Microsoft Zune 80GB - bringing it back to life.

[@VerifiedYTadmin]

Dude, you just gave me the guide I need to bring back my zune that I had back in high school. Thank you!

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@adamthetweet awesome! good luck! It's not hard, just don't be in a rush when you do it.

[@jamesblount5880]

I'm gone try to do it myself send the link to get the tool set

[@DanAmrich]

Just wanted to thank you for this very clear walk-through. A friend gave me this model because he didn’t want to throw it away but said it didn’t work. Your instructions were perfect and even though I’m not particularly good at precision soldering, I was able to bring this unit back to life. Thank you so much for taking the time to build instructions for everyone else!

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Glad you found it useful! Thanks for the feedback, hopefully you get many more years of use out of yours.

[@n10ask]

Awesome man. I was looking at upgrading my 80gb with the Kingspec SSD, so this video is the perfect guide to follow!

[@hectikdeleon9933]

Just got a zune hd and it brings back memories… it used to feel good that if it broke, you were able to fix it quite easily… I’ve always loved the interface on the zune… it was such a special player…👍👍👍

[@J2digital]

My wife's Zune 120 is having a hard time charging so this is a great guide just in case I need it! Thanks!

[@hm5960]

Thank you so much! I didn't need satellite radio with my Zune, and I thought those days were over. Happy days are here again!

[@adriansaninja]

thank you sooooooo frikin much for this, theres so much music you cant find anymore that I know I have on a busted zune of mine

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

adriansaninja glad you like it! Good luck restoring yours! 🙂

[@forzaholic2000]

@@MakeFixUpgrade question how can I know what's wrong with mine, if it's battery or hard drive.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@ACHILLES REIGNS I just plugged mine in and left it overnight. If I had no response the next I figured it was a battery. With a new battery I plugged it in again to charge and tested again. If the hard drive is bad you'll get get info on the screen but the device won't boot into it's normal menus.

[@cjsfriend2]

Great video! I may end up rescuing a couple Zunes yet!

[@JeremyYost]

I love my Zune HD with OLED screen and still use it daily.

[@jesustorres1543]

Thanks a lot your step by step video really helped me out and my zune seems to be working again

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Awesome! Glad to help! 🙂

[@keithsmith6356]

I put in a new battery and at first the Zune said error 5 I reset it a few times and now it says please wait with a code 3 what does that mean?

[@stevesibaja3123]

The Zune 80gb MP3 Player still works in 2022

[@keithsmith6356]

Outstanding video can you cut the battery wires in the middle instead of saudering?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

You can if you insulate the splice. I’d use the appropriate size heat shrink for the splice. I’d also solder the splice for the best connection, soldering irons are cheap.

[@keithsmith6356]

@@MakeFixUpgrade yes I have one but I’m not good at it. Just waiting on the battery to arrive. Also my zune does not have screws on the silver cover just a plastic piece that can’t be removed. It’s also a very mint red 120

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

If you have some scrap wire or old cords you can cut up and practice with it may help. Also a set of “helping hands” are useful to hold the parts being soldered. I usually twist the wires together end to end then put the iron under the wires to heat them and touch the solder to the iron and wires. You’ll see the solder flow into the wires. Just takes a little practice and patience. No one is immediately good at it. If you’re using heat shrink don’t forget to put it on the wires and slide it as far away from the heat source as you can. Once the soldered joint has cooled slide the heat shrink tubing over the joint and apply heat to make it shrink over the joint.

[@matthewferringer48]

I had two Zunes, and 80gh and a 120gb. Would love to find someone to fix them and install a 256 or 512gb micro SD card. Since those don't work anymore, I use a 160gb iPod and the Zune is way better.

[@blackrottweiler8885]

Man, please tell me you'll do these for people who can't. I have a Gears of War Zune edition sitting here not working and really want it to get back up to code. I don't have the tech knowledge or sturdy hands to do it.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I haven't been so far. It's not a primary thing for me at the moment with everything else I have going on. I need to setup a page on my website to make it easy though. I've had a number of people ask about it.

[@IIGrayfoxII]

What do the white and blue wires do? My Zunes battery is not charging and since I live in Australia where the zune was not sold I cant find a battery easily. When plugged in. Voltage on the black and red is around 4v. Voltage on the white to black is 1.7v Voltage on the blue to black is 1.7v

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I'm not sure what the white/blue wires do. My guess is it may be related to low power/sleep or perhaps overcharge protection circuits.

[@kntwing23]

hey i got a zune player..my charger is borken ? that means i cant plug my usb inside my charger? it wont charge my battery? what to do? i bought new battery it i open up the zune player.. i switch the battery it works for a while the new battery is on low? i want to charge it fully but cant? my problem is my zune player wont let me charge the charger inside is broken?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

It sounds like you may need a new circuit board. I bought a zune for parts and swapped the circuit board into one of mine when the charging port got wet.

[@robertmitchell9554]

My zune 30gb when plugged in it works when unplug it goes off it shows full battery but it want stay without being plugged in can you help. With suggestions

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Sounds like you need to replace the battery.

[@Shoxpyre]

It took me like 10 mins to do this, plugged it in before closing it up and I get the battery icon filled with red. Waited and nothing. No charge symbol. Restarted it, still red battery icon. Every time it gets to the home screen it says low battery at the bottom. Started to feel worried, maybe I put the wires in the wrong order, check, everything's fine, solder looks perfect. Maybe it's a bad battery? Glad I bought two after seeing how yours was packaged. Decided to plug it in disassembled one last time. Wiggle the usb port, forgot that my usb port my av dock is plugged into is finicky. Charging symbol comes on. phew. No more fat balloon battery! I've been using my zune 80 in my car since release day. Not kidding, it has never failed me and I add my updated library to it every few months. A buddy of mine has been through 3-4 7th gen ipod classics (and i like them too and agree they're arguably the best ipod) But this thing has never let me down. Even when i'm working out with the balloon battery she was still going for an hour thirty on a full charge. I baby all my stuff, I've never even broke a phone and maybe that's why it's made it so long. It has a little screen burn, looks like a rounded corner rectangle the shape of the screen only half smaller. You can notice it on light color albums or wallpaper if you really look for it no one else notices. Other than that the matte has worn off completely and it's just shiny black kind of like the 120 now. Damn thing is a fucking trooper.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Yeah they're pretty awesome! I bought mine new back when I was still rocking a flip phone. I used it for years then it ended up in a drawer and I forgot about it. Found it shortly before I made this video and thought I'd try to bring it back to life. I had a friend that had just upgraded his to a larger hard drive so I thought I'd do the same. Found the dock and the remote that came with it originally as well, it's now my office music machine.

[@Shoxpyre]

@@MakeFixUpgrade Nice! That dock is awesome, they sell them brand new in box on amazon for 9 bucks and I thought about getting another one for my car so my friends can change the music with the remote instead of pulling wires all over haha I also have a mint 120 with a dead battery but can't get it open for the life of me. The smallest bit of prying peels up the clearcoat which is unfortunate, the word was the 120 was a lot trickier to get open and they were right but I'll tackle it next. It's too bad there isn't more videos and guides out for it. Cheers man!

[@sarawilson1482]

Question: my zune lock switch came out. I need a replacement and don't know how to fix it. Do you have any ideas?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I'd look for a broken zune for parts on ebay and rob the parts I need off it.

[@frankenstein3163]

Great shear. Is there a 4 TB drive option for this ? And any idea how well it works with a 2tb random video play list ? I know most if not all Ipod classics don't have anuf ram to do this. Or know of a device that can do this for me ?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I haven’t seen a 4tb zif hard drive. If you’re wanting a video player I think most modern phones could fill that need.

[@MALi-ow4gs]

Hi sir My ZUNE 80GB doing same think on screen show me X & contact support.

[@MoarRushPl0x]

What would you have to do if the front three main buttons don't work? I would probably change batteries and would consider adding a bigger HD. That would make me so happy.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@MoarRush I’d find another used one on eBay and swap the circuit board with the buttons out into mine. Upgrading the hard drive at the same time would be trivial.

[@alagnone9200]

Hi can i buy and replace my A/C plugin on my zune?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

You should be able to. I bought a new cord for mine on Amazon.

[@myfakeguuglaccount8307]

I used guitar picks to get the two halves opened up. You actually have to dig in and down to release the clips. DO NOT USE ANY METAL TOOLS, OR YOU WILL GOUGE THE SHELL EDGES. Unfortunately, the clear coat on my black 120 is so old and brittle, the pressure caused it to flake off the edges, so I'm going to just repaint the entire shell.

[@blazemathews]

Hey mate how's the battery life after the swap. I upgraded to Kingspec SSD and hardly get 14 hours out of it on continuous playback. Battery drainage is 24 hours. (100% to 0).is it the same for you as well?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

You may have gotten a faulty battery. I haven’t run it straight for more than a few hours at a time. If I leave it without using it it’ll still have charge over a month later. I use it in my car or using the dock plugged into my speakers.

[@davidr7733]

I think it would have been easier to cut the wires near the old battery then solder the new ones on them. No need to remember colors and no need to work in the confined space. Also no need to disconnect the hard drive. Battery is right on top.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

David Rojas that's certainly one option. Doing it that way though you'd have to splice wires and put heat shrink wrap or tape on them. My preference is to take the little extra time and not have an extra splice in the wire. But yeah either way would work.

[@jho-ve-la6915]

Can u fix mine? I been thru 8 of them been rocking since 2000

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

At the moment I'm not fixing them for hire. Will let you know if this changes though.

[@Doggmatic_]

Do you do service repair? My zune hd 32gb is not charging up. Or tell me which specific battery replacement I need?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I’m not providing a service but I put a link in the video description for the battery I used. It’s available on Amazon.

[@Doggmatic_]

@@MakeFixUpgrade thanks anyway sir and for the link. One more question: would it be much trouble to switch those rings that go around the wheel button? Ex. Inserting the black 120gb ring on to the 80gb front panel.

[@AngelGonzalez-mj6qh]

I have the same red one 80 gb still working

[@antoniR160]

como consigues la batería para el zune primero ...como la batería que muestras..al principio..?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

ver el enlace en la descripción

[@Twist241]

Please tell i can get all my music and videos back if i was to do this? I had over 3,000 or 5,000 songs on here.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I was able to with mine. Once I had it powered on I was able to sync mine to my laptop and transfer my content off.

[@Twist241]

@@MakeFixUpgrade cool.....I ment like the music that I already had on the zune. The PC I had all my music in crap out. I wouldn't even know how to install that zune software onto my new laptop with out giving it any viruses.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Yeah that's what I did. I downloaded the music from my zune to my laptop. I can't remember where I got the zune installer but my laptop was running an older OS.

[@Twist241]

Do u happen to know where I can get a motherboard or so I need to get a zune?

[@American_Muscle_Truck]

Do you have a video on how to get photos off of the zoo now that the software is discontinued?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Ross O. I don’t but you can still find the software online. I downloaded it from a third party site (I googled it and found it eventually) and got it working that way.

[@codix__]

WARNING : 120 IS DIFFERENT THAN 80 Works perfectly, calm voice, it was just perfect while I was strugging myself with this !

[@hilarytan9561]

Any luck with hard drives > 120 GB?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@Hilary Tan I haven't tried any hard drives > 120GB. I've heard they don't work but I haven't verified. I've also had a harder time finding ZIF drives that are larger. There are some that are 256GB but they've all been out of stock that I've seen. If you try it let me know!

[@JDCrae]

Do you perform these repairs for money ? Can't find anyone in my area that does work to Zunes anymore and the one company in MI said 6 months at the earliest and reviews of the company have gotten really bad. Mine just needs a battery.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I'm not really setup to do it for hire now. If that changes I'll leave an update in the description.

[@EDGeProjects]

I dont know what the deal with mine is. I've got the spade tools, used mini screw drivers... I cant get that metal cover off to save my life. Im clearly damaging the case at this point but since the thing is bricked Im getting to the point of getting a big hammer to "open it up" after trying for hours. Ive literally bent the top of the case over the headphone jack and lock switch slightly trying to get the back cover off!!!!

[@EDGeProjects]

Im going to post a video of my experience here but the only thing that got the cover off the one I was fixing was the metal spudging tool. The iFixit plastic ones I've seen and bought from Amazon were worthless.

[@Aldo.flores]

Interesting zune and iPod had the same HDD drive

[@joker6374]

Awesome video, is there any way you take in requests to fix these?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Thanks! At the moment I'm not fixing them for hire. I have too many other things going on right now.

[@joker6374]

@@MakeFixUpgrade no worries i understand. If you know or could point me in a direction where i can get mines fixed would be great.

[@myfakeguuglaccount8307]

@@joker6374 RapidRepair claims to do fixes.

[@jwest31176]

Can you still get the zune program for your computer?

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

If you google something like 'zune program for windows 7' (or 10) you can still find it around the internet. I downloaded it a couple years ago and installed it on an old Windows machine that I'm using just for media. So far it's worked well for me.

[@jwest31176]

@@MakeFixUpgrade Oh ok,thank you for responding! I've looked around, but haven't been able to find it. I probably need to dig a little deeper. Would you possibly have a link? If not that's ok,I appreciate your help. 🙏🙏🙏

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

​@@jwest31176 Here's one link I found in the top 10 google results. I don't own the site and am not affiliated with it in any way. I can't guarantee that it's the authentic software and doesn't contain malware so download at your own risk. www.techspot.com/downloads/5063-microsoft-zune-software.html

[@jwest31176]

@@MakeFixUpgrade Oh cool! That's awesome, thank you so much, I'll check it out and let ya know how it goes.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@Jason Shakes West here's another link to some useful resources via reddit: www.reddit.com/r/Zune/comments/l6oc3t/new_to_zune_need_a_refresher_please_start_here/

[@donellebrown7856]

Can you fix mine? : ) Or at least tell me where I can get the battery and tools to use with my zune 80gb? I am trying to charge mine now but it will not work.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I left links in the description.

[@R2RO20]

Thanks for letting me know about the "top cover" actually being part of the case. Don't know what the hell you're working on but now I get to finally throw away my zune after cracking the LCD in an attempt to "remove" it.

[@kntwing23]

i have 1st generation zune player 30gb..white color..

[@EndoftheRd]

I found mine 120g Kind of fat and opened itself... I'd say the battery went bad... I'd like to get it fixed and get it back in service.. Is a wonderful little device...

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@EndoftheRd as long as the battery didn’t crack any circuit boards you should be able to bring it back to life. Even if it did you can salvage parts from another unit off eBay and replace them. I’ve done that before.

[@bama_buck0745]

I have the 120gb and mine won’t charge

[@Mbalabababa]

thank you so useful!

[@motorcity429]

Hmm how about just cutting snd connection new battery wires to old wires

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

I prefer soldering the wires directly to the board. Fewer chances of issues coming up.

[@holylibations]

Man I just replaced the battery, plugged in, and nothing. 😑

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

@holylibations I’d double check the wire connections, check the battery voltage, check that the charger is working then if all is good leave it plugged in for awhile. It’s also possible that you may have gotten a bad replacement battery.

[@holylibations]

@@MakeFixUpgrade I'm jo expert at soldering so it could be my wiring? I got the same battery he did. Have it on the charger right now so we'll see. Thanks!

[@cheeseandsticks]

I found a 8gb zune and a 120gb zune, 120 in my mom's drawer, 8gb in a bookshelf with my dad's stuff and my mom's books. I love looking at old technology that existed before i was even born so im excited to see what's its like. They won't turn on but i hope this video will help. I have what looks like a charger so i think I'll be fine.

[@latintiger]

to bad the software isn't Compatible with windows 10

[@Chaggy1978]

I have it working on Windows 10.

[@michaelayers9669]

I use it on Windows 10. Windows 10 breaks WiFi syncing, though. You apparently have to use the Zune software on a PC running Windows 7 for WiFi syncing to work.

[@latintiger]

@@michaelayers9669 i did try compatible mode but that doesn't work

[@michaelayers9669]

@@latintiger I'm not doing anything special (that I can recall) to run it on my Win10 PC. I just installed it and it runs. I have an HP Omen 870 desktop PC that I'm using. I guess it's possible that some PCs have a setting somewhere that keeps Zune from running. Maybe a Google search for "how to run Zune on Windows 10" or something might yield a tip about a setting that can be toggled.

[@latintiger]

@@michaelayers9669 ok thanks anyway ill keep trying

[@buickspencer02]

ok

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

yup

[@derrickrobertson3334]

Anywhere to get the software for these damn things. Apparently Microsoft are pricks. They should've open sourced all the Zune stuff.

[@MakeFixUpgrade]

Yes, the easiest way is to point resources.zune.net to zuneupdate.com's IP address in your hosts file on your pc. Then when you run the zune software on your pc, it will try to connect to resources.zune.net and be directed to that website and download the firmware update. It's easier than the route I did, which was to find/download the software and do it all locally. The hosts file on your machine should be located in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts. If you're not familiar with that file, google how to update or add entries to it. You're basically telling your local machine where to look for a website.

[@derrickrobertson3334]

@@MakeFixUpgrade excellent. I'll give it a go

[@Chaggy1978]

I found this video very helpful and it helped get my Zune firmware updated: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIm0Z5Wodsp5b6M&ab_channel=Zune