Thinkpads Forum

Ok, I am sure that this has been brought up before but I wanted to dig up into this a bit more.

So I recently purchased 2 DVD-Rom's hoping that they would play the DVD-Rs (I mean CD-Rom stuff, just read the file structure). Well to my surprise the Drives that I got were M a t s u s h i t a based or Mitsui, I don't quite recall exactly, but unfortunately they can't see any DVD-R's or DVD+R's (or I haven't tried as many).

Now on the other hand I also have a Toshiba model which actually works fantastic with something like CompUSA DVD-R's (I hope they are still making them as I use them as secondary copies).

So what gives the different manufacturing Choice with these drives? They also look different (the led on the outside is positioned in a different spot).

Also, why I am feeling hesitant about something like this? I have a feeling that this was assembled not by IBM?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0201120794

Moderator edit: Shortened URL to prevent horizontal scrolling

Why are you hesitant? Maybe because you don't see a FRU/PN associated with the drive....... I see no information at all. Verify, verify, verify.

I would be looking for a part or model number no matter what so that I can be sure I'm buying what I need. There isn't a way to verify it's even and 8X DVD drive is there.

The other drives that you have right now, are you sure you can't perform a firmware update in order to have them read newer media?

Hey thanks for the response. To my recollection these drives already have the latest firmware unless I can find something on some sites of "questionable" content, such as firmware patches for region codes etc.

Either way I am not going to bother with that too much but will give it a shot one more time.

However, what comes to mind is to actually workaround with some existing DVD-CDRW from different manufacturers;

for example check this page out

http://www.secondbyte.com.au/ChangeCadd ... eCaddy.htm

If I already have a DVD-Rom Drive for a different laptop then I could swap it out and stick it inside the thinkpad and vice versa?

I do however, wish to have a working IBM drive nonetheless.


EDIT!!!!

It looks like I found my answer. So far it has detected the COMPUSA DVD-R, but I haven't had luck with DVD+R double layer ones.

Original firmware 067B now patched to 079G.

Here's the page with information;

http://www.mazochungo.net/SR-8171.htm

One more thing. The first toshiba drive that I bought does work better with DVD+R's but I don't think that this is truly a Thinkpad 600 FRU - (part FRU 05K9106). Panasonic drive I guess is the original Thinkpad 600x or 600E or 600 model FRU 05K8971. Either way now I know which part to get if I want to have it on both of my Thinkpads or just use USB 2.0 Card and use external DVD.

I know this is a little confusing. I've been there. I see where you asked a seller if the T4X drives for sale would work. (I think the answer you where given was crappy but factual.) The reason a newer drive (which would have DVD+R read support) won't work is the style of internal connection with your 600's CD/DVD adapter. The drives that will fit your 600's Utrabay adapter are going to be the older generation, older style of internal connection.

Here's a link to something you might be interested in......look at the connection on the back of the drive.......; Drive. Affordable too......!!!!

I had to decide which format because I have many (too many) computers. I settled on the DVD-R format when buying blanks........

UDX wrote:If I already have a DVD-Rom Drive for a different laptop then I could swap it out and stick it inside the thinkpad and vice versa?

Yes. Probably almost any standard, laptop-style drive with a height of 12.7/12.5mm will fit, once you take your old bare drive out of the "caddy", but you may run into problems with the faceplate/bezel of a different or newer drive because the eject hole and the light may not match up. The newer laptops are using thinner 9mm drives and some of these may have connectors that line up differently at the rear of the drive, but there are still many, many, many excellent, new, 12.5mm drives out there, including fancy combo drives that can do DVD-RW/R+/R- along with CDRW.

If the eject hole and/or light don't line up at the front, then don't worry, usually you can use the new faceplate/bezel that came with the newer drive, though in some cases you may need to chisel a bit off one end to make it fit the way you like.

UDX wrote:I do however, wish to have a working IBM drive nonetheless. [....] The first toshiba drive that I bought does work better with DVD+R's but I don't think that this is truly a Thinkpad 600 FRU - (part FRU 05K9106). Panasonic drive I guess is the original Thinkpad 600x or 600E or 600 model FRU 05K8971.

None of the drives are actually IBM drives. The 600 series shipped I think with either Panasonic/M a t s u s h i t a drives or Toshiba drives that then had IBM labels slapped on the outside. And none of these "IBM" drives were that good. Even with the firmware upgrades, most people find they have trouble reading some DVDs -- especially dual layer DVDs -- with the Panasonic/M a t s u s h i t a drives. And I found the Toshiba drives had trouble with some DVDs too. There is no need to stick to (inevitably, used) OEM drives in this situation. I would recommend getting a newer, more compatible drive if I had a choice. Lots of people have been very happy with drives from eBay similar to the one you pointed to in your first post, though I cannot comment on that specific seller. If you buy from a reliable eBay seller you should be okay with these repackaged drives and you will be much better off than buying an original "IBM" drive.

Here are a couple other people's experiences with replacing their CD/DVD drives in their 600's:
Find the right optical drive to fit 600X
Successfull upgrades on my TP 600E : DVD/CD-RW Drive, RAM...
M a t s u s h i t a SR-8171-C DVD

Phil.