HELP 1520 only boots to Dell Media Direct!

So i have here my cousins Dell Inspiron 1520 that she received as a gift a few months ago. Last Friday when she turned it on it didn't start to Windows Vista but it went directly to the Dell Media Direct start screen. It goes black then light blue and then goes and gets gets stuck on a Media Direct screen with a clock in the middle.. I did a bios diagnostic check at start and it gave me Error Code 2000-146.

Oh and also, my cousin tried calling Dell but they said to her that her account was "frozen". Whatever that means.

I also tried to re-install with the disc it came with but the drive reads it but doesn't do anything.

Any help would be amazing, thanks!

Pics:

At boot:


Where it gets stuck:


Error Message:

 

Usually a frozen account means 'stolen' or 'did not pay for laptop.'

 

Ahh it failed the dst short test...ususally that means the mbr is messed up...which would make sense as its booting to the 2nd partition...As a fix, boot to the windows disk, and run the windows repair. This should fix the mbr...(assuming your running vista).

 

Oooh how do you boot to the windows disk? and yes it is running vista basic!

 

omg she got it from her BF i am going to ask him about this lol

 

Well, I have a problem where MD doesn't load after its splash screen - it just loads Windows. Would running the Windows repair fix this? And does the Windows repair mess with my personal data?

Oh, and iTone, the edit button at the bottom of each post allows you to change your post instead of making a new one.

 

For you you would need to reinstall media direct...but no the repair doesnt change any personal settings. Its not a restore, its a repair.

 

Hmmmm. I did install MediaDirect. It still, won't boot to it. Oh well, maybe I'll wipe the partition and use the button to boot Ubuntu.

 

If it is new why not call dell and tell them they sent you a messed up system.

 

It used to boot to MD. I don't know why it stopped. What it does exactly is load Windows, and then open MD within Windows.

 

Hi ,.. i just got my dell1525 3 days ago.. the first time I used MD button, it went to MD and played songs etc. well, No problems. But today, suddenly, the MD button loads media direct alright, but then directly starts booting Vista and then once u r into vista it opens MD !!
This is the same problem faced by pixelot I think ,, and i did not get what to do to solve the problem.. Can anyone please explain the problem and at least the solution in detail ? :newbie: !!

P.S. I tried running the setup again (from inside the media direct "Settings" tab) No use.. also, i tried putting as well as removing a password and still no help .
I tried booting with Media Direct disc, hoping there will be at least one option which helps re-installing "ONLY" the media direct, but still NO USE. It goes to the screen where u have to deal with partitions and basically, after that u need to install both MD and then naturally the O.S too ..

P.P.S. Am using Vista Home Premium.

 

I had the same and exact problem with my Inspiron 1720 a week ago before I got my 7200rpm 200GB HD. I tried using startup fix, windows restore, full system backup and even Dell Factory Image restore - And those were dead ends. Every time when I do something I see a pop up screen saying "Error" and it freezes there. I even left it on for through out the whole night and guess what... I see the restore bar still loading... loading... loading... loading... loading... Then I had a solution...

Luckily, my 200GB 7200rpm arrived on the very same day that it failed to boot. I had to manually re-install the OS entirely from scratch. I have no problems now... I predict is the clash between the OS boot up and the switching of the Drives. Before when I reformatted by drive I noticed my C:\Windows and the entire C:\ drive structure changed to F:\Windows instead. And there listed a 10GB partition called MediaDirect C:\ Drive. I guess since the BIOS is configured to read from the C: Drive so any modification to the letter might have caused its alternative booting into Mediadirect, which so happens to be changed to C: drive and does not boot alternatively from F:\ Drive.

Now, my 1720 has been running without problems - When I pressed the mediadirct button it even booted me into Windows. Yes, you heard me right... It's boots into Windows instead, and that's what I want. After re-installing the OS it booted into Vista fine and just installed the main drivers and that was it. You don't have to necessarily install Mediadirect at all. I find it really crapware... Read the Vista tweaks people.

The only problem is that the Dell factory Restore Settings are gone forever. But not a problem for me. No more mediadirect!! Boots to windows even when I press the stupid button!

And yeah, that sums my experience and thought.

I'm happy with my machine, pure, clean and free of factory preloaded Dell crapware.

 

Hey ! I appreciate your reply.. but the problem is that I actually "DO" want to keep the media direct . that saves you if ppl want to use ur system to watch movies and all and you can do that w/o letting them see ur wallpaper !.. Helps in the college hostel ..
So probably now I am stuck with two options., either i leave the system as it is (w/o media direct capability) or I use MD DVD and reformat whole thing thus losing out on Restore option (which in a way is a useless 10GB waste of space but sure saves you some time you'd invest in reinstalling Vista and its drivers, which may be a good pain in the a**.) ..
i guess i'll have to make a compromise here with MD. unless someone comes up with a soln for moi !

P.S. Does Dell not send anyone with Discs that can restore the system and also configure the RESTORE drive for us ? I mean i've paid a huge amt already for the 3yr cover !

 

Does the restore partition restore the Media Direct as well as Windows?

 

@ameya And what's wrong if you were to boot into windows to watch movies? It doesn't take you that long to boot up. I don't know, I watch movies and Simpsons all the time on Windows but if you want to install it by all means. You already know that MediaDirect is the cause of your boot up problem.

I don't know why you want to retain your mediadirect but if you read around the forums here you'll see alot of folks are actually trying to remove Mediadirect. In some extreme cases it even wipes out your data. Use the search function in the forums and you'll see. It's just my point of view though...

And yes, the restore image restores to the point your Dell is shipped from factory with drivers, and everything all preloaded even MediaDirect, which ironically, failed to restore and the Factory restore is completely corrupted too. Now that, is really a "gone case" issue.

 

well, I tried a lot to get the media direct thing working.. (and well, as for me, I just hate to see something not doing wat its supposed to do.. i get irritated just knowing that the MD button doesn't open up MD now, and thus all those queries and tryst.
ANyway, verdict is out. at least frm my side.. The restore function can not restore MD .. although the rest of it is restored completely. (just the way u saw ur m/c on day1) ..
My advice now is : Leave MD behind.. as SFOH above suggested ,, its just a waste.. but I strongly suggest all to keep the restore partition.. that taken 10GB alright.. but saves a real lot of time.restore which otherwise wud take no less than 2 hrs is done in less than 10 mins.. thats good..

 

MD doesn't get restored while using Image restore? Hmm.. I always thought it does... Anyway it's a good thing that your factory restore function is working... My factory restore got a corruption error popup, and apparently all is gone, even the 10GB partition. Lucky I backed up all my stuff before doing anything one day before the crash. I had to manually re-install Vista from scratch all over. My 1720 has currently no partition - Only C drive.

 

SOLUTION

I had this same problem with my Inspiron 1420. It just started happening out of nowhere. I contact Dell support and my laptop works fine now.

All he told me to do was power down, take off my battery, plug in my AC adapter and turn it on (still without the battery connected). This brought me to Vista.

I powered back down, reattached the battery, powered back up and I'm good to go.

Hopefully this works for everyone!

 

I would try using the program called "BootIT". It allows you to reset the MBR on the primary partition. It sounds like that is all that you would need to do. If that failed, I would try to just reformat everything and give it another go.

 

I have the same problem with Inspiron 1520 truth is Dell makes garbeg!