Vostro 1400 XP targets wrong partition for boot up

Installed XP on Vostro 1400. Worked great. This morning I pressed the media direct button (with computer off) just to see what would happen. Did not load properly...which I kind of expected. Figured, okay.. restart.

Now recieving black screen "Invalid Partition Table"

Load XP Recovery console from CD - fixboot command returns message "the target partition is F: are you sure you want to rewrite...."

That's the media direct partition (I think) which I do not want. So, I say "no".


But What I cannot figure out. How do I tell XP that it should be booting from C ?

 

Since I had not taken any steps to reinstall media direct (I am guessing) pressing the button caused media direct to assume the drive letter C: and crap out the existing C: ... to an unrepairable state.

Only option now, is to delete media direct partition completely and reinstall.

which I had been considering doing anyway...

so word to the wise... be careful with the MD button until you have it setup properly.

 

Regarding this, I believe this system of yours came w/ vista right and you downgraded this to XP. Well you should have 1st loaded the media direct cd so that it can create a different partition for its own and then after that you can install your XP into your system in a different partition.

 

I have successfully gotten XP up and running using the guide posted for the 1420 XP install.

However my problems all come with media direct.

1st Install: I just used the C: drive and left all other partitions alone. Worked fine until I pressed the MD button while the computer was off. The MD partition assumed the letter C: and invalidated the OS system partition.

2nd Install: Deleted the Media Direct Partition. Created & Formatted a new partition (C) and installed. After complete. I decided to test this button again. Given that I had completely deleted and reformated the MD partition my expectation was that the button should do nothing when pressed. But I wanted to be sure. I was wrong. The MD button again attempted to load MD, which now did not exist. Totally froze the system... to the point where I could not even load windows from the CD. Just hangs with a blank screen.

3rd Install: Based on a suggestion from ScanR, thankyou, I popped in the media direct CD that came with my system. This disc was able to successfully boot & begin a new installation process for my system. I am in the middle of it now.

Why am I writing all this?

Becuase I cannot live with having an Auto Self Destruct Button 2 inches from my power switch.

I doubt others can either. If you are ignoring this button during XP install. It may cause you problems. At least it has for me.

 

The 3rd install technique seems to have solved my problems

Maybe I am just an idiot and everyone else new about this potential.

But from the other guides it was not clear to me.

The 3rd install:

Start with Media Direct CD that came in you box
Follow instructions. Proceed to XP
Put Media direct CD back in drive upon XP first opening
(Listen to CD drive move at crazy high speeds for a few minutes!)

and proceed to load drivers as described in other threads.

Self Destruct Button - Corrected.

 

Is this the first time the XP install process makes the computer reboot?
or the first time it boots after it's finished installing itself?

Does anyone know what it's doing at this point? Does it have part of XP loaded and needs to have Media Direct loading in the middle of the XP install?

 

Thats good, glad I could help.

 

Chelet -

Once the xp install was complete and I was looking at the desktop. I inserted the Media Direct Disc (as it instructs at the beginning) and it autostarted and did it's thing.

I did this prior to loading drivers. Also shut down and tested prior to drivers. as I had already done 2 complete installs that got ruined.

I don't know if this is a universal problem... as no one else is talking about it.

But it sure played havoc with my system.

All seems solid now though.

 

Thank you for the clarification.

 

I have a similar problem with my Vostro 1700. First thing I did after getting it was to remove all partitions (including Media Direct partition) and installing WinXP Pro! Everything went fine except the Media Direct button - after accidentally pushing it when the notebook was turned off it tried to boot up Media Direct and did mess up my WinXP in the process! When rebooting it would try to boot up MD again with the same result - hitting the MD button a second time did restore WinXP and the boot was successful!

Now since I only did discover this after installing not only the OS but also my software and setting everything up (which in my case is quite a lot) I have no desire to perform a new clean install.. Also after reading up on this issue I'm not sure if "hitting MD button again" would fix the issue a second time (and for that reason I have been careful to stay clear of the MD button)! Since i have removed every partition on the HDD's there should be no way for MD to create a fresh one upon pressing the button - so where does it get the files it uses to mess with the boot table? Could it be from the BIOS or something? I read somewhere about MD being hidden in the HPA of the Dell HDD's, but that was only about Media Direct 2 and also Partition Magic doesn't show anything exceptional on the HDD's..

Now my question would be this: after doing this third install of yours how exactly did you "FIX" the MD issue? What does the button do now when it is pressed? Does it boot up WinXP, or maybe just doesn't do anything? Or did you just repair MD (which wouldn't help me since I don't want to use it)? Do you think it would be possible to somehow do this "MD button fix" without reinstalling the OS? If so how (what program did you run from the MD-CD)? Thank you!

 

"hitting the MD button a second time did restore WinXP and the boot was successful!"

This should've done the trick for the original poster w/o going thru numberous formats.

 

Well is this the "official" way of solving this? Does it work always and isn't there a risk something might not be restored? I'd kill if it did work a few times and just when i have a presentation or something important it didn't...

I also read that if you do "fixmbr" or other partition operations in between pressing the button for the first and second time it won't be able to restore the WinXP install and you'll have to reformat...

Anyhow, I don't want anything to mess with my MRB so why doesn't Dell have an BIOS option to disable this freaking "self destruct" button in the first place?!

 

I played heck with that stupid button and the mediadirect partition. I orderd 3 laptops, wiped vista off them and put XP Pro. Only to find out about this stupid "self-destruct" button... I only had to fix the MBR once before deciding this little beauty had to go. Since you cant disable it in the bios (is that stupid or what, thanks Dell) then I had to be a bit more "creative". Simply pop the plastic cover off the top of the laptop, above the keybord, and snip the rubber tip off the basckside of the button. Viola, no more mediadirect problems...

 

Well that sounds fine but you'll lose the warranty on the machine if you do that.. Still this qualifies as the "Russian" approach to the problem (which is a good thing in my book since they were not only the first in space but still have the most reliable space technology).. But I still would need a "clean" way to solve this without losing my warranty..

And as far as I know there is another problem.. If you press the "media buttons" (like mute, vol +\- and so on - I'm not sure if the 1400 hat them, but the 1700 does) for 5 seconds they work in the same way as the MD button.. And since they are on the front side of the casing they get pushed a lot by accident when carrying the notebook around in a bag.. Also they are way too useful within the OS so I wouldn't want to "disable" them this way..

 

This is insane! I have the same problem with a Vostro 1500. I knew of this problem, so I deliberately went to press the button after a fresh installation of XP to deal with the problem. I had deleted all the partitions and created a new one with only XP. After I press the MD button, it tries to load it up but fails (it tells me the bitlocker is probably activated). Shut off, then I try normal button. Same results, MD installation failed and bitlocker thing. No errors like some of you guys.

So now. I can either install media direct and lose 2.5G just for this stupid program. Or I can reinstall XP and try to live without pressing it (scary).

Or what else? Have anybody found a different way to deal with this? Please...

 

Yes, Use AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/

see this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=161761

 

thanks, that is really interesting, but I guess it doesn't solve the problem of the button when the computer is turned off. At least so I understand, I may be wrong...

Anyway, something strange happened yesterday. Since the beginning, it went like this:

-formatted all, installed XP
-pressed MD button - no xp boot - turns off
-press power button - same

Then I thought I was ****ed and had to format again. But yesterday

- pressed MD button again - MD screen - then XP boots!!!
- turned it off and tried normal power button - normal XP!!!
- again, tried MD button - no xp boot (as the first time)
- MD button for the second time - XP.

So, I guess you can see the pattern. It should be ok.