Creative Zen Vision M quiet sound on EU models
If you bought a Creative Zen Vision M in the EU then its likely you have a sound limiter on it. This means that the sound of your player is relatively low and as such you could be having to use levels of 20/25 or so to get a good volume.
In other countries there is no such limit, and as such the sound is much louder. To change your EU player to American settings and as such increase the volume, do the following*...
Check you current firmware, (System > Information > Version)
If it is lower than 1.30.02. download the American firmware update. Once downloaded connect your player up to your pc and run the update. Check your firmware again.
If it says 1.30.02 (no e) then you have the correct version.
If it says 1.30.02e then follow the steps bellow.
1| Download the latest American firmware update (currently v1.30.02 download here)
2| Detach the Zen Vision:M player from your computer, and ensure that the unit is off.
3| Slide the Power switch towards the Power icon and hold the switch left in the Power On position.
4| Push the end of a pin-like object (for example, a straightened paper clip) into the reset hole, press gently and remove (this reboots the player).
5| Release the Power switch (to the middle) when the Creative logo appears. The Recovery Mode menu appears:
* Clean Up (Performs a disk scan on the player's hard disk, it will not affect music files)
* Format All (Formats the players hard disk - Note: all contents will be lost)
* Reload Firmware (Reloads the Operating System on the Zen. Select this option ONLY if there is a firmware available to reload)
* Reboot (Reboots the device)
6| Select reload firmware.
7| Once done connect the player to your pc and run the American firmware upgrade.
8| Leave it to do this (it will reboot, then rebuild the player - you wont loose any data, and voila all done).
Thanks to epiZENter and the creative forums for this information.
*SP303.com takes no responsibility for you making changes to your player, you do so at your own risk
26 Comments:
Don't attempt to do this update if you've installed the Windows Media Player 11 Beta (released Wed. 17th May '06) - at the time of writing, the update program *will not find your player*, and you will not be able to replace the deleted firmware.
Creative recommend uninstalling the Beta, updating the firmware, and then reinstalling - this didn't work for me. The update worked on another computer in the house which hadn't had the Beta installed.
Refer to Creative's KnowledgeBase, solution # 16737, for more information.
I was long looking for this. the instruction is fairly straight forward and i did work on my Zen Vision:M and the its much louder now.the only thing is that the latest version of this Firmware is 1.51.01 and it did work and successfully replaced my old version.
thanx for the info.very useful
Cool!!!
At long last my Sennheiser HD215's can be put to good use.
Thanks a lot !!! It was very useful information for me...it's much louder now!!! Sorry for my bad english =)
Thanks for your guide!
Finally I can get an almost line-level as output instead of Ipod line level :-)! Very usefull!!
Cheers mate
My ears are bleeding!
Cool
This is really excellent! Many thanks for the hint :-)
Went smoothly. So loud now my ears flap. Thanks.
Thanks for this! Happily deafening myself now...
Yes, this does work I've upgraded to the latest US firmware 1.61.01, and the music level is about 2 notches up from the European equivalent (if you can imagine a 27 volume setting)....which is about perfect. The only problem is that due to the sensitive touchpad I accidentally reformated my disk. No big problem as I have everything safely backed up on my computer HD, but for others this could be a disaster. Yes, it's a great tip, but be careful.
Thx for this i upgraded my 60gb to version 1.20.02 give me a much better volume for listning in loud places like my school now im in my own little world of musical bliss thx :>
It says my player isn't connected, even though it is.
Folks, I really wanna do this but I don't like the idea of deleting firmware.
Long story short..... I got a new VisionM and tried this, Hit "Reload" and then proceeded to install new USA firmware. The Firmware upgrade dialogue box said my player would not be recognised so I was left with a €250 paperwight, with no firmware and no way of installing new firmware.
Sent it back to the shop and said that no firmware was installed on the player and I want my money, so I got lucky and they believed me.
Have a new player now, and I really want to do this, but am not going to risk a second Vision M and turn it into a paperweight. Anyone encounter this problem before, how can it be avoided. Running the final version of WMP11, Not beta, player is docking perfectly at the moment with the "e" firmware.
I really wanna loose that "e"
Great! worked like a charm om my 30gb Zen VM.
Mark, NL
SOOOO MUCH BETTER! me love you long time.
brilliant!!! :D
Thanks a lot !
i got the latest american update but in the information screen, its got an e and i dont think the zen is any louder. have i done something wrong?
Thanks a bunch for this. I was unsure of doing after hearing the horror stories of people busting up their players when switching firmwares, but this worked perfectly. Im partly deaf, so this extra volume boost is a great help. Thanks!
i got the zen vision m 30 GB and
didnt realize that theres a different firmware for that than the 60GB, just in case someone has the same problem ; ) it works now with the other firmware, thanks a lot!
Foolproof instructions - excellent. Many thanks.
e 'player not connected issues', fixed it by rolling back to WMP10. Great this WMP shizzle that interferes with the upgrading :S But hey, I'm happy, got the USA firmware up and running now :D Now for some audio volume testing :P
I have been wanting to make my Zen louder for ages, i finally stumbled upon this.
Thanks so much, it's an actual level of volume you can listen to over other people's god damn car radio's >_>
Woow, this is great, thanks man!
I cant seem to find v1.30.02 so I'm going to try with v1.21.02 *Fingers Crossed.*
Player is now rebooting and rebuilding!
Shite! Its worked. And i think i just blew an eardrum!!! Woot. Thank you...
I have got vision:m 30gb and that USA firmware for 60gb doesn't recognize my player when i'm trying to install it :( what I need to do?
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