cancellation by refusing delivery...

hi guys,

Im getting cold feet about an m1530 purchase; i didnt realise (and cannot bloody believe) that the mediadirect partition cannot be removed and that basically im going to have a bs time just getting a clean operating system on the thing.

can i just refuse delivery?

dell shoot themselves in the foot with this software bloatware crap; its the only thing putting me off the system.

prompt replies would be appreciated as its coming tomorrow.

 

What do you mean you can' remove the Media Direct partition? Clean install and you're done.

 

I doubt it, you would probably have to pay a fee I am guessing. Couldn't you just reformat the whole hard drive and install the new OS?

 

ive read numerous threads saying the htting the media direct button by accident corrupts the hdd and causes loads of problems.

 

It causes an error since it can't find the partition. Won't damage the HDD.

 

That is if it's installed. if the partition does not exist no problems.

 

right, so i simply use the vista partitioner to delete all the partitions, install a clean vista on C: and then just install the drivers yes?

if i hit the mediabutton after doing that, what will happen, will it bsod?

 

What the hell? Does pressing the media button when you do have it installed corrupt the hardisk? What for?

 

I don't know why you'd cancel the delivery for this - just use gparted to delete the partition, rearrange the partition table, and 'expand' the vista partition to include the unallocated space you've moved to the end of the drive....

 

Nothing will happen, its a redundant button after that. I installed XP on my vostro and the mediadirect button dosent do a thing when pushed.

 

i reformat my inspiron 1525 (vista) with XP and install needed drivers (for 1520), then the mediadirect buttons do work well.....

 

You don't have to refuse delivery and end up paying a hefty restocking fee for a simple issue. You will need a couple of hours to repartition, format and reinstall the OS, Drivers, Utilities and Applications.

Dell notebooks hide Dell MediaDirect utility in HPA. Ordinary partitioning tools cannot detect them. You need either DiscWizard Starter Edition by Seagate Technologies or Feature Tool by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies depending on the manufacturer of your hard drive to detect and delete HPA.

If you just use any ordinary partioning tool to do your work, pressing the MediaDirect button (when the notebook is switched off) will still result in the MediaDirect boot screen but with an error message. If you do not want this MediaDirect screen with error, you will have to delete the HPA as I have suggested above. However, nothing will happen, if you press the MediaDirect button when you are in the Windows Desktop.

If you plan to replace the Dell provided hard drive with your own, you will not run into any problems. The Dell provided hard drive with HPA will not cause any problem in other computers or in Dell computers without MediaDirect. However, it is always better to delete the HPA as it does consume a miniscule amount of space.

 

Follow my Clean Install Guide below. if you don't want to reinstall mediaDirect, omit that part of the guide.

If you need support for the thread, just read through the responses.

Once you have finished, try out the tweaking Thread.

The best piece of advice I can give....DONT PANIC. Youu cannot corrupt your HD and if you do, Dell will ship you another in a day for free. XPS Support is the best in the industry.

If you refuse to accept however, they will nail you with 15% restocking fees. Considering they already have your money, i dont know why you would even chance that.

 

thanks guys, some slightly bogus posts in some threads i saw gave me the wrong idea. if i can keep mediadirect but install xp then that is fine, although with 120 gig im going to be struggling for space; ill be able to work it out.

regarding the restocking fee, ive looked into this and dont think they can legally charge a restock fee in the uk due to the distance selling regulations.

ive decided to keep it tho (as long as the screen turns out to be ok; there seem to be a lot of rubbish dell screens.) its a sweet laptop and ive seen a vid of it runnign cod 4 which really impressed me (and its one of the nicest looking 15.4 inchers out there too.)

anyway thanks for the support guys, i will check out your thread flamenko.

cheers

 

UK return policy is very different from the US return policy. In the UK:

1. You have an 8 day return period.
2. There is no restocking fee.
3. You must pay return shipping.

 

can i ask a question?

when i get the xps with vista on it, can i simply put xp in and format the vista partition and it will work ok (obviously ill have to put the drivers on etc, but what im asking is will xp conflict with media direct)

 

It won't conflict with XP as long as you have it set up correctly. If you decided to remove it completely, merge the partitions, and installed XP. I just tried it yesterday for you, it does SOMETHING useless or not your decide... it will boot up with a Media Direct Screen, then it proceeds to load XP since Media Direct is a modified XP installation anyways, but it doesn't load the software, instead it loads your account and tell your the software is absent. Proceed to use the laptop as if you boot it up normally using the power bottom.

Basically, You now have 2 "Power buttons" available