CD-DVD drive blooie

[okisteve]

The CD-DVD drive in my Toshiba laptop seems to have quit working. It had been working erratically for some time and I put up with it, but now it is dead. I uninstalled and reinstalled the driver just to make sure it was not that, and I cleaned the lens.

I found replacements (Teac DW224E) for not too much $$ online, but how hard is it to replace one in a laptop?

[Bones]

Piece of cake.

Look at the documentation that came with your computer, to find out how you can access the drive bay.

Prior to removing the old drive, read the instructions that came with your new drive in regards to removing/adding drivers, take the old one out, plop the new one in, restart the system.

NBTP

[okisteve]

You mean like, read the instructions? Hey I'm a guy!

Seriously, laptop manuals don't tell you how to access much beyond the memory chip ports,. I guess I keep taking out likely looking screws until it slides out.

[okisteve]

The only documentation I've ever seen for laptops that really tell you how to do nuts-n-bolts stuff is for IBM ThinkPads. Very detailed, way easy, and parts always available and cheap, just like working on an old Chevy.

I changed out the HD on this Toshiba, but the optical drive seems a bit harder last time I looked.

[Bones]

How hard it to go on-line Steve?

Go to the site of the manufacturer, download dis-assembly instructions, look at them etc...

Takes about 10-15 minutes to do the whole thing.

NBTP

[okisteve]

Yup, I just did exactly that. It looks like a pretty major disassembly to get it out, keyboard, top cover, etc.

I think Plan B will work better - an external USB drive. Ten bucks cheaper than the OEM drive and lots less sweat. I hardly ever use the old thing as a portable anyway. It's my "mainframe" now, with all the peripherals in creation plugged into it.

Thanks for the suggestion abt the disassembly manual. Did not know they were all online.

[P_chan]

Wow it's really that complicated to get it out? My computer must be special then because all you do its unscrew a few screws and pop it out.

[okisteve]

What kind of laptop is that?

[P_chan]

It's just a hp laptop, but it's only 3 years old. If your's is older, then that would probably be why it's so hard to get out. They seem to make computer more accessible these days so you can modify them easily.

[okisteve]

Yep. This Toshiba is pretty close to 5 years old.
Well, I'm bidding on a DVD burner/etc. on EBay now.

[Boost]

Yup, I just did exactly that. It looks like a pretty major disassembly to get it out, keyboard, top cover, etc.


That sucks that they made it so difficult to get out, but not entirely surprising either. I guess they want to try and force you to have to use a computer repair shop rather then d.i.y.

When I was the equipment manager over every piece of IT equipment our wing used, I would always have to remove the HDD our of the old equipment prior to disposing of it. Most were pretty easy but would always come across those few that you had to remove the keyboard/top cover to get to it and those where a bitch! And to try and put them back together properly was even worse.

[okisteve]

That sucks that they made it so difficult to get out, but not entirely surprising either. I guess they want to try and force you to have to use a computer repair shop rather then d.i.y.

When I was the equipment manager over every piece of IT equipment our wing used, I would always have to remove the HDD our of the old equipment prior to disposing of it. Most were pretty easy but would always come across those few that you had to remove the keyboard/top cover to get to it and those where a bitch! And to try and put them back together properly was even worse.

More likely just some styling consideration than trying to keep people from DIY. The HDD was super easy to change. During the warranty period Toshiba had excellent service which must have cost them a lot, so I would think they'd encourage owners to do as much as they could by themselves.


Anyhow, I "won" the external CD-DVD burner but there was a misunderstanding on shipping costs (from Canada) that I hope I can work out.