Member Avatar for scotjam

Hi All

My first post. I have a Acer 660 laptop which has a duff CD / DVD rom combi drive. I need to replace it but Acer Support is charing 200 pounds for a replacement. The thing is I've seen similar drives on ebay for 20 pounds but what's the difference?

My model number is Quanta Storage Inc SBW242SE, UX16-M.

On ebay and elsewhere I can find a QSI SBS242 (but not SE) and no mention of UX16-M.

Is this a firmware issue? I'm planning on reinstalling my OS on the laptop too, if its a firmware issue is there an easy way to get around this, easy for a noddy!

many thanks
Scotjam

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Member Avatar for dcc

In a word...GREED!

I'm in the US so I'm not familiar with what retail stores you have online, but from what I've seen over here you will find as if not a better deal that what you will find on Ebay. You will also have a lot less hassle RMAing your purchase than doing this through a private sale.

Did you ask Acer for instructions for replacing the drive?

Member Avatar for scotjam

Did you ask Acer for instructions for replacing the drive?

Yes. But not much use. I'm happy to buy the plain SBW242 but I need to know if anyone has any experience in dealing with firmware issues. I believe the firmware is what id different between a 242 and 242SE.

On a seperate website, someone mentioned that you can get a Master and a Slave version for a laptop. This is even more confusing!

Member Avatar for TheNNS

newegg.com has the best deals, ebay is a rippoff sometimes

Member Avatar for scotjam

I don't see that helping. I checked the website and they do not stock a replacement cdrom dvdrom combi drive for the acer 660.

is there anyone out there who has experience of installing a standard QSI BW242 into an acer laptop? I see different versions of the same drive and I don't know if that's because of firmware issues?

p.s. ebay is selling the QSI SBW242 for 20 pounds which is good value IMHO

thanks!

Member Avatar for jbennet

Get the 20 quid one and if it doesnt work then you havent lost that much cash

Member Avatar for scotjam

Get the 20 quid one and if it doesnt work then you havent lost that much cash

Just got the SBW242SS from ebay for 21quid. Will be testing it tonight on the Acer 660 to see if it works!

Here's hoping

Member Avatar for scotjam

GREAT NEWS!!! IT WORKED. I simply rebooted the machine having taken out the old CDROM drive and inserted the new one and XP recognised it and added it in.

Brilliant news. Phew! and stuff Acer for asking nearly 200 quid for a replacement CDROM drive that only cost 20 quid on ebay.

:b

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