My Zune HD died on me

Yesterday, I was playing around with my Zune HD when it suddenly just shut down itself. Blank Screen. No response on the buttons. In other words, it seemed like I have a bricked Zune HD in my hand. Without me doing anything really that strenuous and stupid to brick it.

So I tried unplugging and plugging it again on my usb port, the computer detected it basing from the notify sound when you plug in a device. But still no response from the device. It was not a battery issue as I had it full and plugged-in when it died on me. I then tried plugging it on a direct AC socket using the Zune Adapter I got from the Zune AV Dock  thinking it may have more kick to it coming directly from a power brick. Still nothing.

Full story after the jump.

I was beginning to feel frustrated that I will have to send this back to the US for warranty. But how? The Zune website does not have any email address to contact support. They only provide telephone numbers that was meant to be called by US residents. I know the Zune HD isn’t supported right now, but I was crossing my fingers and thinking maybe..maybe they will honor the warranty and stuff because of the recently Zune-like Windows Phone 7 Series launching international.

I then decided to leave it plugged in the usb port overnight and maybe tomorrow it would work. But before really going to bed (or before closing my eyes) I decided to try one more time and held the dead zune on my hand as I pressed all the buttons frantically. I concentrated on pushing the top ON/OFF button repeatedly and whispered a small prayer hoping it would turn on.

Then I saw the Zune logo lit up the dark screen.  (reeally big smile)

Next was the vertical bar with the zune gradient. Then the menu. Everything was back to normal again. (prayers are really powerful no?)

I really don’t know why it died but it did. If I hadn’t tried pushing the buttons wildly maybe I would have never known that it still would work. Maybe some Zune HD owners out there had the same issue and never did do anything and just sent it in for repairs or even sold it as a defective product.

Maybe some of you already encountered this. This may be a serious bug. Knowing the right buttons to press may make a big difference. :)

Lesson learned:

1. Prayers even whispered are heard.
2. Before selling and returning a seemingly dead item. Try doing something wild and weird to it. (bordering to the blowing of old nes cartridges) You won’t lose anything anyway and besides it just might work.