After 179 cycles it last less than 1 hour now, the original one with 80 cycles last me 3,5 hours.

Basically teh concept is, the most you pay the most it last.
But as a spare the compatible one can be an option

Sony CRX830E 24x24x24 +8x DVD Combi Internal IDE for Notebooks OEM Black

i use this one sometime , it works fine even if it is not an IBM option

it last 179 cycles in my t40

you can make a .reg file that imports the settings in your registry ....
actually you make 2 option1.reg and option2.reg

option1.reg=settings for do nothing
option2.reg settings for standby

thenyou save to your desktop, one click, confirm and you have your settings...

yes put the old one in but the drivers / program info stay ....anyway you ussually get away with it...

any 12,5 mm thick drive will do,

When you bought the Thinkpad you bought 30 day of support, after those day, you have to pay 60 euros to have support( at least in europe) and you will be treated like the king!! Different story if you don't want to pay the fee, that is what pay the salary of that guy that answared the phone. You don...

Forgot, it is page 64,
if you are missing teh hardcopy you can download the manual at:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 2p2252.pdf

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... IGR-4K2PZ7
this is from the manual, your error is listed with the explanation

part number of teh dvd drive?
you might need firmware update...

Hostile wrote:After talking with a rather rude IBM tech on the phone you just hit "F1".

The guy was rude and maybe he was thinking " Read The fooking manual ".It is written there...

( i do work in IBM, not tp support but we "live" close and you cannot imagine what people ask on the phone.....)

Darn... then there must be something wrong with my thinkpad!!! I don't know if I want to send it in for repair though. Do you guys think it's too much of a hassle and risk to send it back to IBM? I mean, I can live with the flicker... it's only a slight annoyance. And most of the time I'll be able ...

..small problem, if your TP is under warranty and , by any chanche , you call tech support and they make you run E-gather file, ( does a snapshot of EVERITHING) and they see you have a custom dvd, your warranty is voided ..Good luck

Good afternoon,
To check if the TP you want to buy is solen, providing that the owner notifyed it to IBM, you just need to take it to a servicepoint or phone thetech support.

Regards,
Starmanx