Creative Zen Style M300: can't use all "buttons", can't reset, can't flash

I've got this old Creative Zen Style M300 that doesn't work as it should. It gets recognized by Windows 10 and I can copy files to it, but I'm not able to play the music because only the left and right touch "buttons" work, not the up and down or the menu button. I've tried resetting it. I could feel the reset button move, but nothing seems to have changed and even the music I copied to it was still there. I've tried to update the firmware on it but the firmware updater can't find it, even though Windows finds it. Is there any hope for it, or should I just throw it away?

Edited by MoxieMomma, 06 November 2023 - 04:30 PM.

Hello and welcome to BC:

Thats a very old device.
It may well be a driver and/or firmware compatibility issue.

Just to clarify:

Are you trying to play music from the device (via USB?) on your Windows 10 PC?

Or are you just trying to use the M300 on its own, without a computer?

Have you seen this?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/using-a-creative-zen-x-fi-with-windows-10/93bf8e36-c696-4d52-8629-f0820847e3a8

Thanks

Edited for typo correction

Old? It's my newest mp3 player. I also have a MuVo with 1 GB that I use in the gym. It contains rock music that might induce speeding if I use it in the car, which is where I intended to use this mp3 player. I've run out of empty CDRs to copy my original CDs to, and no one sells CDRs anymore. I don't want to use my original CDs, as they get scratched in the slot-in player in the car.

I was trying to use the mp3 player on its own. I only connected it to the computer to transfer music to it and to try to flash it after I found out it wasn't working.

Unlike for the X-Fi, there are no software, apart from a video transcoder, on Creatives page for the Zen Style M series.

Using compatibility mode I was able to flash the unit to the most recent firmware. Unfortunately this didn't change its behavior. Is it possible that 3 of the 5 touch "buttons" are worn out?