Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM

In ,
RnR typed on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:43:59 -0600:
Bill, sorry I can't help much now. I exchanged emails with my
daughter and she said she doesn't remember. She got a little snappy
with me because she said it was like 7 years ago and said it was the
original sims game and that she bought it. Unfortunately I don't
remember what the problem was nor the solution. Sorry Bill.

Many thanks for giving it a shot. I hope I didn't cause any problems
between you and your daughter. I guess it is all water under the bridge
now. ;-)

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote:
After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized
last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the
drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced
the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device
Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try?

Charles
Charles,

If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well
have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement,
make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small
chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the
D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there
is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone,
the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more.

The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat
plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you
are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops.
The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its
drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip
(straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The
drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on
the drive tray to remove the whole drive.

You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers
on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on
eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is
removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same
part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose...
Ben Myers

Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is
well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not
used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used

Charles

Charles wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote:
After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I
realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD
drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and
removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not
show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I
can try?

Charles
Charles,

If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well
have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a
replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay.
There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On
the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other
similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in
place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit
or even more.

The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat
plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you
are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell
laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive
from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper
clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel.
The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently
on the drive tray to remove the whole drive.

You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable
sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to
find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the
drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible.
Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits
your purpose... Ben Myers

Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is
well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not
used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used

Charles

Dell must have yard sales of spare parts after a while. A lot of people
in the Austin TX area sell Dell spares on eBay. I've bought some myself
and not encountered any problem. Better than paying extortion money to
the "leading" 3rd party parts houses for the same stuff... Ben Myers

Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote:
Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote:
After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I
realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD
drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and
removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not
show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I
can try?

Charles
Charles,

If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well
have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a
replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay.
There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On
the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other
similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in
place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny
bit or even more.

The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat
plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and
you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell
laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive
from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper
clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel.
The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull
gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive.

You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable
sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to
find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once
the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is
visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW
if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers

Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is
well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not
used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used

Charles

Dell must have yard sales of spare parts after a while. A lot of people
in the Austin TX area sell Dell spares on eBay. I've bought some myself
and not encountered any problem. Better than paying extortion money to
the "leading" 3rd party parts houses for the same stuff... Ben Myers
This was shipped from Round Rock just North of Austin. I have always
figured there were people that bought up excess inventory and sold it
off as necessary. They probably get a pretty good price on a pallet of
something.

Charles