Change CD/DVD Drive in Laptop

Can anyone point me to instructions on changing the CD/DVD in a Sony laptop?

The CD-RW/DVD reader drive in my Z1RMP reads and writes to CD fine but doesn't read from any DVD - the drive spins when a DVD is inserted, the drive light flashes a few times and then all is quiet. As far as Windows (XP Pro/SP2) is concerned, there's no disc in the drive.

When working from home, I've an external DVD writer that works fine (read and write) so it's only an issue if I want to read a DVD whilst away.

I initially considered sending the laptop back to Sony under warranty but it seemed too much hassle as they say the first thing they do is reset the laptop to it's original state. I regularly image C: and back everything else up but I can't be bothered with the hassle - just in case it all goes belly-up.

I've no qualms about taking my laptop to bits, so I'm wondering whether it's worth replacing the CD/DVD drive tray.

Anyone done it? Any pitfalls? What drive?

 

The laptop will have it's own webpage at Sony. I would check if there are any firmware updates for the drive. Check all the downloads, some manufacturers supply a repair manual for download and although unlikely, there may be information about changing drives in the laptop's User Guide.

You could just open the case and see how accessible the drive is. There are lots of small parts.

I have not ventured to work inside one (yet), but there have been some successes by people who told how they replaced parts, so it is definitely possible.

Maybe a matter of trying, as long as you can backtrack when you have finished or cannot complete it, if say, special tools are needed.

Matt

 

Thanks for the reply. I updated the firmware when the DVD read problem first arose - no change.

The Sony website didn't have much about this job when I last looked but I'll have another look around.

 

http://www.notebookparts.com/products/index.php
Try this Vendor. They are good and they are reliable.

 

This is what I went through when I wanted to replace a CDRW/DVD-ROM drive with a DVD recorder in my Toshiba notebook. I bought a Toshiba DVD recorder as I thought I could just pull out the old drive and replace it with the new drive. I found out Toshiba does not make their repair manuals available to the public so had to search the web to see how the notebook came apart. I took out the old drive and put in the new drive. The drive did not have any jumpers on it. When I booted up the drive was not found. There was a IDE# 1 error. I phoned Toshiba and was told this drive is incompatible with my notebook. If I wanted a DVD I should go to a Toshiba service center. Of course what the service center wanted to install a DVD recorder it would not be worth it. I would be better getting a new notebook. The DVD that I bought was set as cable select I needed master/slave to have it work. After doing more searching on the web I found out that someone had a download that others had tried that changed that model of drive to master/slave. I had to get a adapter so I could install the drive into my desktop and then use the file I downloaded. After I did that I installed the drive back into the notebook and it has worked fine.