City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Question on laptop repair

Call Me Awesome

By Call Me Awesome,
Posted on: 2010-08-04 07:19 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs

 

Posted

I know that in general laptops are much less repairable "by owner" than a desktop, but I was wondering specifically about laptop CD drives.

The DVD/CD drive on my daughter's laptop died recently; is it something I can replace myself? Her laptop is still under warranty, and recently had the graphics card replaced by the manufacturer, but I'd like to know whether I have any other options than sending it back--it cost $50 to ship UPS last time and almost a month out of service between ship and repair times.

Any suggestions appreciated!

My Characters

Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Finduilas View Post
I know that in general laptops are much less repairable "by owner" than a desktop, but I was wondering specifically about laptop CD drives.

The DVD/CD drive on my daughter's laptop died recently; is it something I can replace myself? Her laptop is still under warranty, and recently had the graphics card replaced by the manufacturer, but I'd like to know whether I have any other options than sending it back--it cost $50 to ship UPS last time and almost a month out of service between ship and repair times.

Any suggestions appreciated!
Most laptops I know of the DVD drive is modular and can be easily replaced... typically there's one or two screws on the underside of the laptop that hold the drive in place, remove them and it slides right out.

Now... the bad news is that many manufacturers have a somewhat proprietary design on their drives... I know that IBM was really bad about that a number of years ago. They sometimes have odd shapes or may be taller/shorter than standard. I haven't really looked into this in years since I had to replace a drive in a IBM T41 laptop; it had to have a proprietary drive from IBM.

Maybe this isn't an issue anymore; as I said I haven't had to replace a drive in years but it sure was for that IBM.

COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome View Post
Now... the bad news is that many manufacturers have a somewhat proprietary design on their drives... Maybe this isn't an issue anymore; as I said I haven't had to replace a drive in years but it sure was for that IBM.
It's gonna depend upon the manufacturer. Most of them will use something reasonably available since it's cheaper for them. Sometimes it'll be a stock drive but you'll have to reuse the little plastic piece on the front since it's shaped to fit the contours of the specific laptop case design.

Is it still under warranty? I'd start by calling customer support for that laptop and see if they have a parts 'guy'. They may be willing to ship you a new drive and let you install it. Some manufacturers would freak out about that, others will be OK with it.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrrano View Post
Is it still under warranty? I'd start by calling customer support for that laptop and see if they have a parts 'guy'. They may be willing to ship you a new drive and let you install it. Some manufacturers would freak out about that, others will be OK with it.
Thanks, I'll do that; it is still under warranty. I did some preliminary searching on the web and couldn't find any replacement drives that are advertised as fitting this laptop, but that may be because it's an MSI, which seem to be uncommon compared to the better known laptop builders.

My Characters

Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012

 

Posted

what's the laptop model? I'm sure some of us might be able to find you a replacement unit without too much trouble.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
Worst comes to worst, just snag an external drive for it. *shrug*
Yeah, that's the fall-back. If we can't replace the internal drive without sending it to MSI, I'll give my daughter the choice of putting up with an external, or having to give up her computer for another month.

My Characters

Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012