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    Can I revert to Media Center after upgrading to Vista?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by cdrad57, Mar 9, 2007.

  1. cdrad57

    cdrad57 Notebook Consultant

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    I have an Inspiron E1505 that I bought, with Media Center Edition. I got my Vista Home Premium upgrade DVD today. I'd like to give it a try and see how I like it, but my question is, is the upgrade reversible? In other words, if I don't like it, can I roll it back to Media Center Edition exactly as it was before the Vista upgrade?
     
    cdrad57, Mar 9, 2007
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  2. azntiger1000

    azntiger1000 Notebook Deity

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    Hmm...I remember reading this somewhere. I believe you can't go back. =/
     
    azntiger1000, Mar 9, 2007
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  3. robbirzell

    robbirzell Notebook Consultant

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    No, you won't be able to "rollback" to XP.

    If you want to go back to XP, you'll need to do a complete clean reinstall.

    I recently did a clean install using the Vista upgrade DVD. So far it is OK, but I'm having 2 issues:

    1. there is no vista driver for my dell 1500 wireless card yet and I am getting interference that causes audio playback to stutter occassionally.

    2. my battery life has been reduced by 15-20% (40-50 minutes) since I moved to vista.

    I have been using Vista for almost a week and I am still up in the air as to whether the upside beats the downside.
     
    robbirzell, Mar 9, 2007
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  4. cdrad57

    cdrad57 Notebook Consultant

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    Ok so if I would have to do a complete clean reinstall, would I be able to do it using the recovery CD that came with the laptop? Will upgrading to Vista obliterate the recovery partition? the media direct partition?
     
    cdrad57, Mar 10, 2007
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  5. JellyGeo

    JellyGeo Notebook Evangelist

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    The one hard lesson I have learned is to never blow away the factory install - despite the bloatware. Unless the cost is an issue, I would recommend getting a SATA hdd from say NewEgg for ~ $80 and doing the Vista build on it. Then you can "roll back" to Media Center any time you want to by swapping the hdd's - which is very easy on the e1505. Just my 2-cents worth.
     
    JellyGeo, Mar 10, 2007
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  6. benna

    benna Notebook Evangelist

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    Only thing, format and reinstall
     
    benna, Mar 10, 2007
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  7. cdrad57

    cdrad57 Notebook Consultant

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    Hmm, not a bad idea...
     
    cdrad57, Mar 10, 2007
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