Newbie: easy to swap cdrom drive ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
  • Start date Start date
M

Mike

Hi,

I've got a tower with CD-ROM drive the latter I want to swap for a CD/rw.
The system is on Win'98 and about 4 years old.

I've changed the cpu fan and memory in the past but only had the courage to
do this when it became essential to do so !

I am concerned that undoing the CD-ROM bay screws will release something and
I won't be able to get it back together again if I bodge the job.

Is their a website that shows simply what needs to be done ? I suppose I
would have to remove the drivers of the old CD Rom to begin with.

Mike.
 
Hi,

I've got a tower with CD-ROM drive the latter I want to swap for a CD/rw.
The system is on Win'98 and about 4 years old.

I've changed the cpu fan and memory in the past but only had the courage to
do this when it became essential to do so !

I am concerned that undoing the CD-ROM bay screws will release something and
I won't be able to get it back together again if I bodge the job.
Click to expand...

It's easier and less risky than swapping a CPU.

1. Turn off computer (unplugging gives added safety).

2. Remove the cables from the old drive.

3. Remove the 4 bay screws (careful not to lose or drop them. They're
small and a pain to hunt for).

4. slide out old drive

5. Set the Master/Slave jumper for the new drive. As this is a
replacement, the setting will be whatever the old drive was set for.

6. Slide in new drive.

7. Screw in the bay screws. Some cases require you to support the
drive with one hand, others have retaining ledges to do this for you.

8. Reattach the cables.

8. Power up the system to see if it works.

9. Put the cover back on.
Is their a website that shows simply what needs to be done ? I suppose I
would have to remove the drivers of the old CD Rom to begin with.

Mike.
Click to expand...

Not unless it's a CDROM drive from the early 90s. Modern ATAPI drives
use a standardized generic driver which is built into
windows/Linux/OS2/insert modern OS here.
 
MCheu said:
It's easier and less risky than swapping a CPU.

1. Turn off computer (unplugging gives added safety).

2. Remove the cables from the old drive.

3. Remove the 4 bay screws (careful not to lose or drop them. They're
small and a pain to hunt for).
Click to expand...

This is where I find a magnetic screwdriver invaluable.
 
As MCheru says its a 'doddle', remove the top and side panels and
you will see there are about two screws on each side. Loosen them
with a screw driver and then use your fingers so you don't drop
the screws, there is nothing else to drop as they screw directly into
the metal casing of the CDROM. Pull off the back cables and slide it
through the front casing (the hardest part I found, as it was quite a tight
fit).

I don't recall changing any drivers when I did mine, all I did way put
the CD that came with the drive in and it installed it own 'burning'
software. Actually on my hardware profiles it does say "no drivers
are required or installed for this device" (both cd drives) so no
worries there.

Incidently don't you have a 'spare' bay?
I have both drives installed on mine so I never had to
remove the old one.

You might have to remove a flimsey plastic panel and a somewhat
more robustly attactched metal plate behind it. (About a millimeter or
so of metal on either side), basically a brute force job with a screwdriver
or chisel, just keep 'waggling' it untill metal fatigue causes it to break.

You might need extra cabling though, (an IDE cable with two device
connectors,
and extra power cable (there will usually be a spare one knocking around
inside,
if not get one on ebay).
You need to set one as master (cdrw probably) and the other as slave,
mine seems to work either way.

Its basically fear of the 'unknown' I would say changing memory is far
trickier, it's when you are doing things second time round and you are
a bit more complacent that you might get the odd 'niggle' (Memory
not fully inserted and 'half inserted' (half_pint inserted?) in my case,
but all
turned out well in the end).

Incidently there is a third small cable (i am not to sure what it is for so
I just plugged it into the master drive with nothing on the other one and
all seems fine).


half_pint.
 
After you do all that the CDRW will act as a CDROM. Win98 does not have any built in CD writing capability, you will have to install CD writer software to write CDs.

--

When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject

Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
 
Back
Top