How do I completely remove MediaDirect from my 1420?

I installed XP on my 1420, during the formatting screen, I deleted every partition that was on the screen, there was MediaDirect partition for sure, and I deleted it.. However I can still hit the MediaDirect button and it begins to load up MediaDirect but then fails saying "It cannot read files from your operating system" or something then prompts me to exit.

So it's apparent there's remenants of MediaDirect still on my system, how can I *really* remove it so that if I hit the mediadirect button, it will just load the main OS just like the power button. I want my 2gig back or whatever it's hogging up, I don't want it, I don't need it.

Jay

 

Bump, this is really bothering me.

 

maybe goto programs and uninstall Media Direct?

 

You misunderstand the problem.

The issue is pressing the Media Direct button while the machine is OFF, causing the laptop to turn on and attempt to boot into the MD partition (which doesn't exist). This has nothing to do with Windows, not to mention the fact that no Media Direct software is actually installed when you put XP on .. so there's nothing to "uninstall" even if you tried.

I too would like to know a solution to this problem, as it messes with my partitions if I accidentally hit the button.

 

Which is why most people leave Mediadirect in. You get a button of death

 

Never got that on my 1420 when I blasted away all partitions and installed Windows XP/Vista.

I subsequently restored the Media Direct partition and Diagnostics partition along with the dual boot capability just for kicks

-LQ

 

No, there's gotta still be a partition somewhere on the harddrive if it's able to load into MediaDirect still.. It's like a mini version of XP loading up.. so I just need to figure out how to get rid of it.

 

there should be 4 partitions on your harddrive.

1. diagnostic partition
2. windows partition
3. media direct partition
4. backup recovery partition

 

Is this from the laptop being off or in windows?

If it is from the laptop off, I believe that the MediaDirect boot is probably built right into the BIOS. I know its still there on mine and I don't see how to get rid of it. I actually like having it there, because on my computer I have Kubuntu installed and when I press that button it skips the Dell loading screen and boots right into GRUB, so it saves some seconds booting up.

 

When the laptop is off, and I press the MediaDirect button, the MediaDirect screen pops up and starts to load.. I can't see all that data being stored in the BIOS.. it's loading some kind of OS of it's own.. It's gotta be taking up room somewhere.

And OCBaud, I deleted all the partitions you stated.

 

It's contained in a hidden partition; you will need to unlock it. Go here for more information.

 

The article proved my theory correct about Dell having some kind of hidden partition (HPA) on the harddrive. But the article unfortunately doesn't tell you how to remove it. It just explains how it works and how you can repair it if you get another harddrive.

 

If you are dead set on removing the partition, there are lots of partition utilities out there that can do the job. I personally use the commercial Acronis Disk Director.

Once you blast away the undesired partitions, you will want to resize others to utilize the newly created space.

Note: Before ever attempting partition manipulation, ALWAYS back up your system and plan for things to take twice as long as you expected. Plan for the worse and hope for the best.

-LQ

 

I don't care about the current OS on the system.. I actually already installed Partition Magic (newest version) and it didn't see anything else other than my C drive partition. yet MediaDirect is still on the system. Partition Magic might not be a good utility anymore though, so i'll try the one you recommended.

 

If anybody is interested in why i'm so adamant on removing it.. is the simple fact I paid for a 160gb harddrive, not a 158gig. If I could save money with Dell by ordering the laptop with no OS on the harddrive, I would have done that as well. A modified XP Pro OS can boot a lot faster than MediaDirect.. I can launch VLC Media player much faster than MediaDirect can load a dvd in the drive.

Jay

 

2/160 * 100 = 1.25% of your HD.

The perception may be worse than the reality.

BTW, restoring the diagnostic and MediaDirect partitions is alot more destructive than trying to delete them

-LQ

 

Well in my case, they will never be restored I just want a super clean, single partition harddrive in my 1420. I can't believe Dell would force this upon customers. If I had known it would take 50 steps to unhide/remove the HPA partition, I probably wouldn't have gotten a Dell. I'll try what I can later though.

 

I don't think Dell's current (new) laptops have a HPA partition. Read here:

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista.htm

I still believe the MediaDirect splashscreen and other stuff is packed into the BIOS (or something similar). If there were another hidden partition then that'd make 2 MediaDirect partitions in total (one visible, one hidden) .. which is silly.

 

Well I was also unsure if the new Dell Laptops didn't use HPA like the older ones did. Well I could see the Splashscreen being stored in the Bios.. that's fine, but what is it actually loading? It's loading for a while and chugging the harddrive during the process, so it seems it knows what to load from my harddrive (fresh XP install). Thats why I still there's something on there, unless it's trying to load my XP installation someway or another.

 

Will a 160gig drive show 149gig total under properties in windows? If so, then I guess I already got rid of everything I can.

 

Yep, it seems 149gig is the formatted capacity of a 160gig harddrive. So it looks like I did actually wipe off any Dell partitions taking up space from the get-go. However, I was hoping that when the MediaDirect button was pressed, it would just boot into Windows like normal instead of the bios trying to "find" the MediaDirect partition. Any suggestions? Or will I just have to avoid hitting the button?

 

From the dell rep i talked to: if you want to remove the media direct software, the best option is to use the system recovery disk and destroy everything on the hard drive (make the whole thing RAW) and then reinstall the OS on that.

beware, the media direct button will still try to load something. if you want that to be fixed, theres some heavy tinkering involved that i havent gotten around to yet. i know it is possible to set it to load linux with media direct button and windows with the actual power button, but i dont know how. i also know you can program it to be a secondary power button too, but again, i havent delved into this yet.

the media direct button is part of the bios, just like your power button. you would need to tinker with that if you want to do anything. i recommend linux to edit it. i dont think it is even possible in windows, because only linux lets you get that deep into a computer's programming. a true masochist's operating system lol. (yeah i have to install it eventually too).

 

Haven't tried it... Try it at your own risk...

Change the Dell Media Direct button

http://forums.techguy.org/tech-tips-tricks/540776-change-dell-media-direct-button.html

Using google and searching for the following might give other options:
"change media direct button"

-LQ

 

Yeah not useful unfortunately. Your link points to changing the behaviour of the MediaDirect button while booted into Windows. We're talking about when the machine is off .. so no amount of Windows software will help.

The real solution to getting the button to do nothing as far as I know is to restore the MediaDirect MBR and configure it to boot off specific partitions with the rmbr.exe utility. In this case it'd just be telling it to boot off the regular Windows partition in both cases.

Some hints on how:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3113451&postcount=8
http://www.notebookforums.com/post2010767-112.html

 

Eh screw it.. I just won't press the mediadirect button.. ever again.. Not worth my time trying to get it to be useful.

 

i know this may sound weird...but this is why I don't like media buttons on laptops...

 

I Came upon this thread while searching for a way to remove Media Direct from my new 1720. I've had nothing but problems with Media Direct since first firing up my machine, and I now see it's not even worth the hassle of removing it. Sad really, I was hoping to get my 2Gb of storage back.

Does Dell provide the option of not having MD installed on new machines?

 

That is quite weird. I own a Dell and when I wiped it clean, mediadirect went with it. When I press the MediaDirect button, nothing happens. Sorry to say, but I'm glad that didn't happen to me. I hope you resolve this problem later on.