How to recover Zen Firmware 2.10.03?

Host

2008-02-22 04:06:51 UTC

Hey La, Hey La, My Nomad's Back!

OK, for those of you who are in the same predicament as I am with my
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra, here is how I rescued my brain dead player
after my first failed attempt to install 2.10.03 firmware.

I found another Windows XP computer in the house that met the
following requirements:

Windows XP Service Pack 2
Never saw or heard of my Nomad before. (No previous software was
installed.)
Windows Media Player was still at version 9. (My other computer had
Media Player 11, which I attempted to roll back to 10.)

I went to Microsoft's web site, and found Windows Media Player 10
(they still have it, though they're pushing 11 as of this writing).

Copied my firmware files over to the non-Nomad aware machine.

Powered up my Nomad, which took me to the rescue screen.

Selected "Reload OS", and waited until it finished and returned me
back to the Rescue screen.

Launched the firmware update program, and plugged my Nomad in when
prompted.

Windows saw the device and loaded it's own MTP drivers (remember, my
Nomad was already in MTP mode because of the partial 2.10.03
firmware).

As soon as Windows said my device was ready to use, the firmware
program saw it, and lit up the "Upgrade" button!

Clicked the "Upgrade" button and waited anxiously through the reboots,
like Dr. Frankenstein trying to revive his monster...

"Your unit already has 2.10.03. Proceed?" "Hell yes!!!!"

IT'S ALIVE!

Giggled with glee as my brick, one step from the recycling center
turned into an MP3 player again! No iPod or Zune for me! I got my
Nomad back!

So, I apparently was incorrect in thinking the 2.10.03 upgrade program
expects the Nomad to still be in the old Creative mode, because on a
"virgin" PC, it recognized it in MTP mode. That's good news.

I'm not sure how many of the steps above are really necessary, and I
still don't know what about my Nomad aware system was preventing it
from working, but it appears from what I've read elsewhere, you're
better off rescuing a Zen Xtra with 2.10.03 on a system that's never
seen your jukebox before. (Maybe it was Media Player 11. Maybe it
was Creative MediaSource 5, maybe it was Notmad Explorer. Who knows!

Anyway, I hope this tip helps someone else in the same predicament.
It pays to have more than one system, and it pays to keep one bare
bones.

Post by Host
This is extremely frustrating. Back in 2005, Creative released the
new MTP mode (Plays For Sure) firmware for the Nomad Zen Xtra (among
others). This creates a whole new way for the jukebox to talk to
Windows XP.
I desired better functionality with Windows Media Player so I could
transfer files from my 40G Nomad to a small 2 gigger I keep in the
car. So, I carefully read the release notes (Be sure you have Windows
XP and Media Player 10 installed), and started the upgrade. The
program told me there would be a few reboots, and there was at least
one, but then something went wrong, and the update did not complete.
Well, this happens from time to time, because it is Windows after all
(right now there are Linux and Mac people laughing at me). So, I
needed to restart the update. Problem is, the update program no
longer recognizes my Nomad, and my Nomad is stuck in Rescue Mode.
However, there is enough of 2.10 installed that Windows sees my
device, and I can even look at the hard disk. But, there is no OS,
and the Nomad is a brick.
Creative Mode (1.xx firmware versions), and MTP mode (Plays For Sure
mode, which Windows and Media Player recognize without loading any
drivers.)
The trouble is, my player has switched to MTP mode, but even the 2.10
firmware upgrade requires Creative Mode before it can do an upgrade.
I'm sure if Creative were to release another version of MTP software I
could recover my Nomad because a new 2.xx update would expect my Nomad
to already be in MTP mode, but alas, they have not.
So, does anyone know any tricks so I can move my Nomad either forward
(2.10.03) or backward (back to 1.02 or 1.20)? At this point, I will
accept any solution that allows my Nomad to play music again.
Creative is no help, only pointing me to their Knowledge Base, which
would be fine if I was still at 1.xx. Rescue Mode works fine,
firmware updates just fine. But now they've put my Nomad into a Catch
22 mode.
In a nutshell: If you had a Nomad at 2.10.03, then lost your hard
drive, how would you rescue it?
Thanks for any help!
Dan