Rockbox Technical Forums

Rockbox Development => New Ports => Topic started by: pamaury on November 12, 2013, 12:55:26 PM

Title: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 12, 2013, 12:55:26 PM
I am starting a dedicated thread for the ZEN X-Fi even though it is very close to the Creative ZEN.
The port is now in beta test! You can find the instruction here: http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort. Don't forget that this is a preliminary version to it might be unstable and so on. I put a prebuilt version of the bootloader on my dropbox (see wiki link) and you can find the nightly build here: http://build.rockbox.org/data/rockbox-creativezenxfi.zip.
A few important notes:
1) you'll have to reformat the storage to FAT thus you cannot dual-boot and you will loose all your file on the device
2) charging is not implemented, use the recovery mode to charge
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: cela on November 27, 2013, 05:16:56 PM
Just tried this port out again following the LCD rework.

It's much better now, no annoying white screen, my workaround was to keep the screen setting permanently on, but now I can set the back light to time out again, for the record I have 8GB non wifi version.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on January 10, 2014, 02:17:00 PM
ISSUE 1:  Boot can hang with black screen, either immediately after the CREATIVE logo or the bootloader text. Tested with bootloader V1Beta2.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: ToJa92 on February 10, 2014, 05:28:33 PM
Hi!

I just got Rockbox working on my X-Fi, thanks to your hard work. It looks awesome!

At first I tried to build everything myself, and after flashing the firmware.nk file I could get the basic text prompt (I.E. a black background with white text, saying that it was charging). However, when I tried to actually boot Rockbox it would first show the Creative logo twice and then go to a black screen.

Perhaps the build in the git repository is broken at the moment? Your prebuilt firmware is about two months old according to Dropbox. Unfortunately I don't know enough about developing for embedded systems to help you out (or even figure out if there's something wrong at the moment - I have no clue where to start).
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on February 11, 2014, 05:24:47 AM
Hi,
the current ZEN X-Fi bootloader has a know problem (aka Black Screen of Death), I might have a found a fix, currently beta testing on the ZEN and will port to the X-Fi if it works. If this happen, just reset and you should eventually be able to boot rockbox. In doubt just a wait a few days so I can upload a new one hopefully.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on March 03, 2014, 06:01:45 PM
I have updated the LCD code, I think it should be more stable now.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on March 09, 2014, 06:59:59 AM
Hi, I have enabled frequency scaling for improved battery life and speaker is now supported. The screen flicker on frequency change but I think it's very hard to impossible to remove without compromising battery life or performance so I hope it's not too bad.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 12, 2014, 07:55:34 PM
Can anyone tell me how to remove Rockbox from a Creative ZEN X-Fi? I reinstalled the Creative firmware ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08.exe, but now boot shows CREATIVE, then ZEN, then Firmware Problem. Thanks.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on July 12, 2014, 09:22:29 PM
You probably have to reformart the user partition using the recovery mode. I don't have the device at hand so I don't remember how it is named.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 15, 2014, 04:33:55 PM
You probably have to reformart the user partition using the recovery mode. I don't have the device at hand so I don't remember how it is named.

Ah yes. I should know that by now!

1 Hold Play while powering on
2 Select Format All

Thanks Amaury.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on July 17, 2014, 09:46:35 AM
Hi,
just so you know, I created and committed a keymap for all the plugins. Please refer to the Creative ZEN thread for more information. For now it doesn't use any key which is specific to the X-Fi, but if someone is willing to try and propose some improvements, I'll be happy to implement them.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 20, 2014, 08:20:19 PM
just so you know, I created and committed a keymap for all the plugins.

Thanks. Works well here.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 20, 2014, 08:21:20 PM
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort#Forum_discussion  says "Recording 0% Untested."

I tested it. It doesn't work.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 21, 2014, 05:01:46 PM
Anyone else finding that screendump crashes? Here, Undefined instruction at 6004E75C.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: ToJa92 on July 28, 2014, 05:51:49 AM
Anyone else finding that screendump crashes? Here, Undefined instruction at 6004E75C.

I get this message on revision eaaff26:

Code: [Select]
Prefetch abort at FFFFFB54
FSR 0xC8
(domain 12, fault 8)
pc:FFFFFB54 sp:600E8E70
bt end

Hi, I have enabled frequency scaling for improved battery life and speaker is now supported. The screen flicker on frequency change but I think it's very hard to impossible to remove without compromising battery life or performance so I hope it's not too bad.

The speaker works great. :)
I took a look at the CPU frequency through the debug menu (for ~5 minutes while playing music) but it never changed, so I never saw any screen flicker. Maybe the CPU only idles in certain situations?
I'm on revision eaaff26.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on July 28, 2014, 08:08:42 AM
The speaker works great. :)

Here too! :)

Thanks Amaury.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on July 28, 2014, 08:09:27 AM
Thanks for the report, I will have a look at the screendump issue.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 14, 2014, 07:44:28 PM
Tried to install it. The infamous  black screen. Recovery mode not working, lights off. PC  is not recognizing the device. Only sounds when I disconnect. Is there any way to obtain the firmware for reinstall ?
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 15, 2014, 05:26:07 AM
Is the screen staying completely black on boot ? Did it ever boot rockbox once ? It might mean the battery is simply low and you should plug it to your computer and wait. Recovery mode will not trigger if battery is too low, you have to wait. To reinstall the OF, follow the same procedure as in http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort (http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort) but upload this file https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypnsjbw5rnxxi99/ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08e_rk.bin?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypnsjbw5rnxxi99/ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08e_rk.bin?dl=0) instead with sendfirm.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 15, 2014, 07:03:33 AM
Thank you for all your help. Yes, it is staying completely black and it never boot to rockbox. I leave it charging all night and now it shows on windows as an unspecified device  ROM Recovey. So far no reaction from the player.  Ill try to install the OF. Again many thanks for your answer!
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 15, 2014, 07:27:17 AM
Oh wow, you might be the first person I know to reach recovery without disconnecting the battery. In this case using the sendfirm tool won't work. Here is the procedure in this case:
Then open a command line prompt in the folder where you downloaded both files and type:
Code: [Select]
sb_loader -f ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08e_rk_FRESCHopefully you player you light up and either display recovery mode or some charging icon, just wait for it to charge before doing anything, then reboot.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 15, 2014, 08:58:40 AM
Hi, tried to follow instructions but it says HID device not found, place device in recovery mode and restart the program. Again many thanks
 
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 15, 2014, 10:43:35 AM
Ok my mistake, the tool I linked to is from Freescale and only support STMP3780, the ZEN is based on STMP3700... So your only option at the moment is to either grab a linux computer and use our tool (which works), or wait: i'm in the process of porting it to Windows, I hope to have a working version today to help you recover from this situation.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 15, 2014, 10:54:01 AM
I do really appreciate all the time and effort you are investing in helping me. Thank you !
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 15, 2014, 06:42:06 PM
Okay, I finished the tool in a hurry, I only tested it on Windows XP on my fuze+ so really I cannot assure you it will work for you but here it is. Download https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6l15i67zz0b3r7/sbloader.exe?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6l15i67zz0b3r7/sbloader.exe?dl=0) and run in a command prompt (note the lack of "-f" compared to the previous command):
Code: [Select]
sbloader.exe ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08e_rk_FRESCAnd please copy/paste the output, even in case of success, for reference.
If you are interested in seeing the code, it's there and it's ugly for now: http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/1042/ (http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/1042/)
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 15, 2014, 07:11:08 PM
Many thanks! Unfortunately I coulnt find my device

Here is the output in cmd prompt  "sbloader.exe ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_0 8e_rk_FRESC Potential device: 041e:415a Potential device: 045e:00f9 Couldn't find a valid device  "

After disconnecting the device and running the program the potential device 041e:415a doesnt show

Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 16, 2014, 02:55:21 AM
Ah right, Creative uses a diferent VID:PID. Here is a new version of the program to catch this particular device: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6l15i67zz0b3r7/sbloader.exe?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6l15i67zz0b3r7/sbloader.exe?dl=0)
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 06:07:47 AM

Pamaury you're a life saver. Many thanks for all your help!

Creative\New folder>sbloader.exe ZENXFI_PCFW_L22_1_04_08
e_rk_FRESC
Potential device: 041e:415a
Device found at \\?\hid#vid_041e&pid_415a#7&1c86d393&0&0000#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-
88cb-001111000030}
Maximum transfer size: 64
Upload successful
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 07:52:33 AM
Now im stuck on recovery mode. Tried to do a cleanup, it says format. When I do select format the device crashes
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 16, 2014, 07:56:33 AM
Just to be clear: you erased the firmware of the device ? Maybe try to restore the OF using sendfirm and the procedure I described earlier ?
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 08:13:19 AM
Thanks, after the device loads it goes to the recovery  mode. After that shall I disconnect and reboot?
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 16, 2014, 08:16:46 AM
Ok, let me ask clearer question:
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 08:27:40 AM
The device boots straight to recovery menu after sbloader is executed. The device does not  boot without usb plugged
In the pc it says that the storage media is 60 mb. When I try the sendfrm the output is "Error occured during sending". Iam   going to use the sbloader again and leave it charging for a while. Thanks again!

Device is fully charged. I ran the sbloader booted into recovery mode. Then disconnected  from the usb and selected reboot.  The screen went white. Repeated the whole procedure of rebooting from the recovery menu and the screen went yellow. After repeating again and selecting reboot the screen went red. It is impossible to access recovery menu using the play on buttons
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 04:06:18 PM
I have tried everything. At reboot of Recovery Mode the screen changes color and then the unit shuts down
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on November 16, 2014, 04:53:17 PM
That sounds very strange, could you come on IRC (http://www.rockbox.org/irc/), that would greatly speed up the discussion. My pseudo is pamaury, I'm usually online the whole day (french time).
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: robertdundee on November 16, 2014, 05:30:36 PM
Many thanks. Sure ,  I will log tomorrow.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: RufusA on September 22, 2016, 11:17:28 AM
Having had my Clip Zip (and 128GB microsd card) stolen, I dusted off my old 8GB Creative X-Fi to see if I could Rockbox it.

Firstly - many thanks Amaury for your excellent work (as ever). I now have a functioning rockbox player again :)

A couple of questions:

1) I notice you updated the Rockbox homepage yesterday to move X-FI to stable port status. What would I need to do to use the stable version rather than the Dev one from the wiki page?

2) I'm still getting a lot of hangs when booting - aka "Black Screen of Death" you alluded to in reply #4.  Has the fix for the Zen been ported to the X-Fi or do I just have flakey hardware?

Thanks
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: saratoga on September 22, 2016, 11:21:42 AM
The development builds are the only builds. We just consider them stable enough for non experts to use.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on September 22, 2016, 07:42:13 PM
1) I notice you updated the Rockbox homepage yesterday to move X-FI to stable port status.

What change took it to stable?

BTW, still "This port is still unstable, use it at your own risks."  here http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort .
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: viggen66 on September 23, 2016, 06:16:44 AM
I have both Zen X-FI and Zen, I have installed Rockbox on both devices, but is better to use the Zen instead of the X-FI in the meanwhile, I guess Zen is stable and X-FI is not.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on September 23, 2016, 06:21:36 AM
> I guess Zen is stable

The last build I tried was unstable.  About one in five RB start-ups fails with a BSoD, requiring reset. And sometimes plugging USB causes BSoD.

I haven't seen mention of a subsequent update fixing this.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on September 23, 2016, 06:34:21 AM
Hi,
we are going to do a release and I decided to make the X-Fi stable because I didn't hear any recent complain about its stability. In particular I tought the lcd issue was fixed on the X-Fi (apparently not). I know the LCD problem persist on the Zen which I was I kept it in unstable.

@RufusA: on the black screen issue: does it only happen when booting or also sometimes when backlight is turning on and off? I will post a RC bootloader in this thread tonight. If you report that the lcd still has issues, I will downgrade the X-Fi to unstable.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on September 23, 2016, 07:32:55 AM
> we are going to do a release and I decided to make the X-Fi stable

How did you make the X-Fi release stable? Or do you mean you just added label "stable" to the existing version?

> because I didn't hear any recent complain about its stability

Absence of recent complaint doesn't make it stable.

I reported it unstable on the last build I tested, and I don't see any fixes since.

So I didn't repeat my report. The mods here get shirty about repeated complaints.

> In particular I tought the lcd issue was fixed on the X-Fi (apparently not).

If there has been any attempted fix, please say and I will test.

I don't mean to criticise your work. Thanks for your great work here.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on September 23, 2016, 07:46:58 AM
Hi,
your last comment was 2 years ago. I just made the move and waited to see if people complain (which works pretty well).
So it's a good thing you stepped in ;) There were many attempts to fix ZEN lcd and they share a lot of code. I think so
people reported success on the X-Fi at the time.
Anyway, I stick to what I said: I will post a RC bootloader tonight so you can test it and make a decision.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: RufusA on September 23, 2016, 11:14:50 AM
@RufusA: on the black screen issue: does it only happen when booting or also sometimes when backlight is turning on and off?
To date I've only encountered it when booting, never after unlocking, but have only been using the device in earnest for a week.
For example this morning it took 6 attempts to boot before it successfully launched Rockbox (although this is unusual, normally 1 in 3 attempts fail).
Most failures are a black screen after the creative logo has flashed on the screen for the 2nd time. When showing the black screen, the power led is lit green, but the menu and power slider are unresponsive and the only option is the reset button.
The other failure is a white screen immediately after the loading firmware... executing message appears on the screen - again reset of player needed.

I will post a RC bootloader in this thread tonight. If you report that the lcd still has issues, I will downgrade the X-Fi to unstable.
I'll give this bootloader a try after posting. I'll also try and see if there is any pattern in the boot failures.

Thanks again for all your assistance.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on September 23, 2016, 05:10:11 PM
Hi again,
here is the linked to the prebuilt bootloader. It is version V1_RC:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjqfmgsg6w6014k/firmware_zenxfi_v1rc.nk?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjqfmgsg6w6014k/firmware_zenxfi_v1rc.nk?dl=0)
To install it, follow the instruction from the wiki:
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort#Manual_method (http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort#Manual_method)
in a nutshell: enter recovery mode, reload firmware, plug device, use sendfirm to send the new firmware

As a side note, I tortured my ZEN X-Fi by rebooting many many times and I was indeed able to have a black screen on boot after 20 attempts or so. So the problem might still be there.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: RufusA on September 24, 2016, 04:43:59 PM
Hi Amaury,

Thanks again, I tried this V1_RC bootloader and it seems on my limited test much more stable.
On a similar torture of my X-FI I managed 4 failed boots out of 20, with equal black and white screens. I'm more than happy to live with this 8)

I'll report back in weeks time when I've given it some real world usage tests...

I may also look out for another X-FI just in case it's symptomatic of a latent hardware fault in mine!

Rufus.

Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on December 12, 2016, 05:51:18 AM
Hi all,
I manage to reproduce the LCD problem on my ZEN X-Fi and traced it back to a hardware bug. I have implement a tentative workaround in
http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/1428/ (http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/1428/)
which completely solves the problem on my device. I'd like to get the feedback of more testers. Here are builds with the patch, note that you need to install a new bootloader because this is where the problem usually happens. As usual follow the instruction from https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort (https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort): download the firmware_zenxfi_lcd.nk file and upload it using sendfirm.
NOTE: for size reasons, the bootloader is singleboot (ie you can't boot the OF), this should not be a problem since you can't really dualboot unless you reformat anyway.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: RufusA on December 14, 2016, 12:29:36 PM
I've already posted in the Zen thread, but a resounding success with this latest bootloader for me - no boot hangs since installing!

Very happy!

Thanks for all you work Amaury.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: humei8 on March 15, 2017, 06:50:27 PM
Hi. If any one runs into error when trying to sendfirm to x fi in recovery mode under Windows 10, it is because of MTP driver issue. The solution is:

(1) Go to C:\Windows\INF
(2) Type "wpdmtp.inf" in search bar provided to the right of the address bar in Windows 10.
(3) Once you found it, just right click on it and select install. It will take a very few seconds.
(4) Connect your device to the pc.

Done.
After such procedure, the x fi will immediately be recognised. Then you can proceed with the steps listed out in the zen thread.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: schpeltiger on July 14, 2017, 05:03:29 AM
I followed all of the steps for installing the Rockbox bootloader on my X-Fi and seemingly nothing happened, and now the X-Fi just loads into recovery with a firmware error.  The official firmware installer doesn't even detect that the X-Fi is connected, but Windows sees it just fine.  I wouldn't say it's completely bricked, but what can I do at this point?
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: pamaury on July 14, 2017, 08:44:54 AM
Hi, are you sure you uploaded the ZEN X-Fi firmware (and not the ZEN firmware for example?). If it indicates a firmware error, it suggest that either you uploaded the wrong file or the file was corrupted. If you want to reinstall the OF, select "Reload firmware", then the official installer should detect it.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: schpeltiger on July 14, 2017, 07:26:01 PM
It was the prebuilt bootloader image provided on the Zen X-Fi port page.  I seemingly didn't have any issues pushing the firmware, but nothing changed on the device itself aside from getting the previously mentioned firmware error.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: RufusA on July 17, 2017, 10:48:20 AM
I'm only suggesting this because I made this mistake when I first tried,

When you downloaded the pre-build image did you simply right click and save-as, or click on the the link which takes you to a dropbox page where you can download the actual file.

The file firmware-zenxfi.nk should be around 27MB if it's only a few hundred KB, then you may have downloaded the dropbox html page, rather than the actual file.

Rufus.

Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: schpeltiger on July 17, 2017, 01:14:11 PM
I have the 27MB firmware-zenxfi.nk file.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: Gyuritzy on July 23, 2018, 03:16:36 AM
Dear Community,
I need your help.
I have tried some time ago to install Rockbox on my mp3 Player (Creative ZEN X-Fi). at some point I have restarted the mp3 player, perhaps in the middle of the firmware update or something... I can't tell exactly any more. :-(
Right now I at this point:
the player does not start, Windows recognizes the player only as HID device.
I have found on the Internet a tool sbloader which "pamaury" has compiled (many thanks to him) and I am sending with this tool the file ZENXFI_PCFW_l22_1_04_08e_rk_fresc.nk to the Player. This is the only way to wake it up.
Then I wait for it to start (it only enters in recovery mode). Then I do a update Firmware on the mp3 player - which should erase the Firmware (it gives an error message at the end: "Media problem").
after that I try to send the OF (ZENXFI_PCFW_l22_1_04_08e_rk.nk)  to the Player with sendfirm (I also tried it under Linux - sendfirm32).
with the following results:
1. mostly I get an error message - not possible
2. under Linux I get a black Screen at the beginning and then some error Messages - the player does not react in any way...
The creative tool detects the firmware version tries to update but it gives an error message "Firmware update failed".
Thanks!
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on September 05, 2019, 06:10:49 PM
Can anyone clarify the status of this port?

Stable, says https://www.rockbox.org/
Unstable, says https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: Bilgus on September 05, 2019, 07:20:15 PM
the wiki has an edit data of 11 Nov 2013

https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/MajorChanges
2016-09-21: Promote ZEN X-Fi to stable

So I'd say someone forgot to update the wiki
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: chrisjj on September 06, 2019, 04:41:39 AM
If anyone knows what improvements were made to the port to justify the 2016 change to Stable, it would be great if they could update the feature status table https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENXFiPort accordingly.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: schpeltiger on August 10, 2021, 11:20:42 PM
Hi again,
here is the linked to the prebuilt bootloader. It is version V1_RC:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjqfmgsg6w6014k/firmware_zenxfi_v1rc.nk?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjqfmgsg6w6014k/firmware_zenxfi_v1rc.nk?dl=0)
To install it, follow the instruction from the wiki:
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort#Manual_method (http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CreativeZENPort#Manual_method)
in a nutshell: enter recovery mode, reload firmware, plug device, use sendfirm to send the new firmware

As a side note, I tortured my ZEN X-Fi by rebooting many many times and I was indeed able to have a black screen on boot after 20 attempts or so. So the problem might still be there.

I apologize for resurrecting a dead thread, but after years of having what I thought was a bricked X-Fi, I managed to get this specific bootloader to work! I had to utilize the Linux sendfirm tools since sendfirm.exe didn't want to work with Windows 10, but I'm currently uploading music to the device to test it. I just want to give others hope that this does work.
Title: Re: Creative ZEN X-Fi
Post by: Quirby64 on May 01, 2022, 02:44:17 PM
Hi schpeltiger! On the off chance you can see this - is there any way you could contact me on helping make this work on mine? I bought one recently after rediscovering Rockbox and wanting a player I could have some fun with, if you can let me know! Thank you.

UPDATE, especially in the event anyone else may be able to help!: I decided to make a USB Linux Stick to try out sendfirm there - I got a little farther but still wasn't able to send the bootloader.

./sendfirm64 firmware_zen_xfi_v1rc.nk
libmtp version 1.1.3

Device 0 (VID=041e and PID=4162) is a Creative ZEN X-Fi.
error returned by libusb_claim_interface() = -6LIBMTP PANIC: Unable to initialize device
No devices.


Thank you to anyone who may know how to help!