Clean format of 6400 for Vista?

Hi guys, I have an Inspiron 6400 and I wanted to install the vista beta on it to try it out and see how it works.
I currently have XP Media Centre and I was wondering if the format would go the same way as Southerngirl posted and if Mediadirect would work without MCE.

 

First off, do you have an extra partition? My Dell E1505/6400 came with a 17.2 Gig partitioned D Drive. If you do, you can put the Vista OS on that drive, and dual boot both XP and Vista (Should do this automatically). When you run the Vista intallation, go to advanced set up and put it on the partition. Don't try the upgrade installation. I tried that and my system crashed. Media Center on Vista is really cool. The Media Direct button works for me on Vista. If you want to still use Media Direct, having a dual boot would allow you to still use Media Direct without starting Windows. Any other questions, let me know.

Dell E1505
Intel Core Duo T2400 @ 1.83GHz, 2GB Ram, 256 MB ATI Raedon Mobility X1400 Hypermemory, 80GB Hard Drive, Creative Sound Blaster 24bit USB, Windows XP Professional & Windows Vista RC1 (Dual Boot)

 

no unfortunately I dont have a VISIBLE second partition.
All I can see is a C Drive and thats it...
I would rather do a clean install though, since I still have all the crapware from dell when i got my laptop in october.
Do I need a driver disc or can I download them from the internet? Also what do I have to do to keep the Mediadirect partition intact? As well as the restore partition?

 

MD will work without MCE. Users who have XP Pro or Home use MD, but i'm not sure how it would affect with vista. It shouldn't give you any problems. Since you just receive your laptop, you'll have MD 3.0. Make sure to leave the Media Direct partition and everything else should be good to go.

If you want to use the MD button while in XP, you'll need to get Dell Media Experience. This is the same as MCE but for XPP/Home users. It should work in vista, but you might wait for confirmation from some of our other users before taking my word for it.

 

Ok, so people are telling me to do a "clean install" of Vista. Doesn't this mean that it deletes all partitions?
Or can you also do a clean install on only the XP partition.
I am considering deleting partitions 2, 3, 4. I dont really know If I need the backup partition.
The diagnostic partition though will always remain intact no matter what OS i install though right?

 

If you install Home Premium or Ultimate then I see no reason for the MD button to not work. Both editions include the Media Center features that XP MCE has.

P.S. - Vista Ultimate is an excellent setup. I have the final version installed and activated on my desktop machine. I decided to wait up until I get Home Premium from Dell in Feb '07 to load it there then upgrade to Ultimate.

 

Clean install means reinstalling XP and deleting the XP partition.

Restore partition is normally deleted also. Diagnostics (partition 1) just depends on the user. If you want to use Media Direct, then you need to keep Partition 4. It will be labeled Media Direct.

 

ah ok, so if I dont touch it, then it should be fine.

As soon as i'm done exams next week I'll go ahead and just delete the restore partition and XP partition.

 

Vista setup is very easy, as it comes with almost all the drivers. Video drivers however, you need to find. ATI has Vista drivers already set up (Check thier website @ ati.com) and they work great. As for Media Direct, I do not know what would happen after you format (clean install Vista). You could try to install it from the Dell website if it is deleted. But def do as Southern Girl said. Where are you getting your copy of Vista?

Dell E1505
Intel Core Duo T2400 @ 1.83GHz, 2GB Ram, 256 MB ATI Radeon Mobility X1400 Hypermemory, 80GB Hard Drive, Creative Sound Blaster 24bit USB, Windows XP Professional & Windows Vista RC1 (Dual Boot)

 

As a continuation of this, I'm getting Vista Home Premium from Dell in Feb/Mar 07...Right now, I have Vista RTM (legally) and want to install it when my laptop which comes next week. If I install the Home Premium version of Vista right now (which lasts til June or so), when I get the upgrade package from Dell in Feb/Mar, can I use that serial number so that I don't have to reinstall Vista again at that time?

 

Media Direct doesnt work for me after vista install (fresh install on the partition where MCE2005 resided). When you press the media direct button, it shows the media direct screen, then just boots to vista. Probably something to do with the MBR, I'm sure its fixable but I never even used media direct so its not too big a problem for me.

As for the serial, probably not, it will most likely only work with the dell branded version of vista they will send you.