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November 5th, 2016 06:00
Dell Latitude - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2640M CPU @ 2.80GHz
Hey guys,
Tracking down some friendly helpful advice here, so i basically got a second hand laptop off a friend, the laptop works reasonably well, much better than i originally thought, no issues i couldn't fix myself.
I have ran into one issue though, i did research about the parts in this machine before i got it(i have built a few gaming rigs before for myself around 4 now), anyways... the optical drive: "TSSTcorp DVD-ROM TS-U333B" on the DELL specifcations says it is in fact a DVD/CD burner however the drive functions fine when playing a CD/DVD but when i insert a blank DVD-R or CD-R the laptop doesnt try to recognise the blank disc nor does Windows Media Player offer an option to burn, it says in WMP: "Connect a burner and restart the player" i also installed and ran "DVD Identifier" it cannot seem to offer any scan options they are all greyed out and i am pretty confident it is because the optical drive is read only not read/write?
I'm just curious if there is any further tests i can do or is the fact simply its just a read only? Because i feel like i have been lied to by the specs and i feel a bit disappointed...
If it is read-only is there another optical drive i can buy online and install that suits this laptop that is read and writeable? I have built a few gaming rigs but i haven't really installed many parts in laptops mainly because i look at them as compact, but i mean a optical drive usually has only a few screws and two cables to plug in, so how would i find a optical drive that suits this laptops version?
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ejn63
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November 5th, 2016 16:00
Did you retrieve the model number of the drive from the system itself (it'll show up on the boot screen - F2 at powerup), or from the list of original hardware at support.dell.com? If the latter, it sounds like somewhere during its lifespan (this is a system that's about 4-5 years old), the drive was replaced with a ROM rather than an RW drive.
The system will take a standard slimline internal drive -- SATA interface (or you can also use an external usb drive).
burgo855
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November 6th, 2016 02:00
It is the original drive name, i got it from checking device manager and then read up on it on the DELL original parts/specs. It also matches the boot-screen.
Did the original only support +r not -r? I remember having an issue when i got a different DELL laptop about 10 years ago now and it only supported +r discs, i honestly have not tried a +r yet mainly because i haven't got any laying around.
ejn63
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November 6th, 2016 07:00
This system is new enough that it will support both + and - ... it sounds like the write laser in the drive is shot. There's a separate laser for writing from reading, and if the system won't recognize a writeable disc, the former has failed.
burgo855
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November 7th, 2016 01:00
Thanks for the reply,
Hrmm, well that is a shame. Do you know what i should be looking for to replace the current optical drive that will fit this laptop? I don't want to get an external optical drive because the whole point of getting a laptop was so i could use it anywhere, extra cables and parts hanging around will become a nightmare.
I only noticed one laser on the Drive tray base, is the other laser internal? if it is... then which one reads and which one writes? If the internal laser writes does this mean that if i change optical drive it still won't write, or does changing the optical drive also change the inside laser as well? I'm not too sure i haven't actually pulled this machines bottom off as of yet.
I'm thinking i might as well get a Blu-ray Disc combo (BD-ROM/DVD±RW/CD-RW)?