Before you upgrade or replace the DVD/CD-RW drive in your notebook, make sure that the drive you are buying is compatible with your computer. Some notebooks require an optical drive that works in cable select mode (CSEL). Some notebooks require master/slave (M/S) drives. Typically the drive is set to master or slave through a firmware flash. If the optical drive is not configured properly, it will not be detected by the BIOS or you will get IDE #1 error when you start the laptop. The best way to avoid these kinds of problems is to buy an optical drive designed for your laptop. If you plan to buy a generic drive, make sure to contact the seller and confirm that the drive will work in your computer.
In most cases you would be able to use the same connector board and DVD drive caddy (braces) from your old device. Just remove them from your old drive and install on a new drive.
Also make sure that your current plastic bezel (front panel) will fit a new optical drive. All bezels are different and very often you have to have a specific bezel for a specific drive. Do not hesitate to contact the seller and ask about the drive and the bezel computability.
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July 12th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
I am having a problem with my Toshiba Notebook
Satellite M20 DvD Rom. When i switch on my Laptop, the Light in the DVD rom is always on.
When i insert a DVD or a CD into it, it does not work.
Please help me…
Raj
September 10th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I was using toshiba laptop one day and after finish my work i just shut it down.I hasn’t use it for about one day then i try to turn it on wasn’t able to start,but only power light which shows that there power is light on,but the other indicator are off.I need help.
September 10th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Kunda,
Try next. Remove the laptop battery, wait for a minute, plug it the AC adapter (without the battery installed) and turn on the laptop. Does it help?
If it doesn’t help, try to reseat the memory module or move it into another slot.
September 21st, 2006 at 5:40 am
what about the “protection” some manufacturers put in their notebooks so different drives won’t work? for example a toshibe satellite m30x won’t “detect” a samsung dvd drive… but i am keen on replacing the matsushita uj-820s shit which is the official drive for this model.
September 21st, 2006 at 9:47 am
Minusf,
It’s not a protection; it’s just a configuration issue. A new drive should be configured the same as your original drive. There are many other optical drives listed for Satellite M30X.
DVD/CD-RW drives:
Teac – part number K000015780
Toshiba – part number K000015790
Hitachi-LG – part number K000015800
DVD super multidrive (DVD burners):
Panasonic – part number K000015860, K000024880
Teac – part number K000015870
It looks like you have a lot to choose from. If you Google for the part nubmer, you should find it. Before you buy and replace the drive, I would contact the seller and ask him if the drive is compatible. Just to make sure that you are not wasting money.
September 24th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Hi – im having trouble with my DVD on a Toshiba M70 satellite. It wont write CD or DVD but plays both. The macine is 9 months old and the repair co says Intervideo is the problem and we loaded it on!!! (comes with the unit) – any suggestions.
cheers Rhonda
September 24th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
Rhonda,
It’s hard to say if it’s a hardware or software problem, until you re-image the drive. Backup all personal data and re-image the drive back to original factory defaults. To start the recovery process you’ll have to do next:
1. insert the recovery DVD into the drive (you got the disk with the laptop)
2. restart the laptop and press F12 as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen
3. choose to boot the laptop from CD/DVD drive
4. follow the instructions
BACKUP ALL PERSONAL DATA before you re-image the drive because it would be reformatted during the recovery process. After the laptop is reloaded back to factory defaults, try burning CD or DVD. If you still cannot do that, that’s a hardware fault. Call Toshiba or an authorized service provider and explain that the drive doesn’t work properly even after you reimaged the hard drive. They should take care of it (most likely replace the drive) at no charge because the laptop is still under warranty.
October 19th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I’m having the same problem as Raj above: the drive light on my CD/DVD player won’t turn off, and I’m suddenly unable to play CD or DVD discs in the drive. Please help!
Thanks!
October 20th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Chris,
Probably just a bad drive. Try reseating it. Remove the drive from the laptop and put it back.
November 23rd, 2006 at 5:38 am
hi i am having trouble upgrading my optical drive in a toshiba sat pro a120. Please help. thanks
November 29th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
I was using my dads Toshiba Laptop (1805-S204). The DVD/CDRW drive doesn’t recignize the discs. They spin up but I get a message that the drive is empty. At boot up it says to check the CD-ROM Cable.
On the guides I didn’t see how to check to see if it’s plugged in. Is it hard? On the 1805 (didn’t have the -S204) I didn’t see the drive in the picture. Will I see the plug if I take off the keyboard?
December 1st, 2006 at 12:25 am
Chris,
I believe the DVD drive in this model plugs into the connector on the motherboard. You can take off the keyboard and try reseating the DVD drive. If it doesn’t help, probably you have a bad drive.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I am using Compaq Presario V2133AP notebook which came with Sony CD-RW CRX830E, DVD combo drive. I rarely used my disk drive. But all of a sudden, it started reading only CD-R/RW but not DVD R/RW. Previously it used to read DVD’s also and i used to play video DVD’s also.
What could be the problem? I even tried to uninstall hardware and tried to instal it again, and even cleaned the lens using Philips DVD Lens cleaner. But problem is not fixed.
Is there any way i can fix the problem? Waiting for your kind help in this regards.
February 10th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S253. Recently my dvd rom drive stopped being able to properly read any burned cd’s; other cd’s and dvd’s though work fine. Does this mean my drive went bad? If so, I want to upgrade to a dvd/cdrw drive. How do I find out what other drives are compatible with this laptop?
February 11th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Arun,
When I have to troubleshoot a problem like yours, I usually attempt booting the laptop from a bootable DVD disk. I use Knoppix DVD (you can download it).
1. If the laptop can boot from the DVD disk but cannot read the same disk in Windows, probably there is something wrong with software. Reinstalling the operating system usually fixes the problem.
2. If the laptop will not boot from my bootable DVD disk then something is wrong with the drive itself.
I understand that you might not have a bootable DVD for test, so I would try reinstalling the operating system. If you still cannot paly DVDs even after that, probably something is wrong with the DVD/CD-RW drive. You’ll have to replace the drive.
February 11th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Ashwin,
Try cleaning the drive lens with an alcohol wipe.
February 16th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Thanx for ur reply. My DVD drive cant read only DVD’s. It is absolutely fine with CD’s. Would you think that installing windows fix my problem? The windows XP is on a CD. So notebook gets booted if i try with CD.
Any help on this is welcome
February 19th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Arun,
From my experience, in most cases when a DVD drive can read CDs but not DVDs (I mean read DVDs when you try open them from My Computer, not just playing DVD movies), it’s a problem with the drive and reinstalling Windows will not help. I think you’ll have to replace the drive.
Make sure to contact a seller and ask him about any compatibility issues between the DVD/CD-RW drive you are buying and your laptop. If the drive is configured differently, you can get an IDE#1 error on startup and the drive will not work.
March 18th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Hello. I’m using a Toshiba Satellite A75-S1253 Notebook. Recently i’m having troubles with the DVD drive. It’s the Matshita UJDA760 DVD/CDRW.
Sometimes, the drive won’t read any type of disc when i try it. Another strange thing is that, everytime it happens, it seems to disable or uninstall the drive device, as it dissapears from My computer place, and also from Device Manager. I attempted to re-load the driver data, but still, it doesn’t reappears, not even restarting the computer.
To make things stranger, sometimes when it attempts to read data from a disc without being recognized by device manager, the computer freezes.
I had also attempted to remove the Drive and re-install it on the notebook. But that just fixes the problem half of the time; a little time later, the problem reappears.
Is there any way to know which is the problem?, Is there any way to fix it?, or did my driver went bad?
Thank you for taking time to help me with my problem
March 19th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Will,
I would try reinstalling Windows first. Use the recover DVD and reimage the hard drive. If you still experience the same problem even after reinstalling Windows, probably you have a faulty DVD drive.
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Hi,
I own a Acer Travelmate 240. A while ago I reinstalled windows and didnt use the machine for about 5 months. Strangely enough I cant get the dvd/cd drive to function.
Its got electricity and ejects and everything. The problem is that it doesnt see the drive in windows or dos.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sam
March 27th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Cj:
I have tried several times to reinstall windows, but the drive works for a very few moments. Some seconds later i try to reboot the system as it is done to reinstall windows (through the recover DVD menu), and the computer freezes. Plus when i go to see the drive (either in windows or DOS), the drive isn’t shown (again).
Curious thing is that the drive has energy, when it works it does it very well, but that won’t last much time (like 4 -5 minutes).
Is there any other way to reinstall windows? Since the drive is the only one i have on my notebook, i’m not able to do it with the recover DVD.
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:46 am
I have a Acer Travelmate 270. A while ago I reinstalled windows and now I cant get the dvd/cd drive to function.
If is a IDE problem how can i fixed?
i already think buy a newdvd7cd drive but i don’t now witch drive is compatible with my computer.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bruno
April 4th, 2007 at 9:20 am
i have a sony laptop PCG-K115S. it has a matshita UJ-820D.l would like to replace this drive with a new one as this one is not region free. please advice what drive to buy.
April 7th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Bruno,
The drive doesn’t work at all, you cannot open it or it will not recognize CDs/DVDs? Try booting the laptop from the Windows CD. Can you boot?
If the laptop boots from Windows CD, most likely there is nothing wrong with the drive and you have a software related issue. Try reinstalling Windows again.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:31 am
It will not recognize CDs/DVDs?
cj2600,
the drive don’t recognize a new empty dvd, she assumes that is a CD.
I look in the system for Hardware manegement and surprise…drive isn’t recognized by the system!
Can you tell me what may hapen?
April 9th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Bruno,
Right click on the drive and uninstall it. Reboot the laptop and test again.
Can you see the drive in My Computer? If not, try this solution.
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 am
My Toshiba Satellite will not read CDs/DVDs or any disks that go into that particular drive, i am really worried, please help!!!
April 24th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Ellie,
First of all, try booting the laptop from a recovery DVD (or CD). Do not start the restore, just boot the laptop from the recovery disk. Press F12 on the laptop startup to get to the boot menu.
If the laptop can read the CD/DVD and boots fine, most likely you have a problem with the operating system and there is nothing wrong with the drive itself. In this case reinstall Windows and everything should be fine after that. Do not forget to backup all personal files before you run the restore.
If the laptop cannot recognize the recovery disk and will not boot from it, apparently you have a bad drive. Before you replace the drive, try reseating it. Here are some disassembly guides for help. Just disconnect it from the laptop and install back in place. Sometimes the drive doesn’t work properly because of a faulty connection between the drive and the motherboard. In this case reseating the drive might help.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:51 am
I purchased the correct replacement DVD drive for my Toshiba laptop – but it came without instructions and I can’t figure out how to get the old one out. Is there a place on the net where I can get installation instructions. Thanks for your help.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Mike,
I’ve created a few disassembly instructions for Toshiba laptops. Take a look and find a model similar to your laptop.
July 21st, 2007 at 8:32 am
All of a sudden my matshita multidrive in my a75 laptop stopped reading burned cd’s and dvd’s. I’ve cleaned the lens and still nothing. It’ll read regular dvd’s and cd’s, but not burned ones.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I has had encountered the dvd drive slave/master problem. My new DVD from TEAC set as master. What i do is just set my harddrive to slave and dvd drive still set as master. work fine.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Hi, I’m trying to upgrade my Toshiba Satellite A85 cd drive with a dvd burner. I purchased a TS-L632 Model burner to replace the TS-L432 that came with the machine. The computer does not recognize the new drive. It doesn’t show on MyComputer and still shows the CD Drive in Bios. Any suggestions to resolve the problem will be appreciated.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Hi, I am trying to upgrade the failing 1X DVD R drive in my Sony PCG-FRV35 laptop (a Matshita UJ-810) to a modern DVD RW drive (8x speed, DL). Any suggestions regarding this upgrade? Thanks, Peter Costwell
March 21st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I need to set my slim line DVD-RW-K06 to slave, via software utiltiy, can you tell me where I can download this utiltiy.
THX
April 14th, 2008 at 7:07 am
im having pcg-k115s sony vaio notebook. my dvd rw is not reading dvds but cds functioning is proper. my dvd drive make is matshita uj-820d dvd rw.
can anyone help me to resolve the problem.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
suresh,
Try cleaning the DVD drive lens first. You can use cotton swap and alcohol.
If cleaning the lens doesn’t help, most likely there is a problem inside the drive and it has to be replaced with another working one.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
I read repair…. but it is really replace.
I want to repair my burner.
I need to know about the eject mech….
September 7th, 2008 at 7:59 am
i have dell vostro 1500.it has suddenly stopped detecting dvd’s.i cant play any kind of dvd in it right now.what can be done to fix the problem!!!!!!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
anirudh ruhil,
If your laptop can recognize and read CDs but not DVDs, most likely there is a problem with the drive and it has to be replaced. Before you do that, try cleaning the laser inside the drive with a cotton swap soaked in 99% alcohol.
When you open up the drive, you’ll see the laser inside the moving mechanism.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Hi, I have a Problem with a TS-L632 from my Samsung Notebook. I have flashed it and it wont show in the Bios after that, cause the flash goes wrong. Is there a way to flash it back to a previous Firmware? With a Flashing Tool a backup.bin on a PC perhaps? What have this Drive for a Connector? Sata? Pls HELP
December 8th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Hey there.
I have an HP dv500 notebook and for a while now it hasn’t wanted to burn cd’s or play certain dvd’s, and when some did play it took several minutes for the drive to even read it. Most recently it has refused to play anything of any kind. I’m pretty sure I need a new drive, but I’m not positive on how to go about getting one that’s compatible. Help?
December 9th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Kenra,
First of all, try cleaning the laser inside the drive with a cotton swap soaked in 99% alcohol. Open up the drive and you’ll the laser – a small piece of glass.
If cleaning the laser doesn’t help, most likely you’ll have to replace the drive.
The best way to find a replacement would be searching by the HP spare part number from the drive.
1. Remove the drive from the laptop.
2. Find spare part number located somewhere on the drive.
3. Google the part number.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:18 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A15-S157. I tried to replace the original CDRW/DVD combo drive with a Samsung (TSST) Combo drive SN-M242D, but I received an IDE #1 error. All posts that I’ve read points to the problem being that the Samsung drive is set to Master in the firmware, but the Toshiba laptop Bios doesn’t recognize it because it needs to be a Slave. I need to obtain the software to change my new Samsung combo drive from Master to Slave. Can you help?
January 30th, 2009 at 3:23 am
On all dvd drives you can turn them from c-sel to master-slave setting by soldering the pins 45-47 of the drive connector – when you look from above the connector the pins 45-47 are at the very left – is something like a jumper that grounds the two pins. So you can get most of the drives that are c-sel and transform them to m/sl but take heed when soldering the pins as they are darn small
Bye
Bogdan
February 16th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
i have an Acer TM2310 laptop with Matshita UJDA760 DVD/CD-RW drive. Last night i was watching movie from my DVD drive. The movie played well and there was no problems at all. But today, when i want to watch that movie again, my DVD won’t play. If i insert data DVD, it’s just fine. I take another DVD movie, it’s stop again. I need some idea what’s going on my DVD combo… thanks for reply.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Hi, i’ve got a toshiba satellite u300 13u laptop on vista,
the cd/dvd drive appears to have disappeared, and won’t recognise anything you put in it
what do you think the problem is? hardware or software? and how do you fix it?
thanks a lot
Izzy
March 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
This is such a critical tip and one that should not be overlooked. I was dumb enough to buy a replacement drive recently without checking out if it was compatiable on the manufacturers website and now I have a worhtless extra DVD drive that I can’t do anything with. ALWAYS go to the manufacturers website and make sure the item you are buying is compaitble. Great post and I wish I had found it months ago. Take care.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Can i replace a toshiba Model no:PSM30E-7101V-7U laptop dvd drive with an inspiron 5160 dvd drive?
Also how can I determine what model of toshiba I have it says satellite but thats it!! FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APPRECIATED?
WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR IN DETERMINING COMPATIBLE DVD DRIVES?
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
aho,
Do you have that Inspiron drive? Can you try?
You can find some info about the drive in the device manager. Even though the optical drive is bad, most likely it’s still detected by the computer. Also, take a look at the DVD drive entry in the BIOS menu.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
yes i have an inspiron drive from my old laptop…the motherboard died a month ago…..i got this toshiba from someone else…drive doesnt work…so trying to change the drive …….is that possible?
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 am
Hi,
I have quite an old DVD ROM drive in a Thinkpad (Matshita SR-8171). I can not get it to play most DVD’s as it just freezes or doesn’t recognise the disk. It plays audio CD’s fine.
However what I have noticed is that it plays a few DVD’s which are short in total duration, 60 mins or less (e.g. my child’s cartoons).
I don’t use any writeable disks(e.g. DVD-R etc), they are all originals.
Is there any technical explanation for a DVD drive not playing DVD’s when the video is of longer duration?
Many thanks
May 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I want to put a bluray drive on a toshiba a215 s4757 laptop. What kind do i buy?