T430 with faulty cd drive

[barbican]

Hi there,

Could anyone advise on what to do about a faulty cd drive on a T430.

It has worked well for a couple of years but now sometimes recognises the discs I put in and sometimes doesn't. The discs are music cds and dvds.

I don't think it's a fault with the discs I'm using because sometimes it will recognise a disc and then later I'll try the same disc again and it won't recognise it.

Recently I tried to play a dvd and it worked for five minutes then stopped. Ten minutes later it played perfectly!

Is this probably a case of replacing the drive? And, if so, could you advise how to go about doing this?

Many thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Get the illustrated T430 Manual from the HMM link above.

[rkawakami]

The HMM will list some of the CD / DVD drives that were available for the T430. If you stick with Thinkpad part numbers (FRU), you shouldn't have any problems with physical compatibility; i.e., it will fit inside the drive bay and look original. There should be several drive types available: CD/DVD (reads CD and DVD), CD-RW (reads CD and writes CD-R / CD-RW; doesn't read DVD) and DVD-RW (reads/writes CD and DVD). If you are comfortable with buying off of eBay, typically most are used (or "refurbished") units but you might find some that are described as new. I would suggest selecting a local (UK) seller with good feedback and a stated return policy. Another option would be to place a WTB (Want To Buy) post here in the forum's Marketplace stating what you are looking for.

[Vopu]

Hi, Unfortunatelly drives fails over time , have you tried cleaning the lens with isop.alcohol (min 70/proof)? Drives themselves have firmwares, Check your drive firmware is up to date. Have a look at this https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downlo ... ad-general, Failing that as realblackstuff said , download the HMM to replace your drive yourself. Drives are not that expensive (15-25$), you can get generic ones online , check aliexpress. Or search with the FRU on the drive you took out.
Vopu

[kfzhu1229]

If you are skilled enough, you can just get any tray loading sata 12.5mm height cd/dvd drive on gumtree for pents and transfer the brackets on your current drive there.
Lots of ppl opt to swap out the dvd drive for 2nd module bay hard drive mounts to have hdd and ssd together so its cheap

[Vopu]

Am i seeing this correct $45+$20 Shipment / $65 brand new, From States.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Think ... SwRTtbNZTs

Generic one here $18.99
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3297626 ... web201603_

[rkawakami]

Yes, that price looks correct. Although I saw some used DVD Multi drives for $10: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274404430765 That seller ships to UK for $15.

Another seller has new drives for $16: https://www.ebay.com/itm/333211867843 and ships to UK for additional $19.

You have to look around for good deals on eBay. Just can't jump on the first one you see.

[barbican]

Hi all.

Thanks for the responses. Sorry for taking such a long time to update the thread!

I tried cleaning the lense but the problem still continued.

I also tried updating the firmware. However, when I followed the link to the firmware update, there is a list of all the optical drives which the update works for, but my drive is not on the list. (Mine is a Hitachi GT50N/ALIK731).

I've decided to focus finding a replacement drive.

I've found these two drives on eBay UK. Could anyone advise as to whether these would be suitable?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-Lenovo-T ... SwI-BWFjbO

This next one also looks interesting. However, the part number (45N7457/4N7578) is not one that the Lenovo website lists as being a possible substitute for my drive (FRU 75Y5115). Is this likely to be a problem?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Think ... H#viTabs_0

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
Ben.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Those are both Serial Ultrabay Slim drives (for T430s, T420s, and some earlier systems), which means they're 9.5mm high.

You said your system was a T430, which has a Serial Ultrabay Enhanced slot, which is 12.5mm high.

An Ultrabay Slim drive will still work in an Enhanced slot, but there will be a bit of a gap.

[kfzhu1229]

I supoose i have a broken T520 with possibly perfectly working dvd burner drive. Dont know if the postage to UK would be prohibitively expensive but dm if you are interested.

[rkawakami]

Much apologies.... I got confused as to what Thinkpad model you have. The drives on eBay that I referenced earlier will work but here's the full story.

There's many different models of Ultrabay. You can use the following resource to see the capabilities and compatibility of Ultrabays and the devices that go into them: https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay

The first table shows the different Ultrabays released over time and which Thinkpad models they were in.

The second table shows the different Ultrabay devices (left column of table; very tiny text inside the drive icons name the type), versus the different bays/slots (row across the top of the table). Intersection of Ultrabay device row and Ultrabay slot column will tell you if they are compatible ("yes") or not ("no").

The third table lists the capabilities and physical characteristics of each type of Ultrabay. An important item, at least for what we are talking about here, is the Bay Height in the right-most column.

For your T430, search the first table for T430 and you'll see that the bay is called the Serial Ultrabay Enhanced. Looking at the second table, the far right column is for the Serial Ultrabay Enhanced. Going down that column and you'll see two rows with YES entries; the first row is for a Serial Ultrabay Slim device and the second row is for a Serial Ultrabay Enhanced device. The third table says that the only difference between the Serial Ultrabay Slim and Serial Ultrabay Enhanced drives is the height; 9.5mm for Slim and 12.7mm for Enhanced.

The T430 Serial Ultrabay Enhanced bay opening is 12.7mm high so it will physically and electrically accept both Serial Ultrabay Enhanced and Serial Ultrabay Slim devices. The two eBay auctions you referenced are drives for T430s laptops which have the Serial Ultrabay Slim opening, thus the drives are 9.5mm high. That is confirmed if you look at the zoomed in photos and see they are named "Serial Ultrabay Slim". If you plug in either one of those drives inside the T430, there will be a small gap above the drive; I don't believe that there's a baffle inside the bay that will hide the gap but I could be wrong as I don't have a T430 system. I do have a W500 (Slim) and a T420 (Enhanced) system at hand so I'll show you what it looks like. It's up to you if you want to go this route:



As far as the FRU/part numbers are concerned, there have been new drives released since the HMM or website has been published/updated so I would go entirely by the name of the drive. To be 100% sure that whatever drive you buy will work inside your T430, I'd look for "Serial Ultrabay Enhanced" drives on eBay.

EDIT: As has been pointed out by Screamer below, there apparently are some Serial Ultrabay Enhanced drives that will not fit inside the T430's bay because the front bezel does not have the notch in it.

[Screamer]

As far as the FRU/part numbers are concerned, there have been new drives released since the HMM or website has been published/updated so I would go entirely by the name of the drive. To be 100% sure that whatever drive you buy will work inside your T430, I'd look for "Serial Ultrabay Enhanced" drives on eBay.

I see loads of FRUs for the Serial Ultrabay Enhanced devices, under their own pages which can be found here: https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category ... ed_Devices

Also, not all Serial Ultrabay Enhanced optical drives will fit in a T430. There are (annoyingly) some Serial Ultrabay Enhanced optical drives that would only fit in an L410, L510, L412, L512, L420, L421, and the L520. Additionally, if I recall, my L512 had such an optical drive that had the Serial Ultrabay Enhanced branding on it.

My advice would be to steer clear of these optical drives as they won't fit without modifications. Luckily, it seems that the ThinkWiki has collected FRUs for the non-L series optical drives. I suppose that would be a good starting point.

EDIT: These are the 'incompatible' optical drives: (1), (2), (3), (4)

[ThreeIguanasPerSecond]

i've added those oddball drives to the ThinkWiki with the FRU and bezel identification included. thanks a lot for letting me know about this Screamer, maybe you should be handling the FRUs instead y'know?

[kfzhu1229]

My advice would be to steer clear of these optical drives as they won't fit without modifications. Luckily, it seems that the ThinkWiki has collected FRUs for the non-L series optical drives. I suppose that would be a good starting point.

Well isn't it that the said modification just involves with switching the face plate between the broken drive and those drives and potentially the plastic piece screwed near the connector as well?
But yeah I would steer away from those anyway because it's also much more possible that the L series optical drives can be of lower quality. The optical drive in my T530 for example feels surprisingly sturdy, almost like one from the Ultrabay 2000 era.

[Screamer]

Yes.

It's a simple modification, but I believe that nobody wants to roll a dice on the optical drive's bezel compatibility. There is a chance where the bezel might not fit, due to the plastic latches' positions being slightly or completely off.

[RealBlackStuff]

It would be so much easier to get an external USB CD/DVD drive.
Then get an adapter/caddy for a 2nd HDD/SSD in the Ultrabay.

[kfzhu1229]

It's a simple modification, but I believe that nobody wants to roll a dice on the optical drive's bezel compatibility. There is a chance where the bezel might not fit, due to the plastic latches' positions being slightly or completely off.

While I do agree it is a gamble, I have not encountered a single case with SATA optical drives having different bezels as long as you are not swapping between different thickness drives. This is the reason why you can almost always snap on the bezel onto a generic slimline SATA to SATA 2.5" HDD adapter when you get the correct thickness one.
It seems like back in like 2005 the manufacturers started standardising on the compatibility of the faceplates. My observation comes from the fact that all but the earliest of my Dell D-bay drives (the one that came from my D800 in 2004) have their faceplate 100% compatible with a optical bay IDE to SATA HDD adapter. I was also able to swap the optical drives in many fixed optical drive devices with their face plates switched such as the Inspiron 5160 and the Satellite A70.
Forget about the earlier drives like Ultrabay 2000, most of their faceplates are propietrary.

[barbican]

Thanks all for your further thoughts on this.

Based on what you’ve said, this looks to me like a suitable choice:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-Lenovo-F ... Swz2JbYrFF

From the seller’s photo it seems to have the all-important notch!

Do others agree that this would be an ok choice?

Cheers,
Ben.

[kfzhu1229]

Do others agree that this would be an ok choice?

Unfortunately the answer is NO. There is a HUGE difference between Ultrabay enhanced and Serial ultrabay enhanced. Both have the same size but a totally different connector behind!
Also serial ultrabay enhanced drives should be much much cheaper simply because the Ultrabay enhanced has a proprietary connector that's only used on ThinkPads and Macbooks (and they are not electrically compatible while at it).
If you have access to any dead laptop that has a SATA based optical drive, try it and see if it works any better. the Face plate most likely can be easily swapped.

[barbican]

Thanks kfzhu1229!
I managed to swap the faulty drive with one from an old laptop, as you suggested, and it's working quite well. I've been able to burn CDs and play DVDs.
There was just one glitch when I started the laptop and the drive showed as being 'asleep' (or something like that) but I just restarted and it was fine.
Seems to be a fairly successful fix. Finger's crossed it stays ok.

[sktn77a]

That's normal. To wake up the drive, just press the eject button.