Dell dvd-rw drive

gaz310

Good Afternoon All
It would appear that my dvd rw drive on my dell dimension E521 has died
i put a cd or dvd in does not autoplay and when i click on the dvd icon it says please insert a disc , have checked in device manager all ok there and there is power to drive

my questions are
1 any other ideas or advice on testing or where to look
2 can i put any generic dvd rw drive in or do i have to get one from dell

many thanks in advance

Gaz

motorguy

A standard drive will work fine, though i cant recall if a 521 has a SATA drive or not, you'll be able to check easily once its out though.

DatabaseError

1. if you've tried a few disks, and non are readable via my computer, then it is probably jiggered...
2. yes, though there are 2 possible interfaces, IDE (most likely) and SATA, may be worth taking the drive out to check, big cable IDE, little, SATA. be sure to set master/slave jumper before fitting the replacement.
Either way, new drive should be around £20, fitting 5 minutes (inc. tea break)

Donnie

If IDE, this one is good value for money.

Sput2001

Many more recent Dell models have used SATA DVD drives, but open her up and double check before splashing any cash. This picture certainly suggests it's a SATA:



If so, and you're replacing an existing drive with a new one then removal is pretty straightforward, and refitting is simply a reversal of the removal process. If you know one end of a screwdriver from another you shouldn't have too many problems. Once you've established whether it's SATA or IDE, any drive will do as long as it's the standard desktop size, although you might want to make sure the face colour matches for cosmetic reasons. I think Dell use rebadged Samsung drives, but could be wrong.

You won't need to worry about jumper settings if it's SATA either.

gaz310

thanks to those who replied

It is a sata drive says so in the bios/setup screens now the hunt begins for the best price
dvd re writer / cdrw drive black fascia sata drive

DatabaseError

donnie's link above is a good starting point, indeed, I'd look no further

Sput2001

£15.99 delivered from Play here is pretty good. 4% back via Quidco, too.

Donnie

tonyhague wrote: »

donnie's link above is a good starting point, indeed, I'd look no further

My earlier link was for an IDE drive, but this Samsung has the SATA connection, has similar specification and is the same price as the above.