Replacement DVD-Rom

My DVD drive has finally packed in and needs replacing, but i have a few questions after a short story.

I phoned Dell and requested and new one as i'm still barely in my warranty, however i was told that only a technician could install it and even if i was allowed, they can't order the part to send to me (I'm not comfortable with them doing it as I've seen a "techie" obliterate a friends M17x and then leave it in an unusable state.), Can anyone confirm that this is that case or was my tech support guy telling me fibs?

Failing that, I've seen a few refurbished drives on eBay, has anyone had any experiance with any of these drives/sellers before?, anything to steer clear of?

Cheers for any help!

 

when an in-home service is performed, unless it is a user serviceable part (ram, HDD, CPU fan, touch panel, palm rest and gpus/gpu fans) the part has to be sent to the in-home service contractor.

 

It is possible to have the part dispatched to you so you can do the work yourself. I have gone through this route several times. To make a long story short, it took Dell a bunch of new parts and several newly built computers to replace what 'Dell approved' tech. did to my computer (i.e. turned it into a brick, and an ugly brick at that).
So, in other words, it is possible. Not absolute because it's still have to be approved by the supervisor. And it greatly depends on who you talk to and who's on call when you call.
Good luck.

 

You litterally have to take the hole computer apart to get the drive out.

I was told the same thing.

Tech came to my house with the parts, and swapped the drive

 

It's a strict policy that they do not allow the user install any parts except those above.

 

I may just buy the drive and do it myself then as i have <10 days on my warranty, Stripping the laptop apart completely is no problem as I do it for a living and have nigh on done it to my M17x already.

I'll give tech support one more shot and ask for a supervisor this time, see if it makes a difference.

It's just after seeing the work they've done before and having worked with the company that Dell use to do the field service repairs, I can honestly say none of them are going near my laptop.

Thanks!

 

Heck if you have to replace it and have use for one look for the CA-10N Blu-Ray drive, around $59 0n the bay, I've done this to both my M17x r1 and M15x it's not hard at all.

 

Hmmm, That is tempting..., I may have to look at the US eBay and hopefully they'll ship to the UK, The UK 'bay has little on offer

EDIT: If i were to get one from China/Taiwan etc from eBay, what does everyone think about the longevity of drive? has anyone had any bad experiances with them or are the China ones better than Taiwan etc?

Thanks for the help!

 

My CA-10N came from a US reseller in TX and believe it's made in Taiwan, just do a search for the Blu-Ray drives for M17x there are 2 models and it should bring you to the OEM and show where it is manufactured and most likely China or Taiwan will be the answer. If you find one you want and the seller won't ship outside the UK contact me and I can get it shipped to me and me to you probably cheaper than most would charge since I wouldn't charge handling fee's for a simple transfer like some of the sellers do.