XPS 1530 – How to boot ubuntu using MediaDirect Button and windows 7 with the power button

  • Posted by racoonlab
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The following is my own conclusion after several searches.

I applied a dual boot on my XPS 1530: Media Direct button for Ubuntu and power button for Windows 7 .

– Install windows 7 on your partition. I used a USB pen (much quicker than a CD)

– Install Ubuntu

onto another partition:

  • remember to reserve a swap partition, another for the root and another for the rest (/home). Obviously you can create all the partitions you like. But remember windows and the root have to be installed on a primary partition, otherwise it won’t work. The rest can be on an extanded partition. You have a maximum of 4 primary partitions and several into an extended partition.
Now let’s say you have a configuration like this:

/dev/sda  
 /dev/sda1 fat16 /media/sda1 49 MB
 /dev/sda2 ntfs  /media/sda2 19329 MB
 /dev/sda3 ext3  /           20003 MB
 /dev/sda5 swap              3997 MB
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">  /dev/sda6 ext3  /home       276690 MB</span> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span></span>
After installing Ubuntu,

Code:
sudo grub

…following by….

Code:
find /boot/grub/stage1

…it will return….

Code:
(hd0,X)

…where X is a number…Enter….

Code:
root (hd0,X)

…following by….

Code:
setup (hd0,X)
…this will allow you to boot from ubuntu partition.
When I wrote “root(hd0,4)”, X for me was 4, everything was smooth, whereas when I inserted “setup(hd0,4)” I had few lines, however with no fatal errors.
At this point, start windows 7, press Windows + R and type “cmd” (please with no quotation marks) click on it with the right button and “run as administrator”, insert Media Direct CD and into the command prompt go to dellkit directory and type rmbr DELL 2, 3 (windows was installed onto the 2nd partition and ubuntu onto the 3rd partition. The first number 2 refers to the power button, the second number 3 refers to the Media Direct button.

Code:
E:\dellkit\rmbr.exe DELL 2 3
That’s all.
You can start now ubuntu and go to

Code:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
and change the timeout from 10 to 0.
Enjoy it.