xps m1330, Mediadirect and booting

hi all.

im a bit puzzled with something.

i just got a 2nd hand m1330 and i like it, really, but there are a few things bugging me.

1. i had a completely wiped out hard disk, so i installed xp following all guides, and since i wanted to know what volume i was at when i pressed the volume button, i installed quickset.

however, it would come up with the unable to load mediadirect message.

so i decided to install mediadirect, and it created its 4 partitions etc.

2. i installed xp again on c:\

when i start the computer, it would say ntldr missing.

so pressing power button made it go to xp then.(restart properly?)


now my main problem is:

when i shutdown windows xp, it shuts down, then restarts! shows a splash screen of dell mediadirect then boots back to xp, so basically, i cant turn the frigging thing off!!!!!!!!!

and when it starts, says unable to load mediadirect again!.


this is really pi ing me off.


is there something wrong with connection on the board with power button or something?


thanks for replying, i really need some advice on this thing.
the only way to turn off is to remove the ac plug with no battery on. ****it.

 

no one has encountered this problem before?

 

do you start before the installation of xp with the media direct cd to create the partitions?

 

at first no. i wanted to see with just the windows partition. same thing

i installed windows media partition such that i had the 4 partitions, same thing.

now ive installed vista instead of xp,same thing. no error messages though,

but i still cannot shut the thing down, it keeps restarting everytime!!!!!!

 

i want to shoot something.

i pressed the power button on the xps and it went through the shutting down process. shut down, then restarted!!!!

i pressed it for a while while it was restarting, it turned off the laptop. i let go, and it restarted again!

its as if the **** thing cannot be put down!

i tried pressing with the mediadirect button, no dice,

and btw, im currently running vista with 2 partitions, 1 40gb with OS c:\

and 1 D:\ with 90gb i think. around-ish
.


this is driving me nuts, anybody any ideas?i cant turn my laptop off amazing.

 

reinstall everything

u have to create the partitions with MediaDirect first, then proceed on...

 

thing is, i did that, when i installed xp. same thing happened.... ? i had the 4 partitions and the mediadirect installed... at least from the mediadirect 3.0 cd

 

if you don't use MediaDirect just do a clean install, delete all partitions and create 1 or 2 new ones to your liking(you can do that when you are installing win XP).
My m1330 works fine with win XP.

 

i tried to erase it all, but i think this thing is in bios. everytime it restarts with a splash screen of dell mediadirect when i try to shut down windows, whether it be xp or vista.

is there a chance that there might be a connection between the dell home button and the board thats shot that is just causing it to restart?sometimes it doesnt happen immediately, but after 10-20 seconds (when i had mistakenly thought it was cured!).

ive wiped down the hdd completely, ive installed on one partition, 2 partitions, 4 partitions, done with it the cd, no changes. im surprised nobody got the same problem before.

thanks for helping everyone...

 

That's strange. I thought MediaDirect is a software installed on a invissible partition, so if you delete everything, MediaDirect shouldn't work anymore. Are you sure there aren't hidden partition anymore?

 

well it says 8mb unallocated when ive formatted the hard disk in windows xp when ur installing it, so i dont think theres anythign that can hide.

the thing is, it just restarts to xp/vista all the time, just doesnt shut down

 

maybe it's something in the bios, try default bios settings.

 

For one the mediadirect button might be shorted as you suspect.
If you can confirm and repair that, I'll help you with the mediadirect partition and installation.

 

update on this.
i havent turned it on for a while,couldnt be bothered. i tried again today. with the battery out, just plugged to ac, as soon as i plug the ac on, it turns on. i take out the ac, leave it for a while and put it back in, it turns on again. i shut down vista, it turns out again. i think something is shorting it. im not sure if there is a static maybe?i removed the power hinge bar thinking the button might be pressed all the time, still turns on.

so i guess i need to get dell to sort that out?