MediaDirect running slooooooooooooooow...

Hi,

Here's my situation. I just bought this e1505 from dell and I got it yesterday. I started to use vista and decided I wasn't happy with the interface and changes from XP. So, I formatted that partition and fresh installed Windows XP. I finally got out of driver hell and was able to get everything working as its supposed to (on the windows side anyway). However, I decided I wanted to try out my MediaDirect feature that came with this...tried booting into it and it just sat there at a blue background screen for what seemed like forever. (ok, it was only 3 or 4 minutes, but that's forever in computing terms ) I thought it had just frozen, so I turned it off manually and tried again...same result.

So now I'm getting somewhat frustrated as this is a brand new laptop and out of the box it's not working like it should (or at least my idea of how it should, haha). So I booted it again and decided to be stubborn...after about 5 minutes it finally got to the media selection screen...ok, so I start pokin' around and then, once I select an option, it seems like it's locked up again. Now, to get to ANYTHING, it takes 3 to 4 minutes (I'm talking to any sub-menu, anything). Does my overwriting Vista with XP have anything to do with this? Or is MediaDirect really just THAT slow?

Brian

 

MediaDirect 3 has an Office component that ties in with the native Windows install that you broke when you deleted Vista and installed XP. I think that might be your main problem. Saying "So now I'm getting somewhat frustrated as this is a brand new laptop and out of the box it's not working like it should " after what you did is kind of funny.

 

So....is there a fix for this? (other than reinstalling Vista?)

 

Call Dell and see if they have a fix for it.

 

Dell told me I just voided my warranty and that they couldn't help me...

 

Well, it looks like you're gonna have to get your hands on a MediaDirect 3 Reinstall DVD in order to fix it.

 

Anybody had any experience with running MediaPortal in a quick-boot setup?

 

Voided the warranty? NO YOU DIDN'T.
Installing an OS doesn't void the warranty, don't worry about what some ignorant customer support guy says over the phone.

Anyways, you can run MD and Windows XP side by side. But to fix it you will have to reinstall. Unfortunately, to reinstall MD3 you'll also have to reinstall Windows as well .

First get hold of a MD3 DVD (if you don't already have it you can download from here or call DELL and ask for one). Boot from the disk, prep the HDD and install XP first, then MD (run the setup from windows). That should fix it.

 

Hello,

My name is Richard; I am part of Dell Online Community Outreach. The system is not out of warranty, however our technicians will only support you with the original Windows version you purchased with the computer. So, if you took off Vista and replaced it with XP you will not get warranty support for that. The hardware is however supported up to the warranty period regardless Operating System installed.

Regards,

Richard B
Dell Online Community Outreach