StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Hello. Quick question for the technologically saavy. My DVD-ROM is on the fritz and appears a replacement is in order. I went down to my local Circuit Shitty and found that with the current backlog, wait time for professionl installation is two days and I'm not going the weekend without the main system. So, I can either wait until things slow down (I can live without DVD's, though still annoying) and have them install it or, I can do pursue that option myself.

Question is, how difficult or easy is it to install a DVD-ROM drive on your own?

Very simple, since you are replacing an old one, its simply a matter of looking at where the cables go and plugging them in the same spots. The only thing of any concern would be jumper settings, however you can easily check what is needed by looking at where the jumper is on the old one and having it the same on the new one.

The picture half-way down this page shows where the jumper is (right where the guys fingers are).

Depending on how it's set up already, you might not need to fiddle with jumpers. You might be able to just pull the old drive and stick in the new one, using the same cables.

IMO replacing disk drives is ridiculously easy. I hired a local IT guy who is a friend of mine to train me on how to work inside a computer, and I have to confess, I find it easier to replace a disk drive then to actually plug the computer in... Just remember to ground yourself before touching anything inside the case.

If you want to see for yourself before trying, look up any computer assembly guide online. As far as complexity and the chance of screwing it up, putting in a CD/DVD drive is probably the easiest thing to do on a computer.

In all likelihood you won't have to worry about anything but replacing the drive and plugging in the IDE (data) and power connector to the same places on the new one. If however your drive doesn't show up when booting up, check the jumper settings on the back. There is usually a nice little schematic instructing you on the jumper positions for the drive. The thing to remember is that you can only have one master and one slave device on a single IDE ribbon cable, so if master doesn't work (commonly the factory default) switch it to slave and try again.

Don't worry. As long as you are grounded (=touching the metallic part of your case before starting) and disconnected the power cable from the computer, there is nothing that can go wrong that will damage the system and even if you forget for some reason, the chances of damaging anything are very slim.

Chances are that jumpers wont be an issue at all. Most modern devices are CS (Cable-Select) this more or less means that the Master-Slave thing is automatically assigned and as long as the IDE cable is relatively new and both drives are set to CS mode you'll encounter no problems.
Assembling most of the things in a computer is really no harder than setting up a stereo, TV or other random device of that sort.

Update - the problem was with my hardware; a simple restoration of factory settings has solved the problem. Still, thanks for all your help, guys.