2 Questions ...

1) I recently returned/received my new M1710 with the 7950. It came with Media Direct 3 - I tried the reinstall process for 2 (with leaving the 47 mb Diagnostic Partition), but it did/doe not work ... my assumption is that this means the MD 2 hidden partition is not installed - can someone confirm this probably self-evident observation?

2) I am running seti@home. As a result, my idle temps fluctuate between 63-70 c. with fans always running. My idle w/o obviously much lower. I am just wondering if anyone has any experience about how this might affect longevity. Will this higher temp cause me issues?

Thanks ahead of time for any feedback.

 

1. no idea

2. heat is the enemy. yes, if you run at abnormal temps or prolonged higher temps, you will descrease the life of your computer. might want to look into a cooling solution.

 

Thanks drumfu.

It is not that the system is running out of spec - merely that since seti@home is running both CPUs @ 100% heat is more. So I do not really see anyway to offer more cooling since it is operating within spec. I also have a passive cooler that does help.

Does anyone else run an @home programme on their M1710/notebook? Any experience into how much of an effect it has on systems over the long haul?

 

Okay. I'm a bit confused. Are you wanting to switch to MD 2.0?

 

Sorry no Southern Girl. I returned my original M1710 after a week and a half as the 7950 GTX was released. when I received the 2nd unit it had MD 3 installed. Too bloated for my liking, so I hoped to simply put 2 on. But when using the MD button to boot into only MD it does not work. I am assuming this is because 2 is in fact not installed within its hidden partition - is that more clear?

 

If it had MD 3.0 installed, then all you have to do is keep the Media Direct partition. You will see this in the partition area when you are formatting. You don't have to repair it or do anything like that.

If you've already formatted and deleted all of the partitions, then you'll need to call Dell and request the MD 3.0 reinstallation disc. You'll have to use this disc to create a partition, and you'll have to format again.

 

Thanks Southern Girl. I do indeed have the disk. The difference between 2 and 3, however, is that 2 had the partition 'hidden' even after a reformat - all you had to do was ensure that the Diagnostic 47 mb partition was left and use the repair bootable ISO. It seems that is no longer the case with 3. So I get no 3, ah well. thanks for your time

 

LOL, i'm guess I'm a bit lost as to what you are asking. Why can't you have 3.0?

 

hehe no I suspect it is me ... I do not want 3 as I have already reformatted all of my partitions and I would have to do it all over again to get 3 in there ... as I tried to suggest, my assumption about simply putting 2 back in place was wrong - and I just wanted to affirm my 'dumbness.' 3 will work - but I would have to create a whole new install and repartition with everything. 2 was easier b/c even if you reformatted everything, it still had an 'untouchable partition' that required a simple repair ...

 

You should reinstall be able to reinstall 2.0. The trick is you must have at least 1.5gb of unpartition space located at the end of your HDD. Then you can run the reinstallation disc 2.0

 

Thanks Southern Girl - I have decided I do not need MD that badly

Any opinions about the seti@home question?