Jan 01 2009
Microsoft Says Zune Glitch Caused by Leap Year Clock Bug
Microsoft Corp. said a glitch that apparently disabled thousands of its Zune personal music players was caused by a bug in the device’s internal clock driver.
On Wednesday, Zune owners flooded blogs and Internet chat sites to complain they couldn’t listen to music on the 30-gigabyte version of the Zune, an early version of the device, because it wouldn’t start up properly. The postings noted that the players got stuck with the Zune logo screen and were unresponsive.
View Full Image
Getty Images
A 30-gigabyte Zune music player shown in brown, black and white
Microsoft initially acknowledged there was a problem with some Zunes and told customers it was working to address it. Later, the company said engineers had identified that the cause of the problem was an issue relating to the way the device handles a leap year.
The issue relates to a part of the Zune hardware, and only affects the 30Gb Zunes, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
The issue should resolve itself as the device moves to Jan. 1, and should automatically reset by noon GMT Thursday. Microsoft advised customers to let the battery run down on the devices before recharging and restarting.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said even those Zunes no longer covered by warranty should be able to be reset.
Zune Pass subscribers should synch the device to their PCs, the company added.
The 30-gigabyte model, released in November 2006, was the first Zune player from Microsoft, which wanted to challenge Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPod players. Microsoft said it had sold more than 1.2 million of the units when it released updated models the following holiday season.
Read the rest at-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123074469238845927.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop
