Internal Optical Drive laptop upgrade - system freezes

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Hi there!

My laptop optical drive wouldn't work anymore. I think it was a mechanical problem, because of the strange noise i could hear.
I decided to change it and got a new DVD/CD-RW combo drive off ebay.

When i insert this new drive, it wouldn't be recognized in POST, the hard drive led is always on and the system would freeze at some point.

I read (after buying the drive) that the problem could be of some incompatibility. My old drive was M/S (master/slave, it's written on the label), and the new drive could be Cable Select? I can't see anything on the new drive labels (I'm waiting for an answer from the seller). If that's the problem, do i have to buy a new one? Or do you think the problem could be something else?

I'm posting what the decription says:
Philips Combo DVD-Rom/CD-RW Laptop Drive
MODEL: SCB2656
MAY 06

BRAND NEW OEM - Comes in sealed anti-static packaging
(NO RETAIL BOX, CABLES, DRIVERS ETC..)

The Philips SCB5265 is slim internal type with 12.7mm height, and is an IDE/ATAPI interface CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. The drive is able to write CD-R/RW discs and also can perform as a regular DVD-ROM drive. The SCB5265 has 8X speed DVD-ROM disc reading, 24X speed CD-R disc writing, 24X speed CD-RW disc writing and 24X speed CD-ROM disc reading capabilities.

- 12.7mm Height, Internal Type CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
- Support 12 cm / 8 cm Disc 8X (10.56 Mbytes/sec, DVD) / 24X (3,600 Kbytes/sec, CD) Data Transfer Rate
- 8X DVD Disc Reading Speed / 24X CD-R Disc Writing Speed / 24X CD-RW Disc Writing Speed / 24X CD-ROM Reading speed
- Variable Packet Writing
- 150 ms Random Access Time
- IDE/ATAPI interface (compliant to ATA/ATAPI-6)
- DVD-ROM & DVD-Video (DVD-5, DVD-9, DVD-10,DVD-1, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Double Layer, DVD+RW, CD-DA CD-ROM/XA, CD-i, Karaoke CD, Video CD, Multi-session Photo CD, Enhanced CD, I-trax CD, CD extra, CD Plus, CD-Text, CD-R and CD-RW Discs Compliant.
- Support Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Operating Systems.
- Support Ultra DMA mode 0, 1, 2 Multi-word DMA mode 0, 1, 2 and PIO mode 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Support Buffer Under run Protection.

Can you understand from here if it's M/S or Cable Select?

 

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Plenty of info about the drive but you haven't mentioned what Laptop you have.

I seem to remember from the A+ studies that a cable select drive also needs a cable select <cable>.
This is highlighted by the fact that the activity light is wedged on.

Si

 

I have an Asus A2H (btw good luck if you're goin to look for info about it).

So you're saying that (say the new drive is cable select) i'll be fine by just changing the cable?
It seems a bit of a hassle to get into a laptop, but i mite give it a try... i wudn't be studyin IT if i wasn't a curious animal

 

How old is it? Asus site starts of with an A3.

Laptops can be funny and are not really in comparison to desktop hardware. Even if you could find a cable select IDE cable for it you have no assurance that the BIOS will pick it up.
Personally, i would replace the drive with the same model that has just come out of there.
If you can't find the model via the <net> i would contact one of the big web based laptop repair people and ask if they can source one for you.

Si

 

ye i thnk that s the only thing i can do really..

well tnx a lot.. v helpful as always

 

I think it is the most straight forward way. Let us know how you get on.

Si

 

will do ;)

 

right, the drive was cable select and i got some very confused intructions about how to switch it to M/S. it was just too confusing and i decided to return the drive.

i was thinking though, how about getting a usb drive?
the only problem would be when i'll need to format the hard drive and reinstall the OS, isn't it? can you think of any other reasons why having only a USB drive wouldn't be enough?

if that's the only problem, is there any way to get around that? how about having the OS installation files stored in my hard disk data-only partition (the one which hopefully won't be formatted), can u run winXP installation from that partition?

 

If you cannot locate an identical (or at least suitable replacement), then yes, you could. As long as the BIOS will boot from your USB drive you could install XP as normal. The only nuisance would be carrying the drive around with you.

Si

 

that's cool mr.. gonna give it a try and i'll let you guys know

tnx a lot!!!

 

Jez is it just me or Asus website totally sux

I couldn't get specific info on my A2H laptop nor BIOS upgrades and stuff. It seems support for this laptop doesn't exist.

How do I know if my BIOS supports boot from USB?

 

Rite, havin a look at the BIOS of this laptop, in boot sequence settings i can select boot from USB FDD (floppy disk drive), does that mean it can boot from a USB optical drive too?

Also, how can I determine if my current drive (SD-R6372) is master or slave?
I found this drive, do you think it's gonna work?

And just to make things clear... It seems like notebooks have only 1 IDE channel, and if i got it rite, the hard drive is always primary master? how can an optical drive be primary master too?

am confused