Dell Media Direct Installation

AK - 47

I have a XPS M140/INSPIRON 630M

55gb hdd (actually ordered was 60gb)
with two partitions c:\ of 19.0gb and d:\ of 35.4gb.

i have windows xp professional installed.

i also have the Dell MediaDirect Reinstallation CD but i dont know how to install it. as it pops up with an error.

can someone pls guide my with Dell mediadirects installation.

Jonathan

AK - 47 wrote: »

I have a XPS M140/INSPIRON 630M

55gb hdd (actually ordered was 60gb)
with two partitions c:\ of 19.0gb and d:\ of 35.4gb.

i have windows xp professional installed.

i also have the Dell MediaDirect Reinstallation CD but i dont know how to install it. as it pops up with an error.

can someone pls guide my with Dell mediadirects installation.

What version of MediaDirect?

Whats the error?

AK - 47

Error is :

"Installation stopped due to failure when allocating partition.

Please check your system and try again!"

and how do i check which Dell Media Direct Version it is?

Jonathan

AK - 47 wrote: »

how do i check which Dell Media Direct Version it is?

It most likely says it on the cd/manual.

AK - 47

It Reads P/N YG694 REV.A00.

It was purchased in July 2007. so it can be ver 2.0

AK - 47

Sorry July 2006

wermfud

I am having the same problem, did you figure it out?

DarkJager

You need to install Media Direct BEFORE the OS. Put in the disc and it will set up a partition for itself. Once this is done, install the operating system and drivers, then put the Media Direct cd back in to install the software for it.

AK - 47

Here's a new and better way to do it:

• As with Dell instructions, you can only create a maximum of 3 partitions in addition to the unpartitioned one used for MediaDirect, and they're absolutely right about this. However, instead of reserving an unpartitioned space of 1308 MB for MediaDirect, you DO NOT have to do as they advise you to. This very point causes all the trouble for all of us who want to create multiple partitions using Windows built-in partition tools. By unlocking the mystery of 1308 MB unpartitioned space, I have solved the problem. Since I wanna make it easy for everyone to understand, my instructions seem a little long. Following is step-by-step instructions:

1. As always, you have to boot your laptop with Windows XP CD by pressing F12, select boot from CD
2. Follow instructions on screen to get to install a fresh copy of Windows by pressing ESC, then F8
3. Delete all partitions already there
4. Create the new first partition (C drive). Every individual has their own needs, some wants it large, some wants it average...etc. so create however large as you want to. I myself created a 20 gig C drive.
5. Leave the remaining unpartitioned space untouched
6. Press Enter , select Quick Format with NTFS file system
7. When Windows installation completes, remove Windows XP CD
8. Put in Reinstalling Dell MediaDirect CD, press Enter to begin installation, when installation finishes, press Enter to end, remove CD
9. Go back to desktop, right click My Computer, click Manage, click Disk Management
10. Now you will notice that there's an unused or unpartitioned space right in between C drive and the unlettered partition where MediaDirect was just installed on.
11. Now you can create 2 more partitions or 2 more drives with that space by right clicking on that space, click New Partition, select Primary Partition, click Format, then select however much space you want for this second drive for your laptop, select Quick Format, give this drive a name if you want to.
12. When the second partition/drive is created, you can continue to create the third or last possible partition/drive with the remaining space for your computer by doing the exact same steps as number 11 above.
13. REMEMBER: DO NOT EVER MESS WITH THE LAST UNLETTERED PARTITION OF YOUR COMPUTER BECAUSE IT IS WHERE DELL MEDIADIRECT IS INSTALLED. LEAVE IT ALONE!
14. Voila, after step 12, you have successfully done things that you dream of doing all along (3 partitions/drives and MediaDirect). However, it's not done yet. As for my system Inpiron 630m, there's a software update for MediaDirect to be downloaded and installed. For other system with MediaDirect feature, I think you should do it, too, because in my opinion Dell MediaDirect feature is the same for all system. So I suggest you all do it by following step 15 below.
15. Open My Computer, double click C drive, double click Dell folder, create a new folder and name it MediaDirect. Go to this link to download and save a file called Dell MediaDirect DayLight Saving Patch to the folder just created : http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R113403&SystemID=XPS_M140&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=11910&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&fileid=148815
16. Next thing is installation of all device drivers and softwares, don't forget to install updates from Microsoft by clicking on Windows Updates. When done, you can start updating MediaDirect and using it. Go to step 17 below
17. Shut Down your laptop, press MediaDirect button, wait for MediaDirect to configure itself
18. Click General, click Update MediaDirect, now MediaDirect will automatically update itself with the file download in step 15. Once the update is done, your laptop will shut itself down. Press MediaDirect button again and setup all the functions in there to your likings.
19. Enjoy yourself.

These steps can help you all. I found it on Dell Community!!!

So now everyone enjoy Media Direct!!!

AK - 47

Now i have Downloaded Dell Media Direct 3.5 can somebody tell me the difference in Ver2.0 & 3.5. Also can it be installed on my configured Laptop.