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Dell Media Direct 2.0 ... Running on 9300/XPS M170 - Page 13

post #241 of 444
5/1/06 at 11:47pm
Quote:
Mark, this is what I've got...
Let me know if this is good or not.
I'm afraid that's the Dell boot code....

You can either live with it and see if it causes problems down the road, or try and get it out of there....

In the mean time, I'll read up on potential fixes.... One I know for sure is a Windows reinstall, but I don't think you need to go there just yet....

Mark
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post #242 of 444
5/1/06 at 11:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by perfect0
I will try again maybe tomorrow to unpack the exe files on the MD reinstallation CD to a partition and see if I can run it as an option when I power ON my laptop. I think that when I did run the reinstallation utility even when I had already unpacked the exe files, that messed up the MD partition. I will unpack the exe files, then not do the other steps for a manual installation (like the rmbr command and the fixboot I guess), and then see if MD can start as an option to Windows XP.

I'll be surprised if it works as there may be a mismatch between your hardware and the drivers on the Reinstall CD.

I'll send a PM with some 'ideas'...

Mark

ps... On second thought, my ideas would work if the Dell boot code was NOT there. So.... don't have anything further at the moment on that one....
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post #243 of 444
5/1/06 at 11:59pm
very cool.
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post #244 of 444
5/2/06 at 12:35am

Replacing Dell Boot Code

This should replace the Dell code with Microsoft code. But before you do take your track0 file and save it somewhere other than on your laptop hard drive....

Quote:
To start the computer and use the Recovery Console to replace the MBR

1. Insert the Windows XP Professional Setup CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Restart the computer. If prompted to press a key to start the computer from the CD-ROM, press the appropriate key.

3. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Press the R key to repair a Windows XP Professional installation.

4. If you are repairing a system that has more than one operating system installed, from the Recovery Console choose the Windows XP Professional installation that you need to repair.

Note If you press ENTER without typing a number, the Recovery Console quits and restarts the computer.

The Recovery Console might also show valid installations of Windows NT 4.0. However, the results of attempting to access a Windows NT 4.0 installation can be unpredictable.

5. When prompted, type the Administrator password. If you do not have the correct password, or if the security database for the installation of Windows XP Professional you are attempting to access is corrupted, Recovery Console does not allow access to the local disks and you cannot repair the MBR.

6. To replace the MBR, at the Recovery Console command prompt, type:

fixmbr

7. Verify whether you want to proceed. Depending upon the location and the cause of the corruption within the damaged MBR, this operation can cause the data on the hard disk to become inaccessible. Press the Y key to proceed, or press the N key to cancel.
This should replace the boot code, but leave the Partition Table and the rest of Track 0 intact...

hth

Mark
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post #245 of 444
5/2/06 at 10:12am

fixmbr

Mark, as per your instructions, it appears now (see below) that I no longer have the Dell boot code.
As regards a manual reinstall of MD on an Inspiron 9200, any "ideas" yet?
Thanks a lot for all the advice

Quote:
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è! s ¶ë¼>þ}Uªt€~ tÈ ·ë©‹üW‹õË¿ ŠV ´Ír#ŠÁ$?˜ŠÞŠüC÷ã‹Ñ†Ö±ÒîB÷â9V
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ÿvj h |jj´B‹ôÍaasOt2äŠV ÍëÖaùÃInvalid partition table Error loading operating system Missing operating system ,DcíÁíÁ € þÿÿ? ½Žr ÁÿþÿÿüŽrE2 Uª
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post #246 of 444
5/2/06 at 3:04pm
Unfortunately I can't launch Media Explorer any more due to my virus (which "killed" a lot of executable files) and I don't have the CD for reinstalling it. A looked for it on the web but I found out that I have to ask it to Dell to send me this CD. This is quite annoying but does anyone have the CD version 307B08A (Basic 3.1). Thanks a lot...
Wow tentonine, I tried to use Nvidia nStantMedia which is pretty much the same as Media Explorer: and you're right! It's impossible to have access to the folder My Documents... so what can I do?
Narcotic71428...
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post #247 of 444
5/2/06 at 4:53pm

DH371 MediaDirect

Would anyone have the DH371 Media Direct (the older version) online? If so, I'd appreciate it if someone could direct me to it...thanks
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post #248 of 444
5/2/06 at 5:28pm

help

Please check your private message, I need your assistance...
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post #249 of 444
5/3/06 at 10:51am
Still hoping someone can direct me to where I can access online DH371 MediaDirect (older version)...thanks in advance
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post #250 of 444
5/3/06 at 5:02pm

Where to place MD Partition

After accidentally wiping out my HD on my new m140, I am about to reinstall everything.

I have an active partition of 15GB for my OS (drive C), and the rest of the space is unallocated (45GB).

Before I run the MD 2.0 installation, I have a few questions:

I want to create another partition that will act as drive D and hold all my data files. Should I create a logical partition for may data files in the allocated space before runnig the MD utility or afterwards?

I think it was mentioned in this thread that the MD partition needs to be at the end of the dreive, but imediately after the partition that contains the OS, so I am not sure if I am doing things correctly or not.
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post #251 of 444
5/3/06 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fmonti
After accidentally wiping out my HD on my new m140, I am about to reinstall everything.

I have an active partition of 15GB for my OS (drive C), and the rest of the space is unallocated (45GB).

Before I run the MD 2.0 installation, I have a few questions:

I want to create another partition that will act as drive D and hold all my data files. Should I create a logical partition for may data files in the allocated space before runnig the MD utility or afterwards?

I think it was mentioned in this thread that the MD partition needs to be at the end of the dreive, but imediately after the partition that contains the OS, so I am not sure if I am doing things correctly or not.
I have a 20G C:\ and a 70G D:\ for data. My MD partition is after the D:\ drive at the very end. I didn't have any problems. I had my C:\ and D:\ created before I installed MD 2.0.
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post #252 of 444
5/3/06 at 5:30pm
Followed your steps, this is what happens now:

When running Windows, pressinig the MD button launches Windows Media Center.

When the computer is OFF, pressing MD will get the following error after a brief splash screen from Dell Media Direct:

"Windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
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post #253 of 444
5/3/06 at 5:42pm
Can you post a ptedit screenshot?
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post #254 of 444
5/4/06 at 9:05am
Sounds like the same error I was getting. Read my previous posts for my solution, but in a nutshell, it involved changing my boot.ini to read (2) instead of (3) for the MD partition, and doing a "rmbr DELL 1 2" command. But ptedit should help find out for sure...
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post #255 of 444
5/4/06 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tentonine
Can you post a ptedit screenshot?
When I run ptedit I receive an error that the program is trying to access the drive directly and that is not supported.
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post #256 of 444
5/4/06 at 11:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fmonti
When I run ptedit I receive an error...
PTedit.exe needs to run from DOS. Or you can run PTEdit32.exe from Windows....

Here's info on the Windows version....

Quote:

What you'll need...

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...s/PTEDIT32.zip
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...fd_folders.exe

1. Run the VFD_Folders.exe [which is a self-extracting archive]. Change the default path and extract the files to a folder of your choice [e.g. C:\Part_Chk]

2. Unzip the PTEdit32.zip file and place PtEdit32.exe in the C:\Part_Chk\VFD folder

3. Now simply double click on PtEdit32.exe and that should launch "PowerQuest Partition Table Editor"
Try that

Mark
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post #257 of 444
5/4/06 at 11:56am
Thanks a lot for the info.

Here's the result of ptedit

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post #258 of 444
5/4/06 at 5:44pm
You need to run the rmbr DELL 1 3 command - please see earlier in the thread for details.
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post #259 of 444
5/6/06 at 12:24am
So now I have a new question about MediaDirect...

It only detects 2 albums, both by the same artist. The rest it doesn't see. I have Media Player working fine, MCE sees them all, I've checked their tags, they're all the same, I've checked their folder types, they're all the same. Anyone have any ideas as to why?

Oh, and it also seems to have detected my Windows sounds. I turned the setting to ignore all files smaller than 1000KB, but it still sees two of them, and one is only 13 seconds long. Too bad you can't seem to delete songs from the library.
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post #260 of 444
5/6/06 at 12:44am
Thanks to all who have replied with valuable info. Been away for work and havent been able to do this. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend. I'll let you know how it works...
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