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Storage How to replace a laptop DVD drive

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by academica, 14 Sep 2012.

  1. academica

    academica What's a Dremel?

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    Hello everyone,

    I have a Packard Bell EASYNOTE E4710 laptop (bought in 2005). (Please do not send me links to their customer service).

    I urgently need to replace the defective NEC ND-6500A (made in 2004) slimline internal drive and I bought a TEAC DW-224E-C59, HW/FW ver. 02/A.AC. The BIOS does not recognize the new drive, probably because the original NEC drive is configured as "master" and the new TEAC drive as "slave".

    Question 1: Can I replace the old drive with a new one without making any changes, in other words, which modern slimline DVD drive is compatible with NEC ND-6500A?

    Question 2: Can I change the TEAC drive's configuration to "master" by soldering pin 45 to pin 47 of the IDE interface as shown here

    Question 3: Is there a way to change the TEAC drive's configuration to "master" by flashing the drive's firmare and how to do it?

    Please help! :wallbash:

    academica
     
  2. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes How many wifi's does it have?

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    Ok I have 0 idea for your laptop and what you want trying to do, whoever I just want to say the following:

    Depends on many things.
    Some laptop uses a propitiatory connector for the optical drives, some use the standard SATA one. If it uses IDE, then its another set of problem.

    Some laptop, if you are lucky have an somewhat easy (screw driver needed) to remove SATA to propitiatory connector.

    Some laptop requires 20+ screws and even require to pull out a bunch of components to get the optical drive out. While others (mostly business class laptops), requires not a single screw to switch drives.
     
  3. academica

    academica What's a Dremel?

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    GoodBytes, thank you for your consideration and reply.

    Let me make it clear: let's exclude the laptop and focus on the replacement of slimline DVDs, which is the difficult part. The DVD connects to the mainboard directly (no cable) via a 50-pin Slim-ATAPI interface (see here). Pictures of the drive and the connector can be found here.

    I'll ask the same questions again, because the answers will solve my problem and probably many other people's.

    Question 1: Can I replace the old drive with a new one without making any changes, in other words, which modern slimline DVD drive is compatible with NEC ND-6500A?

    Question 2: Can I change the TEAC drive's configuration to "master" by soldering pin 45 to pin 47 of the IDE interface as shown here

    Question 3: Is there a way to change the TEAC drive's configuration to "master" by flashing the drive's firmare and how to do it?
     

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