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    E1505 MediaDirect Repair/Reinstall

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Olav the Viking, Jul 7, 2007.

  1. Olav the Viking

    Olav the Viking Newbie

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    I have upgraded a new (March 2007) E1505 from Vista to XP Pro. Two times, VISTA stopped working for various reasons soon after Microsoft updates were installed, and I wasted too much time screwing around with it. It is an immature product, life is too short, and XP has worked fine for our family in 3 other PCs. When I installed XP pro on the E1505, I DID NOT repartition the 160GB Hard Drive, I only let the Windows XP install program reformat the existing C: partition for the OS. I left all of the other partitions alone - maybe I will get Norton Ghost in order to save my XP image to the partition that VISTA used for its factory restore image. This is what the hard drive looks like now (Data from Western Digital Lifeguard Tools):


    MBR Partition Table:
    - Type - Bootable --- Size --- Description
    222(DEh) . . NO . .. . . 57 MB Dell Utility Partition (FAT16)
    NTFS . . . . NO . . . 10738 MB RECOVERY (D:)
    NTFS . . .. YES . .. 147106 MB 160GB Drive (C:) Windows OS
    221(DDh) . . NO . .. . 2146 MB MEDIADIRECT (FAT32)

    When XP is running, if I press the MediaDirect Button, I get this:
    "Unable to launch Dell Media Experience. Please install the software and try again." If the PC is off and I press the Media Direct Button, it appears to start up, (a video page appears), but nothing ever happens such as a menu, etc.

    The Application CD for Media Direct 3 sent with the original VISTA system was P/N UP137 Rev A00. I see that since that time, there is an urgent update, R157499.exe, Rev A05, shown on my Dell XP downloads page that should be installed to fix MD 3.0. My questions:

    1) Is this CD the correct one to use/should I/do I need to use it, or will running R157499.exe do it all for me?
    2) What is the best way/order of installation for me to follow in order to restore full functionality to MD?
    3) Is the newest Dell Media Direct Repair Utility (R121517.exe) even needed in my case since my MEDIADIRECT partition hasn't been touched?
    4) Can this reinstall/fix be done without destroying my Win XP installation?
     
    Olav the Viking, Jul 7, 2007
    #1