Dell :: Studio 1535 Media Direct Button Going Off Randomly
Jan 22, 2009
I'm new here, so I apologize if I'm not doing this right or if this has been addressed.
I recieved a new Studio 1535 for Christmas. It was purchased on Thanksgiving Day so its past the 21 days. Everything was working great, but all of a sudden, randomly the eject button started lighting up and trying to eject a cd.
This did it for a little while, my sister has a MAC and says her's does the same thing. It was my first time with a slot loading cd drive..so I took her word for it.
Then it kept happening. Next, the volume button would light up..raise the volume up all the way on the screen and stay there. I would manually try to lower it, and it wouldn't let me
Basically I bought a Dell Inspirion 1525 with Vista, Downgraded to XP, had to change the Hard drive to IDA for the system to recognise XP. Been running fine then I pressed the MD button by mistake thinking it was the power button, it gets as far as 'Building you MD files' then says ''DMD cannot access your hard drive. This maybe because you have enabled Microsoft Bit Locker (Drive Encryption)'' etc etc. Now i'm hoping that means it hasn't wiped my HD cos i've read a load of people who've had problems with that button wiping everything out but i think it can't recognise my HD cos I switched it to IDA.
Anyways whenever I press the power button now it keeps loading MD and doing the same cycle and I can't load XP at all, tried loading it in safe mode and it crashes. PLEASE HELP ME!!! I can't get windows on at all and I really don't care about MD, infact when I can access windows again i'll be researching how to deactivate the MD button so this doesn't happen again unless someone can provide that info aswell
I have a Vostro 1700 with Vista installed. When I got it I didn't want the Dell Mediadirect softare on there so reinstalled with those partitions removed and just Vista on there.
I also tried installing Windows XP to see how that worked on it; XP installed fine and worked well, but I had the problem that if I touched the Media Direct button it could knacker up the whole XP installation. Obviously,
I couldn't resist trying, and low and behold, when I pressed the button my XP installation was corrupted! (my original thread on it was here - New Vostro 1700 laptop! Why are there four partitions, and can I get rid of them?!)
I've really not liked Vista, and do want to get Windows 7 on the Vostro, but what I want to make sure before I pay out for Windows 7 is that I'm not going to have the same problem with that damn Media Direct button .....
I just got my Studio 15 last week and love this notebook! On previous Inspiron notebooks if you pressed one of the media buttons while the system was off, it would then do a quick boot to a Media Direct partition where you could play movies and music and also view photos. However, on my studio, when I press the media direct botton while the notebook is off, it changes the splash screen during POST to a Media Direct splash screen but then boots into the OS, where I have to log in, and then the Media Diract app launches. This was a big dissapointment for me. Is anyone else seeing this? I was hoping that maybe I got a bad factory install, but if others are seeing this then I guess Dell has done away with the hidden Media Direct partition.
This is a pretty nice glitch, even if it is completely accidental.
So I was powering on my laptop just a few minutes ago, and during boot, the progress bar was going slower than usual and stopped at one point, about 3/4 of the way through. So, I wondered what was going on, and tapped the media buttons to see if the whole thing was locked up, and they all lit up.
However, they never actually turned off. Now, I'm booted into Windows and everything's working normally, but the buttons are still lit! And the best part is, they function like normal when pressed!
I wish there were a way to set this up to work like that all the time...the buttons are impossible to see in the dark.
Here's a pic. Sorry for the cell phone camera quality, but you can still see that all the buttons are lit up, along with the Wifi light on the far right:
So, does anyone know of a way I can get it to do this every time without an unusually slow boot?
Recently (as in, the past couple of months), my touch-sensitive media panel has been having some issues above and beyond the common complaints of the sticking eject button. Don't get me wrong, it still does that, but it adds something new to the mix:
More often than not, the eject button does not function at all, even after it unsticks itself.
Once I boot up, it sticks like normal until I boot into Windows, then attempts to eject about 10 times, and then stops. However, most of the time, it will no longer eject when pressed after this. Touching the button will cause it to illuminate like usual, but the DVD drive does not respond, regardless of whether there's a disk in the drive or not.
Sometimes, it works just fine for hours on end, ejecting every time I press the button. Sometimes it starts out working, but I'll come back to it half an hour later and it will no longer function.
Also worth noting is that when the capacitive eject button does not function, neither does the Fn+F10 keyboard shortcut.
I don't believe it's an issue with the DVD drive itself, as I can still eject via software while this happens, by going to My Computer, right clicking the drive and selecting "Eject" (although this occasionally causes an instant Blue Screen of Death).
However, I don't believe it's a touch panel issue either, because I've had the entire panel and ribbon cable replaced by Dell, and there was no difference. Also, all the other buttons (volume, playback controls) work perfectly when the eject is not sticking.
I also doubt it's a keyboard issue, because this started happening with my old keyboard, which I later replaced with my current backlit keyboard, but the Fn+F10 shortcut still does not work when the eject button does not work.
With all this, it left me to believe that the only thing it could be is software, so I completely reformatted the hard drive, left no partitions intact, not even the Dell Recovery partition, and re-installed Windows Vista 64-bit from scratch, but as luck would have it, it was doing exactly the same thing within 30 minutes of loading Windows for the first time.
I am really out of ideas here. I just can't think of anything else that could possibly be causing this, unless it's an issue with the DVD drive itself, which as I said earlier, is unlikely because ejecting via software works. Also, Dell refuses to replace the DVD drive anyway after I sent them basically this exact same message, because they "do not believe that there is a problem with the DVD drive".
Any ideas on why this might be happening? If it were just the regular sticky eject button, I would not be bothered as long as it worked as normal once it stopped sticking, but this is not the case.
I have changed my dell studio 1535 motherboard after ordering a refurbished one from dell. When reconnecting all the parts, everything worked well except the control media button <Previous Track> which was lighting up by itself from time to time.
I unplugged the media control panel, plugged it up again. This time the media panel is lighting up intermittently and the laptop cooler is at maximum. Unplugged again, a cable pin was short circuited and got broken in the process :(.
Fixed the cable, now the media control panel is completely down and the cooler runs at maximum speed. Removing the media panel fixes the cooler issue.
As I am not an expert into this, I was wondering if changing the panel will fix my problem or the faulty connection could have broken the motherboard control panel circuit.
PS. When running diagnostic via F12 key, no faulty issue is detected.
Like you from the first day I had my hands on my Dell Studio 1535 I have the problem with sensitive buttons, eject the cd light stays lit,
the light stays lit lower volume and not permitted me to walk up or down the volume or when the team suspended him again and I fastened to light one of those lights, etc etc.
I changed the panel of sensitive buttons 2 times, thinking the problem was that but never fix the problem .....
I'm trying to get hold of Media Direct for the Dell 6000. I've searched quite a few boards and come across links to where it was supposed to be, but they've been old links.
I've also been able to download 80% of the ISO on a torrent I've found, but its now stopped as the guys who had 100% have gone off line.
I was hoping someone here has still got a copy of the ISO so I can reinstall it onto the laptop I've just replaced the hard drive with.
I just got an i9300, that I'm having fun setting up. I've already done a couple hardware upgrades (OUT; 1GB PC4200, IN; 2GB PC5300. OUT; 60GB/5400, IN; 160GB/5400). See "sig" for rest of specs.
I've got a copy of Windows MCE 05. I'd like to set this up with Dell Media Direct 3.0. I've done a ton of searching the forums here, and a few other sites. I've printed out several hard copies of "How To Install MD3" threads for reference.
OK...so, here's the crux. I need a copy of MD3. I "acquired" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more) a copy, and burned the ISO to DVD. When I first used it, it set up the partitions, and then gave a wierd error about "not being able to find the Media Direct PLAY button...". Setup halted in it's tracks. I ran it a couple times, same error. After the 2nd try, I exited out and installed MCE05.
My hard drive had the 47MB (EISA Configuration) partition on the front, my C: drive, followed by a 2.01GB "Unknown Partition". Looks right, but, both the 47MB and 2.01GB partitions are empty. 100% empty.
So, I install MCE05, all the drivers, Nero 7 and Cyberlink PowerDVD 6. Defrag. I then put the MD3 disk in, and let it do it's thing. The Installation Notice comes up, and then it halts IMMEDIATELY thereafter, giving an error of "This system is not supported by this Reinstallation DVD. Installation will now exit."
Are there different versions of MD for different machines/OS'es/etc?? What version do I need for my system/OS??
What are the chances that I can sweet talk Dell into sending me a copy, where this system is out of warranty and I'm the 2nd owner?
If the chances of that (above) are "none", does anyone have a copy of the "correct" version I can "borrow" so I can get this set up?
Windows Vista crashed and the OS disk that was included with the system was corrupt so I had a local company re-install from their disk, however, I did not
supply them with the media direct CD (v3.5 on an Inspiron 1525) because I didn't know that it had to be installed at the same time.
Now I need to (from looking at other threads) partition the disk - will this be done by just running the Media Direct CD and picking option 1?
Or do I have to have the OS disk (which I don't have)? I don't want to pick option 1 until I know that I don't need the OS disk .....
I have been having terrible problems with Dell Media Direct. All started when I done the dell factory restore and after that the dell media direct fast boot option no longer worked. The hidden partition I suspect somehow corrupted. It worked okay under Windows Vista though.
Anyway I tried many fixes this without resorting to the drastic measure of repartitioning and losing my windows installation (which has taken me months to get it how I want).
The other I day I uninstalled Dell Media Direct under add/remove programs on vista. I then tried to reinstall it but now I cannot get the software to reinstall under vista. I have done this before several times without a hitch so I do not know why it is now causing problems.
I run dellkit.exe and it goes through the percentage bar so looks like it is installing. However there is very little cd drive activity indicating it is not doing an awful look. Eventually at approx 17% it suddenly pops up saying it's installed
I have M1330 that is trying to boot to media direct then promptly BSOD's. I believe the scenario that happened was the notebook was hibernated, then they pressed the media direct button instead of power to wake it up.
How do I tell not to boot to media direct?
I saw this exact same message in another thread but no resolve.
I need your help to get the MD iso for my Vostro 1500. I can't ask for it to Dell cause I bought it from a reseller. Dell asked me to do the transfer of ownership but the dealer didn't wanted to give me the information to do that.
So that is why I'm asking four your help. I have downloaded several versions posted in the www but non of them are for Vostro and I can't intall it.
I formated my HD and tried to installed as factory with those downloaded versions. This make the 3 partitions, I install the Vista and at that point everything is ok, but when I insert the MD disc it says that the system version is not supported by the MD i have
i have 4 primary partitions, one EISA, one OS, one DATA and one Mediadirect. Now im wondering if it is safe and if its possible to format the Mediadirect partition in windows vista diskmanagement? Will windows still work without the MBR screwing up after rebooting the computer?
I've just bought a Dell Studio 1535 notebook, and when i'm installed windows vista, i deleted and formatted the media direct partition (don't knew what is it).
How can i reinstall dell media direct? I need it, but I don't get a cd or dvd with media direct... Can anyone help me? Where can i find this cd or dvd image?
I'm in the process of preparing a Dell 1405 to give to a relative and was wordering about the need for all the partitions on the hard disk. Is it possible to format the drive with a single partition and forget about Media Direct booting.
This was a problem with XP Home on the system after replacing the hard drive and since I'm going to install Vista, I thought I'd eliminate it all together. Would this affect anything else? Or any suggestions with doing this?
I've ordered an Inspiron 1525 but it comes with Vista. I would like to format the Hard Drive and Install XP.
My main concern is that I've heard that if you want Media Direct you need to install it first before you format the Hard Drive and Install XP so it doesn't corrupt the Media buttion .....
I have Vostro1400 with Vista premium and I am planning to upgrade my hard drive from 120GB to 320GB. I have 3 partitions C: OS, Data, E: Recovery and I think hidden Media Direct 3.3
I plan to do the following: Make an image of the hard drive on the itself or an external USB drive. Get the new 320GB drive install it in a USB enclosure and restorre this image into the 320GB HD.
Once done put the new 320GB that now has the image into my laptop. I thonk I may have to use Vista or some other program to extend the partitions to get the full HD capacity as my HD will only have 120GB because of the image
With my recent acquisition of a Studio XPS 16, I am selling my Inspiron 1720 to a friend of mine (yep he's getting a good deal and I am throwing in 200 or 300 bucks worth of stuff to boot because he's a good guy),
but I've noticed that my play and volume up media direct buttons tend to stick as if they've got some buildup behind them.
I hardly ever eat when using my laptop and I've never spilled anything on it so I'm guessing it's just normal buildup gunk but I'd rather take it apart and clean it to give it to him as clean as possible, if it's a relatively easy task.
I currently installed Ubuntu and it was good but It drained my battery so I decided to take it off. After that my computer started to act weird. The Media Direct partition appeared in next to my OS and Recovery partitions. When i would press the MD button, I would get a blue screen and eventually every time I press the button It just turns on my computer. When I try to turn it back on after putting it on hibernate, it states that windows did not turn off right and it restarts windows. I have decided to a clean reinstall of Vista and MD but I have a few questions. I found this tutorial on how to do it on the internet but i found that i have to completely delete all the partitions including the recovery partition. I was wondering if there is a way to do this without having to delete that partition?
I've got two quick questions. Ones an issue, ones more of a slight curiosity bordering on issue.
A, when watching streaming movies on Hulu in full screen, high quality, the video is jerky. I can watch hidef rips just fine, but streaming high quality is very poor.
And it's not my connection, as both my desktops and my other laptop (an older M2000) handle it just fine.
how the media buttons stop working after a resume and how the eject button stays on.
i have been testing something and would like others to try this out. follow me here: i notice the eject button light stays on when i close the lid and then pull the usb cable out (connected to a Dell 24" widescreen with usb port which connects: 2 mouse and 2 printers and a external drive). *IF* i disconnect the usb first and wait for the full disconnect sound and THEN close lid, the eject button doesn't light up.
i'm thinking... and it could be completely wong here but the eject button might have something to do with shut down and boot up of usb devices and is going though some sort of a systems check? why? i dunno. it's been rather sporatic but i head to class 4x's a week and i shut down differently and i have experienced different results. testing a few things out.
