You need to ensure you have the Dell Media Direct Disc also.

If the Windows XP disc is the same version i.e. both are XP Home you should use the disc with Service Pack 3.

I have wrote a wiki A Clean Install of Windows. Go to that then select Windows XP, have a read through the wiki and make sure you understand all the steps before proceeding, pay attention in particular to the Media Direct (as this is a system with Media Direct) c.f. step 6. and step 12. of the wiki. Also pay attention to the order for installing the drivers.

What a great guide!  I have 5 Dell computers in my house with complete sets of disks/manuals/etc....except for my personal E1505.  All I had was the OS Re-installation disk and  I installed XP Home in one partition - No Media Direct.

To be honest, I never knew what that little button was for and never even wondered.

So - have I committed a horrible crime on my computer???  What will happen if one of my curious kids pushes that button?

TIA!   - Asir

If you push the button when the machine is powered off, you will get a black screen as shown below.

Of course if you press Ctrl, Alt and Delete the computer will reboot and you will get this black screen again. Some people get stuck in this loop, other people resolve the issue by powering up again with the Media Direct button. Other people had to format the drive and reinstall the OS again. I don't recommend pressing it.

If you press the button when Windows XP is loaded, likely you will get an error saying Media Direct is not installed, I think Dell Quickset has to be installed for this error to display.

The Media Direct was designed to be a somewhat mini-OS where you could load just Media Direct to play a DVD or to listen to your music. It wasn't such a success, people with it on their laptops rarely used it in this way and the error such as the above occurred alot.