(guide) How to boot ubuntu using MediaDirect Button

It wasn't even that, because my linux was in a logical partition, so I wrote rmbr.exe DELL 2 5. And that screwed everything up. I should have read help, where it said that Y and Z can only go from 1-4.

 

I tried your spanish tutorial and it wasn't working. Then i decided to update my xps bios to A09. I retried the tutorial and worked perfectly. Thanks. So if anyone is having major trouble I would try to update the bios as there was a Media Direct update in it.

 

Hi all, here is my experience
I received my XPS 1530 by the end of February 2008, with Vista pre-installed, on a 160 GB HDD. The partition schema when I got it, was like,
Partition 1: Primary, Dell Diagnostics, Approx. 78 MB
Partition 2: Primary, Dell Recovery, 10 GB
Partition 3: Primary, Windows Vista, Approx. 136 GB
Partition 4: Extended
--------------A. Logical, MediaDirect v 3.5 , Approx. 2.5 GB

Currently I have Suse Linux 10.3 (64 bit) booting through Power Button, and Vista through the Media Direct button. Following are the steps I have done.
1. Deleted Dell Recovery Partition (No. 2), Media Direct Partition (Logical) and then the Extended partition (No.4) containing the Media Direct Partition. Now I have
Partition 1: Primary, Dell Diagnostics
-------------: 10 GB Free Space
Partition 2: Primary, Windows Vista
-------------: 2.5 GB Free Space

2. Using "GPartEd", resized the Vista partition to 20 GB.

3. Using "GPartEd" live CD, moved the Vista Partition towards left, to avoid the 10 GB Free Space in between.

4. Rebooted using Dell Vista Re-Installation CD, Selected Repair option, which corrected the booting issues with the relocated Vista partition.

5. Rebooted to Vista and Created remaining partitions. [Control Panel - >Administration Tools -> Storage Management]. Now I have
Partition 1: Primary, Dell Diagnostics, 78 MB
Partition 2: Primary, Vista, 20 GB
Partition 3: Primary, Linux Root, 20 GB
Partition 4: Extended
--------------A. Logical, Linux Swap, 4 GB, swap
--------------B. Logical, Linux Home, 20 GB, Reiserfs
--------------C. Logical, Linux Store, 20 GB, Reiserfs
--------------D. Logical, Windows Home, 20 GB, NTFS
--------------E. Logical, Windows Collections, 20 GB, NTFS
--------------F. Logical, Windows Store, > 24 GB, FAT32

Note: The Reiserfs formatting, I did while installing Linux, From Vista, only the volumes where created.
Note: The letters A,B,C etc before logical partitions above are just sequence numbers, not drive letters.
Note: Linux Swap may not be required, as we have sufficient main memory.

6. Restarted and booted from Suse Linux 10.3 installation CD, did required formatting for its Volumes (Root, Swap, Home, Store) and completed the installation. During installation, you will be asked to choose the location for GRUB. I installed GRUB to my Root partition (No. 3).

7. Rebooted to Windows Vista. Copied the DellKit from the Dell Media Direct DVD to Harddisk. Started command prompt "as administrator", and ran "rmbr DELL 3 2" (ie Power button to boot from Partition No 3 - Linux and Media button to boot from Partition No 2- Vista)

8. Now everything works as I wished. When I press Power button, it starts Suse Linux. When I press Media Direct, it starts Vista. From within Vista and Linux, the media button starts Dell Media Direct (available as a program in Vista) and Amarok respectively.

9. Only problems that I face are
a. If I reboot from Vista/Linux, it always starts Linux
b. When I boot to vista using Media button, after loading the desktop, it launches MediaDirect program.


These things I did about two days back, not sure whether I have missed any of the steps. I am trying to do some workaround for the said issues. If you have some suggestions, please let me know. I am not a frequent visitor of this forum. So please feel free to contact me on my mail ID "[email protected]".

 

I'd love to experiment with this. Gparted is a great tool, but unfortunetly it does not detect the raid0 array on my laptop.

I had issues getting media direct to work with multiple partitions (1st:vistsa, 2nd agefile, 3rd: programs. 4th: storage, 5th: media direct). XPS tech support said there was nothing they could do to help, but this method sounds like it could work if I can get gparted to see my raid array.

Any ideas on how I can load gparted to see it?

 

I wish this would work for Asus, they have also messed up the auto-on media experience button, loading vista + logon, then the Media Center. None the less, awesome guide and I will forward this to a friend with a new Dell.

 

uys,
Here is my plan, I would like your ideas to see if I'm headed right way.

Have new XPS M1530, w/ 200gb HD, 3 gb Ram

Want to reinstall just Vista and eliminate bloat but also Mediadirect
Then dual boot with Ubuntu ( this part I undertstand)
I have been reading that Dell has a hidden partition that is connected to the Mediadirect button and it will screw up the partitions, is this true?
Is it best to low level format prior to new install (to fully clean HD)?
Having a dead button instead of Mediadirect is not an issue as possibly I can reconfig it at a later date.

Plan would be
30gb Vista
20gb Ubuntu
2gb Swap
Remaining as ext3 home to be shared between Vista & Unbuntu

Comment and suggestions welcomed

Thanks for ya'lls good work

 

A little off topic, but is creating an on-disk swap partition a positive. I was reading about it a while ago because on of my friends was going to get an old raptor for it, but with a 7.2k drive, is having a set partition for it a little better performance/fragmentation?

 

Check out my alternate guide: boot XP from MediaDirect button & Ubuntu from Power button

 

Right, Lets hope you guys have your thinking caps on .

I've followed this wonderful guide and got to stage 13. At present the Power on button boots directly to Vista and the Mediadirect button brings up the grub menu showing the list of Ubuntu , Ubuntu Safe mode , Ubuntu Mem test and Vista. Right so here goes. Right at the end I was on step 13 and did the bootrec /fixmbr and it completed successfully but when I did bootrec /fixboot it told me the "volume does not contain a recognised file system. Please make sure that all the required system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupt". :S Help please So close to success , All I need is when pressing the mediadirect button for it instead of the grub men u to go straght into Ubuntu . Thanks

EDIT : Nearly forgot, REPS FOR YOU KOSSEL!
DOUBLE EDIT: Found a good tool called Grubed , I'm trying it right now , It can make it auto boot an OS
TRIPLE EDIT: Now it seems to boot windows on both buttons
QUAD EDIT : WOW GOT IT WORKING AND WITHOUT THE BLACK SCREEN ALL YOU LOT GET. ! :d

 

It only took me about 5 hours -_- to get this to work.

I suggest putting this tid bit of info in your post. While in command prompt you must be in ADMIN MODE or you will get an error. That is why it took me so long -_- well thanks~

I don't get a black screen

 

Thanks a lot. This is working fine on my Dell m1530 with MD 3.5

I only did steps 1-5 and the 10/11 part because I installed GRUB correctly from the start and then the installation was painless.

My advice, in Ubuntu, use the advanced settings to get GRUB in the correct partition, very easy after that. It should also be simple to add other linux distros to my extended partition.

Again, thanks for the guide

 

I have a 1530 as well and am trying to do the same thing as you. In the advance settings in ubuntu install after following steps 1-5, which partition do i install the boot loader on. my choices are /dev/sda (298.1GB) i'm pretty sure thats MBR. and then /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2 Windows Vista/Longhorn, /dev/sda6, and /dev/sda5. Not sure which one ubunu is on.


Not sure if this helps but during setup in ubunut when it asked which partion i did the first guided one and took 20 gigs from my primary partion(which vista was installed on) for linux.


Which one did you install the boot loader on?

 

nvm i got it too work. I just did the manual install of ubuntu it's a little bit more easier i think cause you know where stuff is going and you have to create your own swap partition. Thanks for guide. Needs minor adjustments but over all good stuff.

Minor adjustments include: in vista you have to be admin to change md settings, Doing ubuntu's guide install doesn't work most of the time my advice is to use manual and create your own partions that way. Also right before the last forward click in ubuntu install there is an advance button. Click and you can locate where to install the boot loader. By default it's the mbr and thats what you don't want most of the time. Choose the partion your about to install ubuntu on and then once it's done follow steps 7-9 just to double check. GOOD LUCK!

 

Just 40GB for vista and 80GB for ubuntu ???
Sorry, I'm new to ubuntu and wanna try it

EDIT: what's the advantage of ubuntu ?

 

Can anybody help me with this? I followed the guide without reading the rest of the thread, so I ended up installing GRUB on the MBR. I erased the MD partition, and installed Ubuntu, following all the directions on the guide. However, when I hit the MediaDirect button now, it splashes the MediaDirect logo and hangs there.

At that point, I have to turn off the power. Then if I try to boot Vista, it gives me an error. I have to fix it by going back to the Vista install DVD and using the Startup repair tool. (Note: usually the first time I boot the DVD and go to the built-in partition editor, it says that my entire hard drive is blank... then when I reboot and look at it again, it shows my 4 partitions again).

I used 2 and 4 with rmbr.exe to get the above results. I then tried 2 and 5 with rmbr.exe and got similar results. Note that I also rebooted into Vista after using rmbr.exe to make sure 2 was the right partition for it, and everything works okay until I press that MD button .

Once I got Vista working again, I downloaded the Linux Reader program mentioned earlier in this thread; and it shows that GRUB is indeed in the Linux partition. Should I just reinstall Ubuntu and try again? And if I do, is it safe to delete the Ubuntu partition, the swap partition, AND the mystery 100 mb partition as well? Any help is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Nevermind, fixed. I just used a Gutsy install instead of a Hardy install.

 

Thanks for all the helpful info, I finally got this working on my 6400 with MD 3.3!

Here is some important info I found out:

If your root partition for Ubuntu is installed on a logical partition, inside an extended partition, you must install GRUB to the EXTENDED partition.

Here is my example:

sda1 (hd0,0): Dell utility
sda2 (hd0,1): Vista
sda4 (hd0,3): Extended Partition
sda5 (hd0,4): Ubuntu Root
sda7 (hd0,6): Ubuntu /home
sda6 (hd0,5): Linux Swap

so at the GRUB command I typed:

root (hd0,4) # Ubuntu
setup (hd0,3) # Extended partition

then in an elevated prompt in vista:

X:\dellkit\rmbr.exe DELL 2 4 # 4 is the extended partition


I hope this helps someone else out there!

 

I need some help. I already tried this guide 2 time and an other guide ( find here

First enterd MD 3.5 dvd and created a partition from 22gig for my linux.
The I runned windows 7 setup and installed al driver for windows 7. When windows partition was ready I rebooted and booted from dvd.

I installed linux (with the bootloader instantly installes on the linux partition)after the whole proces my hard drive looks like this:
OEM Partition ( /dev/sda1)
System Partition( /dev/sda2)
Linux Root Partition( /dev/sda3)
Swap Partition (/dev/sda4)

After installing ubuntu (with the bootloader located at sda3) the pc restarts and boots in windows. There I inserted the Dell Media Direct CD and runned rmbr (as administrator):
cd\
e:
cd dellkit
rmbr DELL 2 3

Shut down the pc and tried to boot ubuntu.
But my laptop just boot window 7. Even tried other number.
I tried rmbr DELL 2 3, rmbr DELL 1 3, rmbr DELL 2 4, ...
It does not make any change, both the start buttons boot windows in every configuration.

What’s the problem??? Do any of you know any solution??

Thanks in avance,
Pigmaster