Zunes crash en masse, all at once

Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:23AM EST

See Comments (40)

Arriving nine years late to the Y2K phenomenon is the Microsoft Zune. Reports are flowing wildly that, last night at around 2AM, every first-gen 30GB Zune abruptly crashed.

It's a bizarre problem that has generated hundreds of complaints on the Zune support forum. As I write this, Microsoft has not offered a suggestion on a fix (though I'm sure one will be forthcoming shortly).

The response from the web has largely been gentle mockery, but Zune owners are perturbed, and rightly so. I'll try to update this post when fix instructions are posted -- but given that it's New Year's Eve and people are vacationing, traveling, and partying (including myself), it may be a day or two before we hear about how to repair the flaw.

Hopefully Microsoft won't be crushed under the "legal ACTION" that at least one user is threatening before that occurs.

UPDATE: Microsoft explains what caused the problem (a bug!) and that it will resolve itself automatically.

Comments on Zunes crash en masse, all at once

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 26 Posted by badazz92golf on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    Hey my Zune player froze up but all you have to do is let the players battery die then recharge the player and it should work.

  • 27 Posted by warryckwolf on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    XXMITNIK hacked Microsoft and shut down zune sites globally. Microsoft is reporting other sorts of problems, because of security issues; but the simple fact is XXMITKIN hacked and shut the zune sites. My info reports the hack had a timer so that normal activity would resume within 24 hours.

  • 28 Posted by us_soldier4life on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    The Zune website already has a solution to the big freezing issue. look at http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/zune30.htm

  • 30 Posted by bongoyeob on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    Hi my name is G from minnesota. my zune has been frozen since yesterday but i decided to do it my self.opened it up and disconected the battery and put back in after like one minute.it work just like reseting and electronic gadget.

  • 31 Posted by thoughtfarmboy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:08PM EDT Report Abuse

    awww...thats too bad.....personally i don't watch vids on small screens...and I still have and use my sony disc man.....call me names if you want....

  • 32 Posted by foridude on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    Just the reason why I won't buy stuff like this! When I could no longer update windows xp, I stopped using Microsoft products. They can go to heck in a handbag for all I care. Greedy batturds! You got to realize, some of these crashes arent their fault, but the fault of hackers who hate them!

  • 33 Posted by fonescaitlin@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    My Zune crashed yesterday, and today is fine. Something about an internal clock in one of the pieces that couldn't figure out the leap year. So if everyone just checks it today, they should be ok, I guess.

  • 34 Posted by k5tws on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is the very reason I own an iPod. I owned a windows based MP3 player, and it completly locked up and would not come back to life. I have had my iPod for over a year now, and have never had so much as a tiny glitch. Thank You Apple!

  • 36 Posted by ddawson216 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    The Yahoo headline made me laugh out loud. "Microsoft blames leap year for Zune glitch". My response to the headline: The entity known as "leap year" denies all charges and blames shoddy Microsoft programming and/or the Microsoft standard for a "calendar year".

  • 37 Posted by munizm on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    This begs the question, does Microsoft push out updates with value-added bonuses that kill apps intentionally to create update/upgrade sales? If they were able to kill hardware like this, I am guessing it was intentional to prove they could do it and then profit from all the new sales, fortunately there was outcry and public concern to which they had to post a fix for. Isn't it a coincidence that Microsoft electronics fail right after they are no longer under warranty? with the amount of data that that can be compressed onto a chip(easily concealable). I am curious if in a patch they can make the OS operate at less efficiency as well, creating an upgrade to the new OS?

  • 38 Posted by cole_mizzi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    ha ha... mine is fully updated and still didnt crash.... wonder why though

  • 39 Posted by winklerjl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    This happened to me as well. I had to let the battery drain undocked for 2 days, it seemed to be trying to sync so the battery died farely quickly. Then once recharged, all was OK again.

More Posts: First Prev 1 2 3 Next Last

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment

My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.

Also on Yahoo! Tech

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio
 

Site Map | Tour | Subscribe to Yahoo! Tech

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.