Thinkpads Forum

Hi folks!

I got a cheap Sony-Nec-Optiarc BC-5500A at ebay and thought it would be nice to have it in my Dock II.

I used some "surrounding" parts from an older broken Ultrabay-device and screwed them on the Sony-drive - mechanically it fits now perfect in the Bay, but it's not recognised by the system!

Any ideas?

It's the IDE-version of the drive (SATA would be BC-5500S) because the adapter-parts are coming also from an IDE-drive. I couldn't find any switches or DIPs, so I assume it will be automatically set to Master or Sevant.

Any clue or hint is welcome!

I have used and prefer, the Sony product for my UltraBay2k, including several DVD-R's. Have not tried any Blue Ray though. Does the Blue Ray require a driver?

Ron

I am not sure, but I don't think so.
I couldn't find anything on Sonys website except specifications and firmware-files.

Most interesting: the drive is recognized in the Ultrabase of my X31 !!! Burning a CD was succesful there - so I know now, that the drive itself is working and my little homework was succesful.

But the question is now: what are the differences between the bay in the Ultrabase3 and the bay in the DockII ? Why it's not recognized by my T41p ? Operating system is the same!

I think I need some research work to do after a healthy night.

This may help: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

It's a very good overview, but I found the solution in the UserGuide of the DockII.

The UltrabayPlus-bay in the X3-UltraBase is hot-swappable, the Ultrabay2000-bay in the DockII isn't !!!
Putting the drive in the DockII and rebooting my T41p solved the problem.

It was soooo easy if you know what to do
(Maybe I'am tooo familiar with hot-swapping-abilities of Thinkpads to think of such a solution)

After getting the drive working, I am now interested in some cosmetic surgery...

As you can see in the following pictures some parts (red) needed to be cut off because off misalignment of the IBM-cover with the Sony-drive-body.
One part, the LED and the eject button fits (green) and the emergency eject hole (blue) need a new hole to be drilled.








So far I expect no problems, but now I have a question about the electrical parts:

The 2 metal plates around the eject button giving me the impression of some electrical circuit that need to be closed for a proper eject action.
On the cover-placed plate there is metal-tongue with is right now aligned with the outer metal parts of the drive.

My question is: where is this tongue so be supposed to have contact to???
If it's the drive cage itself (point B) it's in the perfect position right now - if it's the opposite metal plate (point A) it needs to be rearranged.

After the dremel-work I like to glue poth parts together - any suggestions what to use here?

It may be easier to modify the Sony cover, rather than try and make an IBM cover fit.

RealBlackStuff wrote:It may be easier to modify the Sony cover, rather than try and make an IBM cover fit.

You're absolute right, but..... I don't have the Sony cover - it wasn't included in the ebay-auction and I think the original owner needs it for hie own successor-drive.

Don't worry, I have the abilities and the tools to do such kind of beauty surgery - I only liked to know where the electrical contact is supposed to be.