Just got my E1705, but several questions.

Ok, I'm reformatting my laptop according to the guide in the sticky. I prepared my discs and was going to do it. However when I click on My computer it only shows one C drive with 80GB of space. I know Dell partitioned my laptop into 3 drives. But I cannot find them. How do I find them or did Dell ship my laptop with a 80GB harddrive?

Second question. After installing Windows MCE, do I just install the drivers from the driver disk Dell shipped me?

Thank you.

 

you don't play with the partitions in windows. you do it during the install process.

 

So you ordered 100 GB drive and only see 80GB?

 

Well if you boot the Windows Disc before Windows Start Up, you can see all your partitions, delete them, and it'll become one big partition. Then all you need to do is format them, and it'll install Windows XP. OR You could use Partition Magic, Partition Magic will find the partition and make it a drive for you.

 

Ok, so I can't see the partitions unless I'm reinstalling Windows? Ok thanks.

I ordered the 100GB Drive, but my main C drive is only 80GB, can the two partition take over 20GB?

 

In a word...no

 

yes.

you lose about 4 gbs for your image restore partition.

factor in the math 1024 = 1GB, not 1000 and you get to 80.

if you had an 80 GB drive in there, it would be less than 80

 

4GB not 20GB?

 

No No No Nooo. You can use Partition Magic and It'll allow you to see and enable the partitions. Download the Free Trial of Partition Magic Here.

 

why would you do that if you're going to reformat? it's a waste of time.

 

Yes, but its an alternative to see if he really got his 100GB HD.

 

he got it. if it was an 80 gb drive, it's be a lot less than 80 gbs showing up for the same reasons i already listed.

1. image partition
2. math

 

No, I was just wondering if they installed the wrong hard drive. When I open my computer, I can only see one hard disk, the C: Drive, which is 80GB.

I don't know if it's normal that you don't see the partition. However on my desktop, I can perfectly see the 2 partition of my hard drive.

I know how the manufacturers and the marketers use different size when they refer to GBs, however even if you take that into account, the two partiton would still take over at least 10 GB.

 

Well here is a consolidated picture of why your hard drive is smaller.

1) 80GB is actually 78.125GB which is the conversion from Manufacturer (1000MB = 1GB) versus the computer (1024MB = 1GB)

2) You have about a 4GB restore partition.

3) Windows XP takes up 1560 MB...1.5GB

So you should have about 72GB left...but then Dell installs all of the bloatware and programs that you have. I have no clue how much that takes up. But that is the breakdown as far as I know.

Hope this helps.

 

So my laptop is normal and I should just go ahead and reformat?

Thanks.

 

Right click on C: drive, go to properties...

Look at capacity

I have a 60GB drive, Mine shows 55.8

 

Do what Acolyte said and make sure you have the right drive. Then do the reformat. You will should have more space than you have now considering all the extra stuff from Dell will be removed.

Hope this helps.

 

Actually now that I looked at it, it seems like my C drive is really 87GB, of which 77GB is free.

 

So then you have to have the 100GB hard drive.

 

I re-did the post from earlier on the breakdown.

 

And.... Don't forget to download and create your MediaDirect 2.0 Repair utility CD [also on the Dell download site]. If you do NOT modify the Dell Utility partition during the Windows Reinstallation, then after you get Windows running just run the MediaDirect Repair. That should get your MediaDirect button working properly again...

Don't be surprised by a Dell WARNING screen following one of your reboots during the Windows install. This is NORMAL!!!! Just let it finish.

Good Luck

Mark

 

Arg, Dell support system sucks. They shipped me the wrong CDs. First of all they did not ship all the CDs I asked for, second they got some of them wrong.

They didn't ship to me the media direct CDs or the drivers CDs. Right now I have yellow question marks all along my "Other devices" under Device Managers.

Also I can't install integrated sound blaster advance HD audio software, it says it can't find the device. huh? I thought it was just software based.

Oh and, where can I find the latest drivers for the Nvidia Go7800 GPU?

 

Sry to interrupt, but I'm gettin an e1505 and had some questions. If you delete every partition and leave the mediadirect whatever alone, you still need to repair it? Also, can I dl all the drivers from dell support, or do I have to use the cd for some of them? finally, are all the dell.com drivers the latest versions?

 

Code:

If you delete every partition and leave the mediadirect whatever alone, you still need to repair it?

The media direct is one of the partition, so if you delete all the partitions, you would delete media direct, if that happens you can't repair it.

However I think you can reinstall it from the CD, but don't take my word for it, I'm not too sure.

 

Here's a thread that might answer some of your questions wrt MediaDirect 2.0 ....

hth

Mark

 

How long on average does it take the Dell support to answer emails? I sent them an email yesterday afternoon but haven't receieve an respond yet.

 

I'd say at least 2 days

 

They didn't send me the MediaDirect and Drivers CD. So now my laptop has no sound and won't play DVD.

Anyone know why the HD audio CD won't install? It said it can't find the device.