Microsoft announced yesterday they have a fix for what people started calling the Zune 30 leap year bug.
My Zune 30 is frozen. What should I do?
Follow these steps:
- Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
- Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
- Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that’s 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
- Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.
Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required—you can go back to using your Zune!
My Zune 30 has been working fine today. Should I be worried?
Nope, your Zune is fine and will continue to work as long as you do not connect it to your computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
Note: If you connect your player to a computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009, you’ll experience the freeze mentioned above—even if that computer does not have the Zune software installed. If this happens, follow the above steps.
What if I have rights-managed (DRM) content on my Zune?
Most likely, rights-managed content will not be affected by this issue. However, it’s a good idea to sync your Zune with your computer once the freeze has been resolved, just to make sure your usage rights are up to date.
What if I took advice from the forums and reset my Zune by disconnecting the battery?
This is a bad idea and we do not recommend opening your Zune by yourself (for one thing, doing so will void your warranty). However, if you’ve already opened it, do one of the following:
- Wait 24 hours from the time that you reset the Zune and then sync with your computer to refresh the usage rights; or
- Delete the player’s content using the Zune software (go to Settings, Device, Sync Options, Erase All Content), then re-sync it from your collection.
Microsoft’s first response had been:
There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.
And the next one quickly followed:
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.
For Zune developers to respond next with these step by step fix instructions in realtime like this is perhaps just as newsworthy as the problem in the first place. I think that when a corporate structure this big reacts so readily to such an issue I’m moved to say “kudos.”