MediaDirect (Very Frustrating)

I bought a Dell XPS M1210 recently. When I recieved it I decided to delete all partitions and reformated. First I started with the Dell MediaDirect 3 Reinstallation CD. I booted from that disk to "prepare" the HHD. When that was complete I installed the OS on the C partition. When that was complete I inserted the MediaDirect reinstallation CD and it installed on the computer. Then I shut down and pressed the MediaDirect button and it worked. After that I booted into the OS and pressed the MD button and I am getting an error that says "Unable to launch Dell Media Experience. Please install software and try again." When I first recieved the computer it did not have Dell Media Experience on it. When it was still in factory condition and I pressed the MD Button it launched MD not ME.

I have spent hours on the phone with Dell and they don't even know they doing.

If anyone can help me get MediaDirect to work again that would be great.

By the way my operating system is Windows XP Pro.

This MediaDirect stuff is very confusing to me and I cannot find anyone on the forums having the same problem I'm having. I don't know if I'm installing it wrong or what.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Call dell and request the Dell Media Experience. DME and MD look very similar, but MD can not run in XP. If you have XP MCE, pressing the MD button loads Media Center. Since XP Pro and Home does not have this feature, you have to install Dell's solution which is Dell Media Experience.

 

on the media direct cd there is a folder called windowsmd3 open the folder run setup this will setup m/d 3 in windows this only works for m/d 3
this will fix the error and m/d will run in windows again
jim

 

I have XP MCE on a Dell e1505 and when I press the Media Direct button (while in XP) it launches Dell MediaDirect (powered by CyberLink) - which looks and behaves the same as the one you get when you boot with the MediaDirect Button.

I also have Media Center's software which is similar, but not the same.

What is Dell Media Experience and how does that compare to MediaDirect?

I followed the same procedure as you did, but it took 2 tries (reinstalling MD & XP). You definitely need to do the 2nd install of Media Direct FIRST thing after XP is installed - which it sounds like you DID do. The first time I had installed an update and some other driver and then Dell's software said "sorry can't install"

I do have XP MCE and it does work fine with MediaDirect while in XP (and of course works fine with Microsoft's MediaCenter), but maybe you do need this Media Center Experience in order to get it to work with Home/Pro...