How standardised are laptop internal DVD drives?

theCzar

The one that came with laptop (TSST TSL462C) is seriously flawed, and won't play DVD's properly for starters. Though I'm pursuing technical support avenues with Dell's dedicated band of half-trained chimps, the last time this happened, i resorted to just buying a new drive for my desktop.

But when I start looking for laptop drives, I've noticed two things.
1) The choice is not so great
2) They often mention a model (e.g. DVD RW for IBM Thinkpad)

So my questions to wide world are:
1) Can anybody recommend a good on/offline place to look for laptop DVD drives
2) Tell me if there are one model that'll fit anything, standard models for different brands Dell/IBM/Sony etc., or a great mishmash of different shapes and sizes that must go in the right computer e.g. Inspiron 6400 (my model)

justsomebloke

what exactly are the problems you are having with the drive is it just playing of DVD's or is it anything else. I recently got a laptop from Dell and couldn't play any DVD's on it due to teh fact that there wasn't a working DVD decoder installed on the laptop so I had a copy of power DVD installed and all is now well with the drive

Ruu_Old

You would be looking for a slim model, 2.5" for a laptop if you didn't know that already, might help your search. I don't know if there is a 'fit all drive' out there with the different laptop models but they are all 2.5". I got a replacement for my Dell Inspiron 1000 DVD ROM on eBay.
Is there any lights coming on your drive at all when a CD/DVD is placed in there?

MarkR

They are a standard size, but often have different holes for bezels.

Ghost Train

some of the slimer laptops use 9.5mm drives
the more standard ones are 12mm drives
so you need to check the depth

while some laptops will have an unusual type of socket at the back, ibm t40 say, there is a comman socket on a lot of drives, i know the ibm r31 has the more common type like this

, you'll just have to check what socket you have

saw this drive in pcworld in dublin a month or two back, would fit most laptops i think, 12mm with common connector http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0580894697.1167096793@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccladdjjmfmfekcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=143029&category_oid=
otherwise buying online might be the best option

theCzar

Thanks for your help. I'll see if I can find a drive.

My current DVD drive's problems are hard to pin down. I have power DVD, and in fact, I can start to watch DVD movies, but towards the end of the movie, it'll start to stutter, and the sound will become distorted and unintelligible. As the movie progresses, you can see the drive struggle more and more to keep up, until it can't and the problem starts.

Its not the duration of play, I can start the laptop cold, skip chapters to the end and the problem will begin straight away. Nor is the DVD in question, this happens with all DVDs, some brand new out of the box (its christmas )

I have some game DVDs and I can't play them smoothly, which is rather annoying when you consider this is a 1.7Ghz Centrino duo, 1Gb RAM and a 256 Mb Radeon mobility.

If I connect an external drive, playback is perfect the whole way through. I've googled my drive, and I've found lots of people with similar problems with this model drive, so I have limited optimism in a solution.

I'm open to all ideas. So far dell have advised me to a) reboot and b) install a patch for a player I don't have. :rolleyes:

Ruu_Old

Sounds similar to this thread, you might have a look and try some of the suggestions there.

theCzar

Ruu wrote:

Sounds similar to this thread, you might have a look and try some of the suggestions there.

That sounds like the prob alright. Thanks Ruu, I'll see if anything works.