OPTICAL DRIVE REPLACEMENT

[KRAZY KEV]

i believe that the optical drive in my T43 may be faulty. it reads cd's and dvd's ok but will not write to a blank cd. i have tried roxio creator 2011 pro and also nero 7 essentials and both fail the writing process. i was using LIDL'S tevion branded discs and have never had any problems in the past on other writers.
if i need to replace the drive do i need a IBM branded drive or can i fit any propriety brand of drive. i presume i might have to change the fascia. am i right in believing that it is fitted with a IDE drive.
the current drive is a hitachi / lg branded device made for IBM. The model number is:
GCC-4242-R4

[Harryc]

The quality of the media may be questionable - http://club.myce.com/f33/tevion-cd-r-80 ... ed-239545/
Try different media.

[rkawakami]

For ease of replacement, go with an IBM "FRU" branded drive. If it has this type of part number (i.e. FRU 39T2529), then you should have some assurance that it will work inside the Ultrabay Slim of the T43. While you may be able to use other IDE drives, the main problem is with the type of connector that's on the drive. I believe that there are two differing systems being used for 9.5" high optical drives. Another consideration is how the drive is identified to the disk controller; whether it has been set to be a "master" or "slave" device. I have some converted drives in the Ultrabay 2000 format that either will either not boot from a CD (even though it reads disks fine and the disk works with other drives) or drastically slow down the boot process when the drive is installed.

This may also be the time to consider moving up to a DVD writer. They are probably only a few € or £ more than a CD writer at this stage.