Thinkpads Forum

OK...here goes..Hello first of all...I was referred here from another forum as they couldn't help me much. I have an older Thinkpad 'i' series Model #2621-460. The DVD ROM was working perfectly until about 2 weeks ago. I put a DVD in to watch and I received a pop up window saying "NO VALID DRIVE/DISC FOUND". The other forum seems to think the optical drive failed, and recommended replacement. Because its an older model no one there could actually tell me anything about where I could purchase a new DVD drive or if it would be just better to replace the whole laptop. Can I purchase another DVD ROM in a retail store like Comp USA or Best Buy? And how do you remove the DVD Drive? It appears that it doesn't just slide out. I think I have to remove the cover. But of course I'm not sure. I purchased this refurbed laptop on Ebay and only paid a couple of hundred bucks for it so is it worth to fix or should I just upgrade?

Thanks

Welcome to the Forum!!!

I am not sure about the part numbers, or how to remove the drive, but you can use the Hardware Maintenance Manual as a guide on how to get the drive out, as well as the part numbers.

If you are going to trash the DVD you could try
cleaning the laser lens... sometimes with age dust
dirt smoke etc. puts a light film over lens. What i have
done in past to some success is use a Q-tip and dampen it
with ethyl alcohol (reagent grade ~ 190 proof) this evaporates
and leaves no residue. Just LIGHTLY do little circles on lens.
Isopropyl might work but has a lot
of water added and doesn't dry as nice.
Might be worth a try.

madmax

I would first check driver install to see if thats ok and no problems there and are you having problems in other areas with the operation? As for removing the DVD you need to get the keyboard off which isn't too bad but damage can occur if not careful with the three cables coming from the keyboard to the MB. There's two green ones and one brown one which is for the trac-point, this is the one that gets riped if your not carefull and renders it useless. Once keyboard is off there's a screw(one) holding the DVD tray in place, remove and slide DVD out and change out.

A search on e-bay pulled up the following:
IBM Thinkpad 1400 series DVD Rom Drive FRU 05K9113

You can also Google the FRU number of the drive to find other suppliers.