I'm helping my uncle with choosing a drive to upgrade his old thinkpad 600E.

He wants a CDRW/DVD combo drive.

Now looking through ebay there's a huge price gap.

The issue is I don't have the part number for the drive, If I could get that it would help out a lot. Because most sellers just list the part number not the actual laptop that it fits.

I found one on ebay listed for a 600E, but it's selling for almost $50.
I asked the seller if he could provide me with the part number, but instead he just asked me for the cd drive number. Which was no help at all.


If anyone has the part numbers for a OE or aftermarket CDRW/DVD drive that would help me out a ton, thanks!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Part Number for Original (O.E.M.) Thinkpad 600/600E/600x CDRW/DVD combo drive should be 84R2001

I couldn't find anything on Ebay either except the (very high priced) $50 one.

I have lots of Thinkpad 600E DVD Rom drives, and one CDRW/DVD Rom combo drive available. I would have to first check the combo drive and verify that all features work well. If interested send me an email (see my signature below) and I will check it for you.

Daniel.

Thank you!


Does anyone know if these will fit it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370555352105?ss ... 1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220875731741?ss ... 1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130582033003?ss ... 1438.l2649

No, no and no. Just look at all the pictures posted in those listings, observe the front connection. #1 and #3 on your list above has a completely different connector. #2 on your list above (which fits A30, R30, R32, R40, T20, T30,etc.) uses the same connector, but it is positioned slightly more to the right side in the 600 optical drives. Also, the 600 series utilizes an extra bracket/piece screwed onto the front underside.

Read this article: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

It lists most of the major groups of optical drives used in Thinkpads and neatly organizes them into families which use the same connector. The 600 series uses "UltraslimBay" and (unfortunately) is in a class by itself, so no other optical drive from another Thinkpad series will fit it.

Daniel.

Thanks, I don't have the laptop in hand.

So I have no idea what it looks like.

My uncle is bring it tomorrow so I can look at the drive.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to laptops, I just stick to desktops and ZIF based media players.

Oh and if you could check the drive you have and send me a price shipped to 92597 I'd appreciate it.

acmav289@yahoo.com

I will be glad to do that. I will email you by tomorrow.

I just added this to my post above just as you made your latest post, so I don't know if you read this:

[Moderator's note: I'm leaving this discussion here for the time being because you are obviously in a rush and seem to have found what you needed. Normally, you should post wanted ads in the Marketplace. You might have found someone local to you. - Phil.]

If you are looking for part numbers, here is one place to start:
Hard disk drive/CD-ROM/FDD/DVD Options - ThinkPad 600

But none of those were CD-RW, or DVD-RW. Also, note that there are actually tons and tons of drives that you could put in your machine. Most of the e-Bay sellers are not selling original part numbers from IBM. What they are selling are replacement mounting hardware which has been filled with whatever CD/DVD/RW drive they happen to think is good, or at least have good access to.

When you see your uncle's laptop and pull out the UltraslimBay, you will notice that there are some screws showing here and there. If you unscrew all those screws, then you can actually take out the drive yourself and replace it with another 12mm high drive.

What you are paying for on eBay is really the value of having a new drive inserted in the UltraslimBay "frame" for you. Usually you could purchase the same bare drive yourself for about half of what you will pay for it already inserted for you.

Phil.

Thank you for that information, also My intention was not to make a wanted ad.

I'm not new to Forums at all, I'm a moderator on a few actually.

I was just looking for part number and information on the swap.

So when looking for a drive that will fit I should be looking for a 12mm, but what connector?

I don't know it's its like desktops where it has IDE/SATA/ZIF.
unfortunately I didn't get to check out the drive today.

Again I really appreciate the help.

Would these work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-NC622 ... 20be2b0731

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Slim-IDE-DVD ... 45fc403244

Very likely, yes those will work.

I realize now that I forgot to mention that if you replace the internal drive with something other than an exact duplicate, then you may run into problems using the same front "bezel" piece on the new drive. Drives normally come with their own "front bezel", which can, if necessary, be trimmed to fit with an Xacto knife or something, but then your bezel will not match exactly the outer shell of the rest of your thinkpad. They will fit inside the drive "caddy", and should work fine, but just not have an exactly matching front bezel.

Almost all available bare 12mm CD/DVD/RW drives will use a standard IDE interface at the back.

When I replaced the drive on my 600X, I looked to see which model of drive I had already inside, which turned out to be a Toshiba, and then I searched for the best possible upgrade that would use the exact same front bezel. Here are my notes on this search:

Find the right optical drive to fit 600X
viewtopic.php?p=35201#p35201

Others have used GMC drives, similar to the ones you link to above:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39876
and
http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_600x/cdobyns_cd/
and
viewtopic.php?p=183860#p183860

Phil.

Thank you, aesthetics wise I don't think he really cares. As long as it works.

Really appreciate the help!

Mmmm...I spoke too soon about these GCC-4246n drives. These are 9mm high instead of 12.5mm high. I'm not sure if the Thinkpad 600 caddy screws will line up correctly on a 9mm high drives. I have always used 12.5mm high drives. Sometimes 12.5mm drives are called 12mm or 12.7mm high drives.

Phil.

Thank you! luckily I didn't order them, I did some more searching with the link you provided and saw some members had luck with these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320781671411?ss ... 1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MPC-T3000-CDRW- ... 256909b2c5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110762643548?ss ... 1438.l2649

I haven't ordered them, just waiting on paypal to clear my funds.

But if anyone can double check them for me i'd appreciate it.

Just looking for one that will fit an operate, If we need to modify the case/caddy that's fine.

Would this one work if I swap out the caddy?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-39T2669-Thi ... 3635086049

It's an IBM 12.7, but I'm still confused on the ultra bay/slim bay thing.

Do NOT get a "Ultrabay Enhanced" drive: they use a proprietary connector. Do NOT get a 9.5 mm-thick drive: some screws will not line up with the 12.7 mm rails (UltraslimBay devices are 12.7 mm).

For instance, item 290607464788 Panasonic UJDA770 should work.
For instance, item 290607454967 HLDS GCC-4243N should work.
For instance, item 300587548343 HLDS GCC-4243N should work.

thank you for the links! My uncle finally dropped off the drive, so now I can finally see which one wikll fit.

I'll upload pics in a bit. But the ones you linked to do look just like it.

Here are the pictures:

Thanks I ended up ordering this one!

I'll let you guys know how the install goes.

Will I need to install a driver or will windows update install it?

OS is Windows XP Pro.

Got the drive in today, swapping out the caddy was a breeze.
The bezel was not interchangeable, but it looks like a simple fix. Just have to trim a plastic post and swap the metal contact over.

I'm about to download the driver right now. Then my uncle is going to bring the laptop over in a bit so we can test it out.

So far everything is working out, thanks again guys for all the help!

Well I plug in the drive and windows is not finding it. Also if I press the open button it doesn't open.

I was hoping windows would find *****Expletives removed by Moderator***** then have windows update find the driver...
but that's not the case.

I cant find the darn driver anywhere either.

so how do I install a drive in a laptop?

Windows and BIOS aren't seeing it at all.

I booted up BIOS Test with the old CD drive, then swapped the DVD drive in then ran the test and got this:

Dunno for sure, but my guess would be that either the drives connector is not compatible, or the drive is faulty.

I thought all I needed was the connecter to fit for it to be compatible, oy vey!

This is turning into a huge headache.

The caddy swap went so well, all the screws lined up and the adapter in the back fit with no issues what so ever

Here's the DVD drive with the 600E caddy:

Well...one would think so. Are the connectors exactly the same on the original drive and the "new" one?

Yep, the connector slides in without any force.

I tried two known good adapters and it still it wont show up at all.

The light on the drive turns on, but if I press the eject button it wont do anything.

Well then... I'm going with broken DVD drive until proven wrong.

Disclaimer: I'm often, and easily proven wrong, so no need to fret just yet.

I cant believe the darn driver isn't available anywhere. It was used in 3 laptops and none of those manufactures have the driver, only firmware updates.

But even without the driver windows should have picked it up....

Why cant ebay sellers just test their items before shipping them? ack.
I hate ebay returns.

That's a drag. Sorry to hear the replacement drive is causing you woes. I'm not sure what the issue is either, but bad drive is certainly a good possibility. I've never seen that error message before.

Regarding the driver, I don't see where you've indicated your operating system, but in Windows 2000 and XP you shouldn't need an extra driver for it to work as a CD-ROM drive. There are built in drivers that all the CD drives use. What you might need would be software that would allow you to play DVDs, and for most DVD drives, this also includes some sort of configuring of the "region" of the drive on first use. There is a remote possibility that your drive is running into some sort of problem related to its region, but I doubt it.

Phil.