Master Boot Record

[Alley Cat]

I am fixing a Dell Inspiration laptop for a friend. It has Antivirus 2009, on it. I reformatted the main partition with Vista and get it back to my friend. 30 minutes later they phone me, they cannot boot up their computer, "Dell Media Direct" keeps coming up. And since I reformatted it, Dell Media Direct, no longer works, and it cannot access the main partition.

I did a little reading on Dell Media Direct. When my friend hit that stupid Dell Media Direct button, the Master Boot Record got screwed up.

Now I am trying to format again, the main partition, Vista will not complete the install due to the Master Boot Record being screwed up.

Help !!!

[Mr. Gibs]

Try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

[Alley Cat]

It appears that before reinstalling, I was able to rebuild the Master Boot Record, and I am attempting to reinstall Vista.

Is there a way to completely disable that Dell Media Direct button, so Dell Media Direct does not return, even if someone hits that button while the laptop is turned off, and while the computer is running POST and BIOS.

There is no option for Dell Media Direct within the BIOS, I checked twice.

[Mr. Gibs]

You can just delete the media direct partition during the vista installation.

[Alley Cat]

No, you cannot remove the media direct partition. The partition is visible yes, but cannot be accessed nor removed by normal means.

[+BudMan MVC]

You can delete it with diskpart no problem. Diskpart is normal.

diskpart

select disk 0

list part

sel part x, where X is your direct play part

delete partition override

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

No, you cannot remove the media direct partition.

Um... Yes you can!?

[Nicholas P.]

No, you cannot remove the media direct partition. The partition is visible yes, but cannot be accessed nor removed by normal means.

Yes you can. Even through Win installation. You have an option to partition the disk (before the format screen)

EDIT: Just delete the partition. Assuming of course you try to install win while booting from a cd/dvd media