It’s not exactly gaming related, but given the company involved and their past hardware failures, it’s hard not to talk about it here.
Early this morning (around 1:30-2AM EST) 30 gig Zune models all over the world just… stopped working. Owners of the 30 gig models with the latest firmware were greeted with a great experience today: turning on the Zune, and seeing it brick at the end of the loading screen’s loading bar. With 2 million 30 gig Zunes sold since June 2007--and with many of them likely being upgraded to the most recent firmware--it's safe to say quite a bit of people got a shock today.
That’s the bad news. The good news? Apparently it’s an issue with the way the internal clock timer handles the leap year and, according to Zune’s Matt Akers, “This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.”
“By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on,” he recently wrote on the Zune.net forums. “If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.
The whole situation is eerily familiar for Microsoft, as the company is still feeling the effects of the Xbox 360's red ring of death fiasco. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the solution to that problem proved a bit more problematic, as they were forced to extend warranties and offer free 360 repairs, costing them a reported $1.1 billion dollars all together.
So, those of us with 30 gig Zunes will just have to go a day without music during our walks, commutes, or cleaning. On the bright side, at least there won’t be any sending in Zunes for repair. You can read Matt’s full post in the quote below.
Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.
Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).
We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.
Q: Why is this issue isolated to the Zune 30 device?It is a bug in a driver for a part that is only used in the Zune 30 device.
Q: What fixes or patches are you putting in place to resolve this situation?
This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.
Q: What’s the timeline on a fix?
The issue Zune 30GB customers are experiencing today will self resolve as time changes to January 1.
Q: Why did this occur at precisely 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 2008?
There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.
Q: What is Zune doing to fix this issue?
The issue should resolve itself.
Q: Are you sure that this won’t happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices?
This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.
Q: How many 30GB Zune devices are affected? How many Zune 30GB devices were sold?
All 30GB devices are potentially affected.
Matt Akers
Zune Product Team
January 1st, 2009 at 5:23 am
Who would ever trust M$ for a hardware product? 30 years and they still can't make software work as it should. You get what you deserve when you buy a product from this company. They are cursed so stay away.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:47 am
Every time Microsoft touch a piece of hardware everything turns sour, heck, it wasn't long after they released a HD - DVD add - on for their Xbox 360 that HD - DVD went out of business (Although HD - DVD was doomed from the start).
The worst part? Microsoft are set to announce a portable gaming device to compete with the DS and the PSP at this year's E3.......does anybody really want RROD on the go?