Dvd drive not detecting on notebook / How to re-seat DVD drive.

[Danno]

If your dvd/cd-rom drive is not being detected it may have come loose internally. There is a small bracket attached to the end of the dvd/cd-rom drive which attached the drive to the chassis of the notebook which sometimes may come loose due to the vibration caused by the drive spinning at high speeds.

This can cause all manor of problems, the symptoms may include:
• Dvd/cd-rom drive not being detected in “My Computer”.
• Dvd playback stuttering or lagging audio.
• Notebook turning itself off at random intervals.
• Notebook switching off or crashing when the Dvd drive is opened.
• “This is not a valid win32 application” error when trying to install software.

All of these can be solved by removing the dvd/cd-rom drive and re-tightening the ‘L’ shaped bracket on the end of the drive. Also, depending on the notebook chassis the screw that secures the dvd/cd-rom drive to the chassis may be hidden under the main large panel on the bottom of the notebook. There are instructions for both here and pictures to illustrate which chassis type you have.

All we need to do this is a small Phillips screwdriver. Then we can continue.

To remove the drive, first off eject the drive and leave it open, then shut down the notebook, remove the power cable and the battery and turn the notebook upside down. Take a look at the picture below, you will see a small screw as
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/files/0011.gif


(please note, TYPE 2 you will need to remove all the screws from the large panel to gain access to the drive bracket screw)

Remove this screw and then gently pull the drive out of the notebook like so:
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/files/002.gif
Once this is loose you can pull the drive free from the notebook, you can now press the drive shut. Now take a look at the end of the drive, you will see the L shaped bracket which will be similar to the one pictured below:
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/files/003.gif
These two screws are more than likely loose, tighten them up as much as possible being careful not to strip the screw threads.

Now reverse the process, put the drive back into the notebook, secure the screw back into the bottom of the notebook, reseat the battery and power on the notebook. Your drive should now be detected and work perfectly.

[djgandy]

This is my problem. I'll do it as long as it doesn't void my warranty.

[Ritesh]

this will not viod your warranty.

[pluto2010]

My friend has just brought the rasor laptop and cant get it to boot to install xp.

i was wondering if the cd drive was disconnected, how would you tell if the cd drive is connected from the bios.

thanks

[X40Nick]

Does this effect all the Novatech laptop range? Or just the ones made by a certain brand?

[rich218]

I pulled out my DVD drive and it had no L-shaped attachment at all, just the two empty screw holes. Could this be a problem?

[Coops]

Not exactly.

Ever chassis uses different methods for connecting and housing the optical drive.

Not all odd uses rear bracket.

Some use a barcket screwed down the side of the drive. Some are mounted on trays.

Depending on which chassis / notebook you have will determine how drive is fitted. You will need to tell us chassis model so we can answer.

[rich218]

Oh it's the x80r, is that the chassis model?

[Tendo]

I don't know what my chassis model is but my laptop is a Santa Rosa T7100 2048MB 160GB bought 2007 (if this info could be useful). Problem is, after removing all the screws at the bottom, I still can't figure out how to price the base open. The documentation on driver CD's only explain how to access HDD and RAM not the DVD drive. Help on how I can access my DVD drive will be highly appreciated ...




Not exactly.

Ever chassis uses different methods for connecting and housing the optical drive.

Not all odd uses rear bracket.

Some use a barcket screwed down the side of the drive. Some are mounted on trays.

Depending on which chassis / notebook you have will determine how drive is fitted. You will need to tell us chassis model so we can answer.

[DonJ]

My fathers Notebook is a Novatech Model M67SU Product code M670SU. OS = Vista Home Premium patched to SP1 mid December 2008 with a few update patches since. The DVD ROM is recognised in the BIOS and it therefore appears in Windows Explorer tree. The tray can only be opened with a paper clip. When a disc is put, in the green light comes on solid for a while before going off. Opening Windows Explorer and selecting the DVD ROM results in an error pop up, Place a disc into drive etc. This happens with every type of disc, applications, CD-RW's and DVD films. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the Optitrec software but to no avail. Assistance much appreciated thanks.

[DonJ]

Sorry I should have added to my previous post....I will try the CD tray removal/refitting and cleaning tomorrow and report back.......

[DonJ]

no luck with the suggestions but my dad had a new drive hanging around which came from Novatech last year for another of his comps which he had not used. I just swapped over the end bracket and hey presto it works. The plain end facia does not match the X60's comp case but that's not a problem.

[magichater]

My friend has just brought the rasor laptop and cant get it to boot to install xp.

i was wondering if the cd drive was disconnected, how would you tell if the cd drive is connected from the bios.

thanks

You should see a clear indication in the start of the bios screen if it is enabled make sure you have the boot priority setup to CD/DVD 1st, HDD Second.

[Nick T]

Not sure if this is neccesarily the right place for this as my problem is not that the drive itself isn't being detected but that no disc (CDs, CD-Rs, DVDs etc) is being detected by the laptop. I have tried numerous discs, all in near perfect condition and not a single one of them load up, so the problem is almost definitely with the drive itself.

Any idea what this could be?

[bofh1971]

Hi Guys

I have an X55 MV thats not detecting discs in the drive,
the system had already set the drive to pio mode, so I forced a reinstall and now the drive is showing as a DMA capable device.

however it is still not detecting any discs, the problem started when trying to load on Red Alert 3, and steadily got worse, I was originally blaming the disc, but have also tried my own RA3 disc which I know works.

I would like to try and reseat the drive, however there is a silver warranty void sticker over a screw hole in the base, so I thought it best to come here and check first before removing any screws.

Cheers
Bo

[The Underdog]

I'd get it sent to Novateh while it's in warranty :).

[bofh1971]

Actually a lens clean made all cd's and dvd's work EXCEPT RA3
a quick search of the net and this is not an isolated problem
even though I have two different ra3 disks one premier edition and one normal one neither of them runs on this laptop
the disc has tried to install a couple of times but gets stuck on the movie files like everyone else

so I think I figured out the problem, the drive is fine :)

[m27try]

have the same problem, going to have too call HP lucky ive still got warranty till December

[Andycripple]

You people might want to try this link first before opening things up

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314060