[Ed Hansberry]

http://gizmodo.com/5121311/30gb-zun...kyline=true&s=x

"Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports - tons - about failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless.The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Y2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:"

Gizmodo is reporting that a lot of Zune 30GB owners are reporting their devices are freezing up today. The official Zune.net hardware forum already has several threads by 30GB owners. Could it have anything to do with the new year? I doubt it as Jan 1, 2009 has only just arrived in Adelaide, Australia as I post this. If you have a 30GB device, has it gone belly up? This seems to be too widespread to be a hoax.

Update: I've confirmed with a lot of people that this is indeed happening. A few interesting threads: 1) Facebook as a group for people with 30GB bricked devices and 2) A hard reset might be the fix. There will be no Happy New Year for the Zune team at Microsoft as I am sure many will be called in today to resolve this.

Update 2: Microsoft has updated the "Zune Service Status" at the Zune support site and has created a sticky thread where you can monitor the situation. If you have a 30GB device and are impacted (seems to be the latest firmware) then you should subscribe to that thread.

Update 3: It seems it will fix itself. See the post by Skipdeez in the Zune.net forums.

[Ed Hansberry]

http://gizmodo.com/5121311/30gb-zun...kyline=true&s=x

"Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports - tons - about failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless.The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Y2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:"

Gizmodo is reporting that a lot of Zune 30GB owners are reporting their devices are freezing up today. The official Zune.net hardware forum already has several threads by 30GB owners. Could it have anything to do with the new year? I doubt it as Jan 1, 2009 has only just arrived in Adelaide, Australia as I post this. If you have a 30GB device, has it gone belly up? This seems to be too widespread to be a hoax.

Update: I've confirmed with a lot of people that this is indeed happening. A few interesting threads: 1) Facebook as a group for people with 30GB bricked devices and 2) A hard reset might be the fix. There will be no Happy New Year for the Zune team at Microsoft as I am sure many will be called in today to resolve this.

Update 2: Microsoft has updated the "Zune Service Status" at the Zune support site and has created a sticky thread where you can monitor the situation. If you have a 30GB device and are impacted (seems to be the latest firmware) then you should subscribe to that thread.

Update 3: It seems it will fix itself. See the post by Skipdeez in the Zune.net forums.

[tsahnocub]

I've got both a Zune80 and a Zune30. After reading about all of that, I went and checked the Zune30. Battery was dead. After putting it on the charger, it booted up, and is promptly stuck on the Zune logo screen with the loading bar all the way full.

I'm not really sure what to do now, this was a launch unit (purchased within the first month of release), and is outside microsoft warranty and the 2yr extended warranty from circuit city.

[korneel]

I didn't believed this when I read it, I checked my 30, started it up and guess what? It is stuck on the boot screen...

[Bob S]

Found my Zune 30 stuck on boot screen an unresponsive this morning too.
Can not reset or reboot.
My daughter's is dead too

[Chris Gohlke]

Same problem here, this can't be good.

[inteller]

OH MY GOD. I am SOOOOO PISSED.

This is it, I'm done. Microsoft, you need to fire every ****er at Zune. How something like this could happen is beyond me.

[Swiftus]

Yup... me too... This will be interesting.. Maybe we'll all get Zune 120s (not holding my breath)

[LegendDJ]

My Zune 30 is frozen as well. I thought the hard drive was dying. I wish I had went online before I opened the device and reformatted the hard drive. From what I can tell the Zune runs fine when the clock isn't set, with the Zune not having a CMOS battery to retain time, people are able to "hard rest" their Zune by unplugging the battery cable, thus they able to get it functioning again as long as they don't sync with a computer which would set the time. Apparently this is a firmware problem, which is going to be a pain to correct for Microsoft, as the battery still helps retain time for long period even when it doesn't have enough to power the device itself.

[David Tucker]

Wow...this is inexcusable no matter what the eventual explanation is.

[Sven Johannsen]

At least this site didn't die at midnight last night

You gotta figure MS will do something to fix this, warranty or not. I don't think they could afford to say 'sucks to be an early adopter' to everyone who bought the original Zune. I expect it really is everyone.

From the reports it is 'time bombed'. It is mitigatable by resetting the clock, which can only be done by openning the unit and disconnecting the battery, or presumably by totally draining it. Charging the unit is OK, but hooking it back to a PC corrects the clock and re-activates the bug. Kind of defeats the function if you can't manage the music on it.

This will be interesting. I don't expect it will be tough to find and smash the bug, but so far software updates seem to have been dependent on docking a working Zune and re-flashing it. I wonder if there will be trickier to flash a Zune that is stuck.

P.S. was at work reading this. Wife just checked my 30G at home, yup, it's stuck. Wonder when the 4, 8, 60 and 120s die