Zeroing Inspiron to MediaDirect to Ubuntu...

My Dell Inspiron 1520 laptop is now a stable dual boot system. Pressing the Media direct button (AKA self-destructing button) loads Ubuntu (linux) and pressing the power button loads XP.

Earlier I had setup the dual-boot system but the problem was that if somebody pressed the media direct button, it would corrupt the MBR and partitions and the system would become unbootable. I caled up the Dell technical service but they didnot have any idea of how to disable or prevent this destruction. Googling , I found a few resources which told how to make the media direct work as I want.

This link tells how one can force the Media direct button to boot to your favorite OS(this
may also help to get a better picture). I tried this few times but the system behaved unpredictably on pressing the Media-direct button, some times working fine, sometimes corrupting the partitions. The simple reason was that the secret hidden partition containing
the destructive-software (HPA) corresponding to the Media direct was not totally wiped or over written.

Then I stumbled upon Zeroing the drive. This method will fill whole of your hard disk,
(the hidden things & everything) with zeros. It took 212 minutes to zero my 160GB hard disk. Then I finally Installed winXP and Ubuntu as mentioned here and did the changes to configure
Mediadirect to Ubuntu and WinXP to power button.

Hail Ubuntu...

I am happy today, and you know why... ?
After posting this, I went home,
* created a System rescue CD from an ISO image.
* Booted with System rescue CD and deleted all partitions.
* Booted with WinXP CD and installed it on a 25GB NTFS partition,leaving behind other part of disk as unpartitioned.
* Booted with Ubuntu 7.10 CD and installed it on a 15GB ext3 partition along with 3GB swap, leaving behind other part of disk as unpartitioned.
* Booted with System rescue CD, created one 20GB FAT32 and 3 30GB NTFS partitions from the unpartitioned space.

Now My lappy is a fully functional WinXP-Ubuntu 7.10 dual boot system. I never had thought installing a dual boot system was as easy and enjoyable as eating Hide & Seek.

I could have had installed the media direct partition but I did not want to. I also don't have the system restore partition. I don't think both media direct and Dell's System restore will work with the dual boot config. considering that MBR is written by Ubuntu.
Now I am on a hunt to find necessary drivers to make my lappy work fine.

Hail Ubuntu...

My weekend adventure....

Should I blame my itch to switch or My(monkey)Mind...
I brought home Wubi, wanting to try Ubuntu. It wouldn't install, It tried to download the Ubuntu ISO image but as I was as connected as the oasis in the Sahara..It didn't proceed. I thought of a plan, 'I can make an ISO image of the latest Ubuntu 7.10 Live CD that I have and place in the correct location.' But naa....My Dell pre-configured system does not have an ISO writer software !! I needed it badly... I went to the nearest cyber cafe, got Imgburn in a pen drive, came back and make an ISO image. Now when I tried to Install Wubi.. It wouldnt proceed, reason...The wubi was for version 7.04 and my ISO was 7.10. So I said 'Until next time when I am really desperate I will try you my dear Ubuntu Linux.'

Now comes the Interesting part. After a couple of hours when I am using my system, I notice that the drive opens in a new window, The hidden folders cannot be seen. The folder options menu is ineffective. I was sure...this was a virus that some also call as rootkit. I checked a few things and I learnt that the virus was amvo.exe. It spreads through an executable file d.com that is hidden in USB pen-drive. Whenever you access your pendrive the virus jumps into action, adds a few entries into windows registy. The pre-installed Macafee Antivirus couldn't detect it. I should have updated the antivirus with latest signatures...but shouldn't the company be providing the system with all the latest signatures?? How can you expect everybody to be connected ?
Anyways...I tried to correct the problem, booted with Ubuntu Live CD and deletedd all the suspected programs and files but still the problem persisted. The virus was not dying. I said 'Fcuk Windows...' I took backup of my data into a pendrive and thought of trying the Dell System restore which brings back the system to factory settings state wiping off every data from the disk. But...but but...that option did not work...there was some modification done to the bootsector(or whatever) so it wouldn't start. Now I decided I was going to reinstall WinXP. Prepared my system for the Dell media direct partition, booted with the WinXP CD, formatted the drives and installed both XP and Media direct.. But now when I tried to log into Media direct 'Missing NTLDR' message came, same followed with WinXP.
I was frustrated, I finally decided 'I will install Ubuntu' and I did. My system is now a working Ubuntu system with limited functionality(no sound,cannot play popular media format files & all). While installing Ubuntu, I formatted the hard disk with one 3GB swap, and others as some 30 GB ext3 partitions. Now I can access only one of those ext3 partitions which is mounted as '/'. I have to learn the basics of linux, it's file system, commands and all or else I cant live with Linux.