A FEW WORDS OF CAUTION:
IF YOU STILL HAVE WARRANTY,DON'T FOLLOW THIS ADVISE, JUST CALL CREATIVE INSTEAD.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RULED OUT ALL SOFTWARE PROBLEMS!!! Google "creative zen whitescreen of death" for all the possible software related causes.
IF THERE IS AN ELECTRONIC REPAIR PLACE CLOSE TO YOU, PLEASE TAKE IT TO THEM!!!!
Assuming you have no warranty and you have thoroughly ruled out software as the source of problem and there are no electronic repair shops to take your player to, it means you have nothing to loose so follow me to the dark-side.
Tools I used
As you can see, that knife is hideous. If you have a small pocket knife then use that. You need to be very gentle with the player, the electronics components are quite sensitive so any rough attempt to open it would mostly likely leave it totally dead! Basically just use the knife to crack open the player, there are no screws holding the player together, it is just clue and a few hooks. Mainly pay attention to the side that has the power switch and earphone jack, pull that part apart and the whole player should open.
What you'll see when you open it:
The red arrow points to the source of your problems. Basically all the circuitry that connects the LCD to the rest of the player is held together there. Merely pushing that strip inwards is likely to solve your problem!!! Play with it and you'll see the effect, it wont bite!!
Different perspective views of that strip:
Try to tuck the strip into the opening between the player case and the electronics, it should fit in there nicely, afterwards maybe use crazy glue to make sure it never comes off again. Be careful with the clue otherwise you might destroy conductivity and kill the player!
POST-HACKING-TRAUMA-DISORDER!!!!!
Somehow I managed to screw up the power switch while opening the player, essentially I might have created an open-circuit somewhere in the power trigger, so now I can only start my player by hot-wiring!!!! That means I have to connect the USB connection to a power source (laptop or wall jack). My player can switch off fine, just wont turn on without closing the circuit with a power source.
Power switch:
The red arrow points to the power switch, it is spring-loaded, becareful with it.
End result:
I will be using this puppy for many more years to come!
