't heard.  IF you have taken it apart, unplug the battery and plug it back in, the second you do that hold the middle, left, and back button down, if you havent taken it apart, just charge the battery til it gets to the loading screen and do the same. a screen should come up with directions on it. leave this on for about 2 minutes, and even though its not done, if you want it that second, unplug the battery and plug it back in. again, before the bar hits the top, plug it into the computer with zune software on it. then go into device settings, it might take a while for the computer to recognise the zune, but thats normal. when you get to the settings go to device-device update. click install in the middle of the screen and wait. there you go, your zune should be working like mine did when following these instruction. im not a professional or anything, im only 12 lol, so im not an expert on this, but i thought id share ths with you. I hope it works!

WOOOO!  I did what Dan suggested and my zune lives!!  Thank you to Dan and everyone else who posted suggestions!

Still having problems, my Zune 30 won't charge.

Dan connecting to computer without Zune hardware worked on the first try. thanks

Wow, so if my toyota doesn,t start today and wont get fixed till tomorrow, I should get rid of it????. We are sure an impatient people

my zune 39g is still frozen` ran down the battery for 4 days recharged it atill frozen how do i fix it???

Its been 10 days...and my Zune still freezes at the title bar...what can I do?

Hey, so I followed the fix instructions but it still had the same problem but this time it said something about the firmware, but none of my computers will even recognize it. None. I even downloaded the drivers again still didn't work.

How do I fix it this time?

I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too...

why do some people find it odd that we might still be using the product in 2012.  Having paid over 200 bucks for this thing I expect it to give me several good years.  

If your zune does not start working send it to me and ill take it.

My ZUNE 30 still freezes at the boot screen.  I bought this device for $250+tax the day it came out.  Any solutions?

mine still freezes. why?

Hi, interesting post. I have been pondering this issue,so thanks for posting. I'll certainly be coming back to your blog.

Who is the new hot brunnete on stargate universe? Please let me know!!!

www.koldcast.tv/.../2384

Mine is still giving issues to this day, and some site said I need to pay 103 bucks just to get it fix >:( i guess i will have to wait till zune hd to come out so i can get that one

tks for the effort you put in here I appreciate it!

okay well mines not a 30gb its 4gb but it freezes and i did purchase it on 2006

Mine still doesn't work and it is December of 2009.  It worked for a while and it is stuck again.  Is the fix in place yet?

Well, i have good sharing here about the post. thanks for posting...