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    MediaDirect is ridiculous

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by darksaber, Jul 28, 2007.

  1. darksaber

    darksaber Notebook Consultant

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    Okay, my 1420 is turned off. I hit the power button. Dell MediaDirect pops up. I shut down the laptop. I hit the MediaDirect button. Windows loads.

    After a few reboots, I fixed it -- I don't know how -- but all I can say is ... uhhh ... what?

    I was trying to reinstall MediaDirect after reinstalling Windows Vista. I'm not going near MediaDirect again -- I'm too scared my computer will refuse to boot or something.
     
  2. tremonti22

    tremonti22 Notebook Consultant

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    That's... interesting, to say the least. Was this a new thing, or had you had your 1420 for a little while before it started? Did you mess with anything to cause it, maybe?

    And, more importantly, did you do anything other than just restarting it a few times to fix it? Because if you had the problem, chances are others will, too.
     
  3. darksaber

    darksaber Notebook Consultant

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    I've had my laptop for about a week. I didn't do anything other than reboot to fix the problem. My guess it was just a fluke or something.
     
  4. tremonti22

    tremonti22 Notebook Consultant

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    That's really pretty bizarre.

    Are we keeping a list of issues people are having with their Inspirons? I think that would be helpful/amusing/depressing.
     
  5. D_Avenger

    D_Avenger Notebook Guru

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    You're supposed to partition the drive using the MediaDirect CD first before you reinstall Vista if you want MediaDirect to work properly. Just a little advice.
     
  6. tremonti22

    tremonti22 Notebook Consultant

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    Wow, I didn't catch the reinstall part. Yeah, the partitions probably ended up unhappy, or something.

    Way to miss that one, haha...
     
  7. D_Avenger

    D_Avenger Notebook Guru

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    Yeah I realized alot of people are having these issues because they're not following the correct order of installation. Partition first with MediaDirect CD. Then install Vista on Partition2. And after you finish install Vista install the MediaDirect software.
     
  8. darksaber

    darksaber Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah, see, I didn't think about installing MediaDirect until all my files/folders/apps were already set up.

    So there's no way to reinstall MediaDirect after Windows is installed? My drive still has a MediaDirect partition, but I did format the main partition for Windows.
     
  9. D_Avenger

    D_Avenger Notebook Guru

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    Nope. Don't think it's possible. You may end up having the same issues with MediaDirect booting up when you press the power button if you don't use the CD to partition the drive first.
     
  10. choy

    choy Company Representative

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    Think the topic of the thread is kinda exaggerated... sounds like it was meant to freak people out
     
  11. darksaber

    darksaber Notebook Consultant

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    I guess what I don't understand is why MediaDirect doesn't work now even though I only formatted the main partition when I reinstalled Vista. I didn't touch the MediaDirect partition.
     
  12. Kimo

    Kimo Notebook Consultant

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    Great advice D you get props and a rep boost from me!