MediaDirect button (4.0) used as something else?

well, i used to have MD3.5 on my 1520, but it screwed up so i decided to scrap it, format my hdd and got rid of the MD partition. when i saw MD4 does not require any special partition, i gave it a try (thanks for the link), installation went fine. in windows, MD4 launch just fine when MD button is pressed. so i tried shutting down pc, then press MD button to cold boot into MD program. it doesnt work. the pc boots up, show me the old MD boot screen and just freezes there. nothing happens.

 

I suspect there is something at the BIOS level that tells the system to boot off of the MD partition when the MD button is pressed. The Studio line probably has something else going on that tells it to boot off the system partition. If the system is off, I don't see how anything other than a call in BIOS can determine what the MD button will do.

 

i agree. there has to be some BIOS level control which can be accessed with command prompt. i remembered previously with MD3.5, users can reassign the MD button to not boot from MD partition with some special commands. also, i tried restore my BIOS to factory default, doesnt work too.

 

In my case it works but when I boot from MD button it starts windows and MD application. I don't know how it works on Studio laptops but there is no exit in the new MD menu so how would you exit if you boot into MD application. I would not be surprise if it is working only as application running on windows.
To get it work you have to install QuickSet.

 

Okay - Geez, I've had to redo this post three times. Here is the approach I used and my observations.

1. Uninstalled MD3.5 via Control Panel.
2. Installed MD4.
3. Erased and Deleted the MD3.5 Partition via Disk Management.
4. Extended C: Partition to use freed space from deleted MD3.5 partition.
5. Rebooted and checked MediaDirect button functionality from a powered off state. Depressing button boots system normally into Vista as if the Power button was depressed. MD4 is automatically launched in upon boot completion.

Everything is running okay. I did notice that when depressing the MD key from a power off state that SLI becomes disabled. In fact, checking multiple sources shows only 1 video card.

1. HW Monitor reports only 1 GF 8800MGTX (interesting that the temp reading is 263c - yeah, thats right - 263c! I can only assume that when 1 card is disabled it freaks the thermal sensor).
2. Device Manager shows only 1 Display Adapter (single 8800MGTX)
3. NVIDIA Control Panel has the SLI Configuration menu missing (poof, vanished)
4. Logitech Game Panel loses enable/disable programs setting. (i.e. I disabled the POP3 checker and it was enabled upon ssystem boot)

A complete power down (restart is not good enough, must shut down) and then booting using the POWER button does not have this effect. Reproducible every time.



LOL Like I said, it can't be correct, the card would be melting and smoke would be pouring out. LOL

Will continue to check it out and compare DVD Playback to MP11 and Media Center. I would just use PowerDVD but that muvee function of theirs is ANNOYING.

More to follow.

 

so what you are trying to say is, there will be no more MD that dont require booting into vista like before? so with MD4, everytime i press the MD button, it will boot into vista and then launch MD4? so what's the point with MD then? the unique thing about MD is that we dont have to boot into OS to play media file right? studio users, can you please confirm this?

 

If there is no other system on HDD it must boot into vista with MD4 launched. Before there was separate partition for MD3.5 but now you have only one so it cannot boot to anything else.

 

MD 4 allows me to play blu-ray discs properly. Windows does not come with a BD player and right now there are only a handful of PAY programs that allow BD playback in Windows. I am personally not too interested in the direct boot feature that MD has/had. I don't really see the savings in booting Vista vs. MD. Neither is going to save you much in battery life.

 

After testing new Studio 17 (beautiful laptop) I can reveal that MD4 is just application, no miracles. When you press MD button it just starts vista, you have to logon if it's password protected and after vista is ready it starts MD application not even in full screen mode . The one and only difference is that when you press the power button only vista starts. The good point is that you can use both MD on one system, 3.5 with separate partition as before and 4.0 as windows application like on Studios.

 

How did you install MD4? Can you outline your process? From your post, I'm assuming you had MD 3.5 installed prior to MD4.

 

I burnt the iso to a cd then just followed the autorun

 

It depends, if you want separate partition you have to go with MD3.5 prior windows and 4.0 after. If you want it same way as on studio you only have to install windows and MD4 as application after.

 

Well, I restored using the backup I made. I didn't see any advantage to using MD4 over 3.5 (since I dont have the Blu-Ray). Thanks again Pralix for assisting.

 

Was someone looking for the Media Direct 4.0 Part number? Here it is: C818D, If someone is willing to provide me with a link to download it I would appreciate that.

 

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


http://soupformind.blogspot.com/2008/04/dell-media-direct-enhancement.html


From these two links you can see how people are getting other programs to run from the media direct button. With a bit of creativity and guesswork you could get the md button to launch a minimalist mediacenter linux instead of vista, so it would start even faster and have support for ALL formats.

 

Hello guys. Can share me your MD4?

 

There is an even better tutorial HERE...

 

Batboy, your tutorial was excellent but I ran into some difficulties. With media direct installed and the media direct partition intact when I modified the entries either manually or with the exported registry keys this registry value kept being deleted upon reboot:

HKey_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\0

This was attempted in m1730 running xp pro.

If anyone out there has a link to MD 4 ISO I would greatly appreciate it. I"m hoping that MD 4 might alleviate several months worth of problems for me.

 

Can anyone provide the link to the MD4 ISO? I get an error when trying to re-install MD3.5..

Thanks!

 

I would if I could but alas I have yet to find it. If you find it pm me. MD 3.5 doesn't work and my m1730 is just sitting on a time bomb.