MediaDirect Resintallation CD for E1705?

[Protean]

I followed exact steps that someone posted on notebookforums on their dell forums and found that it worked. The problems listed in this thread deal with people that have deleted the first partition. When you prepare to reinstall XP you will find 3 partitions, the first will be about 40MB, the next will depend on the size of your harddive, and the last appears to be dell's system restore. When you are deleting partitions just remember to keep the first one intact. Once you have followed through with all of the steps (xp stuff/drivers), burn the image of the mediadirect repair Here and then when you're ready for a go, place the CD into the laptop and boot directly from the CD, via F12. Then just follow the instructions that were given in the file that you originally downloaded and it should work. Thank jhagg on those forums for the initial guide.

[Butterfingers]

Thanks All,

SO let me confirm.....

There is now no need to allocate 1032 MB of unpartitioned space for the MediaDirect anymore?

When I recieve my e1705 Laptop I should see several partitions, the first partition should be 8MB which I should not delete. I than should go ahead and delete all remaining partitions and recreate one single large partition since I am interested in a single partition systen.

I should not require the re-install MediaDirect CD, since I did not delete the 8MB partition but only need the MediaDirect Repair utility CD? Once I have reinstalled XP Pro OS, and all other drivers, than I should place repair utility CD into Drive and boot up via utility CD via F12 and execute repair?

Is this correct?

I will probably check out the partitions once I get the Laptop tomorrow and write back here to print out what I see before proceeding. I want also to confirm what Cds were given to me.

Thanks for all your responses!

[Amber]

You shouldn't have to create any partitions and go thru the method.

It is either 8mb or 40mb. I've heard different specs. It should be the smallest partition that you have.

If you tell us which ones you have, we could give you more informaiton. Its hard for me to tell since i don't have an 9400 to test this on.

[Butterfingers]

Thanks for the fast response SouthernGirl,

I will post the various partitions on my laptop when I get it.

With quite a number of methods to get the MediaDirect reinstalled again, it would be nice to have a direct how to guide that would settle this issue once and for all!....

But I want to say what a great informative crowd we have here!

[Amber]

LOL, yeah I agree. We might need to get a reinstall guide for MediaDirect.

I'm hoping this was just a unfortunate event that happened with the new users of E1705. Nobody could have known about this issue until someone formatted it. Hopefully, if we figure out which partition it is, i'll update the guide for it, and nobody else will have this problem.

[robjbw]

Hi all. Okay, according to the guide MediaDirect Resintallation CD for E1705? , the mediadirect while pc is off works after following the guide. But you cannot search your c: drive for pictures or videos. If you attache an external USB drive, it will work properly. It will show the external drive folders etc... But again, the laptop hardrive, cannot be accessed. I guess it has something to do the way we reinstalled the MediaDirect software and used the MediaDirect repair cd to repair the way it read the hardrive. I hope someone will figure this out.

[Amber]

well that is one way to do it. I've seen other guides on dell's forums and NBF which has it much simplier. I just don't know if that will work or not.

Like I said, it is really hard for me to say which is better since I don't have the E1705 and can't really test it.

[Garbuckle]

Ummm, sorry to chime in like this, but that 8MB partition means absolutely nothing. You will ALWAYS have 8MB left over regardless of what computer (desktop/laptop/manufacturer) you use. This is due to how windows creates partitions. Even if you have only one partition for the entire drive, there will still be 8MB of unused space left over.

Just wanted to clear that up, as we already have enough confusion about all the different partitions...

[DonnaB]

Ummm, sorry to chime in like this, but that 8MB partition means absolutely nothing. You will ALWAYS have 8MB left over regardless of what computer (desktop/laptop/manufacturer) you use. This is due to how windows creates partitions. Even if you have only one partition for the entire drive, there will still be 8MB of unused space left over.

Just wanted to clear that up, as we already have enough confusion about all the different partitions...

Right. I also posted same information that MediaDirect is installed by default in the PC Restore by Symantec partition. Not in the 8MB or 7.8MB partition

I wrote it in this very topic, page #2, post #29
MediaDirect Resintallation CD for E1705?
Also in Reformat info for E1705 post #17

The Unpartitioned space 8MB is not for MediaDirect. It was not created by Dell. It was created by Windows XP CD when the partitions were made :P
It is created in order to allow Windows to convert basic disks into dynamic disk. More info on this here

E:Partition3 [FAT32] 4754MB <954MB Free> - this is the Dell PC Restore by Symantec. The Dell MediaDirect drivers is on it too. This hidden partition is booted using Dell MBR. Deleting this partition will affect 2 things:
1. Ctrl and F11 to restore to factory setting
2. MediaDirect button while notebook is off

-: Partition1 [FAT] 47MB <39MB Free> - this is the Dell Utility Partition and it is booted using Dell BIOS (not by Dell MBR). It means, if you will delete the hidden partition for PC Restore by Symantec, the Dell Diagnostic Utility will still work and unaffected.

If you will install PartitionMagic by Symantec, it will allow you to browse the partition1 but will not allow you browse the partition3

[DonnaB]

Hi all. Okay, according to the guide MediaDirect Resintallation CD for E1705? , the mediadirect while pc is off works after following the guide. But you cannot search your c: drive for pictures or videos. If you attache an external USB drive, it will work properly. It will show the external drive folders etc... But again, the laptop hardrive, cannot be accessed. I guess it has something to do the way we reinstalled the MediaDirect software and used the MediaDirect repair cd to repair the way it read the hardrive. I hope someone will figure this out.

I have 2 MediaDirect system here.
1 is out-of-the box (no changes on partition nor files)
1 is clean-installed XP then I reinstalled MediaDirect
Both can access the media files (video, pictures, music) that is stored in local disk and in cd drive without attaching external drive if you launched MediaDirect while notebook is off.

Do you have problem accessing your media files?
If so, try to repair the MediaDirect using the repair utility