How to Repair a Hardware Issue with the Zune

If you have read any of my articles about the Microsoft Zune 30 g device, you will already know about my recent troubles with my expensive toy. To recap for those of you who have not read my other Zune articles: My Zune is still in pristine condition, several months ago when I turned on my Zune, there was a problem. My Zune was pausing then unpausing repeatedly, and none of my music would play. I tried a variety of tricks to restore my Zune. None of the tricks such as letting the battery run down then charging it up again, using a variety of combinations of buttons, like pressing play/pause and up on the pad, worked. I decided it was time to call the customer support toll free number. I needed help. Of course, the non english speaking tech representatives had a solution. I could pay $130 to have the Zune repaired. I was told, rather harshly I might add, that my Zune was never going to work again and there was absolutely nothing I could do asides pay for the repairs.

Lets start off by stating that my Zune was malfunctioning because I let the battery die. I got distracted, set the device down and forgot to turn it off. When I remembered it was on, it was too late. I charged the Zune up again, and it was not playing music, as I described earlier. I had almost given up on my Zune. I put it back in the box it came in and discarded it to a closet.

About 2 weeks ago I felt ambitious, and with the device being worthless, I knew I had nothing to lose, so I started tinkering with it. Little did I know the Zune was in fact, not worthless or suffering from an irreversible hardware malfunction. I found a very simple way to restore my Zune. I began by deleting all content. Simple enough. Then I re synced the device. To my shock this was all I needed to do. Music began playing from my head phones. I could not resist dancing a happy dance! I saved myself a hundred some dollars, and also discovered that the folks at Microsoft are simply trying to stay in business by deliberately lying to their customers in hopes of getting more money out of them.

If you have a 30 g Zune and you are encountering issues with the device as I described save yourself a lot of frustration and time. Delete all device content, then sync it again. Don't call tech support- you can fix this problem on your own.