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Dell Media Direct 2.0 ... Running on 9300/XPS M170 - Page 11

post #201 of 444
4/30/06 at 6:28am
It is not always DELL 2 3. You need to have a look at the order of your partitions using ptedit. Change the 2 to whatever the number of your XP partition is. Change the 3 to whatever the number of your Media Direct partition is. I have now changed some of my earlier instructions to reflect this. Sorry for any confusion.
If you need to boot to Windows XP to fix it, use this and run it from a bootable floppy or CD: http://gag.sourceforge.net/download.html
I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you mean by express test and media direct's testing page. Is is starting up Dell diagnostics instead?
Incidentally, the guide I was referring to is on page 8.

Another way to boot your Windows XP installation again is to go to recovery console, choose your C installation and then type fixmbr.
If that alone doesn't do it, run ptedit and make sure that the boot section in your XP partition is set to 80.
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post #202 of 444
4/30/06 at 9:54am
I don't have any experience with GAG, but it may overwrite your 'Dell' boot code. You'll probably get back to your XP partition, but you'll have to start the MediaDirect work over again....

I think you best chance for success without doing that is the rmbr route.... Using PTedit to manually change the 'active' flag may work, but I think the Dell boot code will 'undo' whatever changes you make...

Mark
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post #203 of 444
4/30/06 at 11:00am
Quote:
form tentonine
Have you tried shutting down Media Direct and starting it again via the task manager shut down menu instead of just going into hibernate? If you have done this already, try it once more.
Well I tried many times now but nothing changed at all. I still can't se my thee drives at the same time in MediaDirect (but no problem in the explorer). In addition, I can't have access to My Documents or if I move the folders My Music and/or My Movies in the root of the drive they aren't visible either (in MediaDirect). So to have access to my movies, musics etc I must put all my files and folders directly to the root of the drive. Is there a way to avoid this.
Narcotic71428
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post #204 of 444
4/30/06 at 11:36am

reinstall

Thanks for the advice on getting back to a Windows XP boot. I ended up reinstalling my OS. I then installed manually MD (wherein I used the command rmbr DELL 1 3 as these are the respective partitions for my OS and MD), but it appears that MD will not start (I presume that when the "play" button is pressed while the laptop is off that MD will initiate). Again, I followed each step as mentioned on page 8 of this thread. I did notice however that I didn't need to set the type of the Media Direct partition to D7 as ptedit already showed that this partition was of type D7.
Again, any help is appreciated. If there is an update to the steps found on page 8 of this thread, I'd appreciate that someone direct me to it.
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post #205 of 444
4/30/06 at 11:46am

My ptedit

Just want to show my ptedit...I typed in rmbt DELL 1 3...would that be correct? Also, are the types for the Windows XP (07) and MD (D7) correct?
LL
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post #206 of 444
4/30/06 at 1:22pm
Quote:
...but it appears that MD will not start
If it is not starting.... what is happening????

Are you getting an 'error' message, if so which one...

My guess is that your ARC path in the MediaDirect partition is not 'right' and is pointing to partition(3) and not partition(2)...

And, yes.... your partition types are correct: 07 is your XP 'active' system partition, 0F your extended partition and D7 the Dell MediaDirect partition.

Cheers

Mark
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post #207 of 444
4/30/06 at 1:48pm

MD not working

Mark,
I am not certain what you mean about the ARC. Should it be pointing to partition 2 instead, based on my ptedit? If so, how do I correct this?
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post #208 of 444
4/30/06 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by perfect0
Mark,
I am not certain what you mean about the ARC. Should it be pointing to partition 2 instead, based on my ptedit? If so, how do I correct this?
Don't know for a fact that's the problem....

Are you receiving an error message of any kind???

Need a few more details here wrt what's going on after you attempt to launch MediaDirect..

Mark
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post #209 of 444
4/30/06 at 2:14pm

no error messages

There are no error messages, nothing happens when I press the play button when my laptop is off.
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post #210 of 444
4/30/06 at 2:30pm

correct?

So must I change it to "rmbr DELL 1 2"? Currently, it's "rmbr DELL 1 3"
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post #211 of 444
4/30/06 at 3:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by perfect0
There are no error messages, nothing happens when I press the play button when my laptop is off.

Ooops.... forgot that was a 9200. From what I understand, that's 'normal'.

I'd have to think this thru, but I think you need to get the Dell boot code 'removed' as it serves no function and can cause 'problems'. Then treat your MediaDirect partition just as if it were a 'normal' system partition and access it via the Windows boot.ini ... As per TentoNine's suggestion above...


Anyone else????

Mark
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post #212 of 444
4/30/06 at 3:32pm
narcotic, is your Windows XP user account password protected?
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post #213 of 444
4/30/06 at 7:13pm
Quote:
by tentonine
narcotic, is your Windows XP user account password protected?
Not at all and I tried to open access to My Documents to all account : there's no password but I still can't see My Documents... but everything is now bit tough on me : I caught a virus (Win32.Tenga.a) which "killed" allmost all my executable files (for example I can't have access to msconfig...). So I'm thinking of reinstalling everything. But this doesn't solve my problem with MediaDirect. Thanks a lot tentonine for trying to help me...
Narcotic71428...
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post #214 of 444
5/1/06 at 10:04am

help

Hope that someone can help me resolve my issue with MD. I still cannot get MD to run. I am guessing that my rmbr command is wrong (see previous posts)....
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post #215 of 444
5/1/06 at 12:46pm
Narcotic, your problem with Media Direct could be something to do with your Windows XP installation, as it is to do with viewing folders on your XP installation. I would fix that first.

perfect0, as Media Direct was not intended for the Inspiron 9200, you are never going to get the play button to work. The best you can do is the boot.ini method...
If there is a problem with Media Direct loading after booting using the boot.ini method from your main Windows installation, I suggest you perform a minimal new XP installation of another partition (perhaps using nlite: google for it). Then just install Dell Media Experience. Media Direct is really nothing more than a minimal Windows XP installation with Dell Media Experience installed.
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post #216 of 444
5/1/06 at 1:26pm

boot.ini method

thanks a lot for the reply; i had always thought that MD would work on an Inspiron 9200 (does anyone have this and tried MD with it?). thanks for the advice of doing the boot.ini method; i'd appreciate it if you could direct me to the message in this thread (or elsewhere) that has this process. if this boot.ini method works on an inspiron 9200, what am i to expect? will i be able to initiate MD without having to boot to windows?
thanks again...
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post #217 of 444
5/1/06 at 1:39pm
Quote:
by tentonine
Narcotic, your problem with Media Direct could be something to do with your Windows XP installation, as it is to do with viewing folders on your XP installation. I would fix that first.
What do you mean? How can I fix it? None of my folders (including My Documents) are hidden or unreachable : I can have full access to it when I use the explorer in MediaDirect.
Narcotic71428...
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post #218 of 444
5/1/06 at 1:56pm
would anyone know how i can check the boot.ini file of MD since its partition is hidden (D7)? thanks...
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post #219 of 444
5/1/06 at 2:18pm
perfect0, to unhide your partition and have access to it in Windows, you have to use PTEDIT.exe (or PTEDIT32.exe) which is located in your "C:\Program Files\PowerQuest\PartitionMagic 8.0" folder and change the type of your MD partition which should be "D7" into "07" and Save Changes then try to change the letter of your partition to "X" with PartitionMagic (you must do this before going on). Thi should fail so you have to go to your Drives Management (in the Computer Management) to change the letter of your partition. Then you simply right click on your partition and open it. You're done! Everything will be back to "normal" (the partition will be hidden again) next time you restart your computer.
Narcotic71428...
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post #220 of 444
5/1/06 at 2:32pm
thanks, narcotic...here's my boot.ini on the MD partition...what steps must i take so i can access MD from the boot options when my laptop starts (since i have been told that i cannot initiate MD from the play button since i have a 9200)?

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded" /fastdetect /KERNEL=NTOSBOOT.EXE /maxmem=256
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