Swaping Optical Drive in new Alienware 17

Hey guys so I finally ordered an Alienware after years of debating it. It should be here in a few days. When I configured my system I inadvertently forgot to add the Blu Ray optical drive. I swear I added it but it never made it into my final order. Anyway I was wondering if anyone might know how hard it is to swap out optical drives in the new 17 laptops cause I'm thinking of just doing it myself instead of going through the trouble of returning and reordering but I've read some horror stories of people having issues doing this with their M17s. I've searched and can't find any teardowns for these new laptops yet just for the M17s. Also I'm hoping someone can tell me what blu ray drive comes in the new 17 laptops. Is it still the uj-235a? Thanks in advance everyone.

 

Firstly, congratulations on your new machine and welcome to NBR! - I'm sure that you will find these forums friendly and very informative, so have a look around and ask or post any questions you may have!! - enjoy!!

Moving on to your question:

If the teardown of the new 17 is anything like the older model, it will require a fairly comprehensive strip down to replace the ODD. If you are comfortable doing that, it should be fine. Unfortunately, as you are aware, there are no 'guides' to teardown just yet, so if you are not comfortable in opening up and using your knowledge to do so, I'd leave it a little while until there ARE guides for you to review before hand.

As for the make of the drives, they have tended to be the Panasonic ones for some time now. I don't think Dell have changed, but maybe someone with a new machine and bluray can post up their hardware info using AIDA64 or the like to determine the model that is shipping. Again, no part lists just yet, so that is likely the only way to confirm this.

 

Yea with the r3/r4 models you have to pretty much strip the machine all the way down to get to optical drive. I need a new drive myself as mine is acting up, but not really worth stripping my system down to fix something I use once in a blue moon.

 

the dvd rom is easily removable. But it's only running on sata 2

 

Thanks for the warm welcome stevie and thanks to everyone else that has replied. So llelitell have you done this before because everything I've seen on replacing the optical drives in the previous Alienware laptops it doesn't seem to be that easy. Do you happen to know through experience that the internal set up of the new 17s are different than the last gen and give you easier access to the optical drive? Do you have anymore info? Also what exactly do you mean "it's only running on sata 2?" Do any of you know if the uj-235a will work in the new 17 laptops? I don't see why not but just thought I'd ask.

 

On the new one it is indeed easier than the older ones. You just need to remove the bottom door and the battery cable, It's right there because of the new configurations (remove ODD for HDD/SSD)

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info Luis. Do you by chance know if the the uj-235a will work in the 17s? Also do you have any specifics on the the ODD that you can get with the 17s?

 

Not sure if that one would work. All I have are the part numbers from our system.

BD: 6M7XC
DVD-RW: 7VKM6 (This one is Panasonic).
ODD Bracket: YXKK2

 

Can you buy those parts separately? If so do you have a link and/or price for each?

 

I'll open mine up when I get home and take measurements. I assume it's a 9.5mm drive, and just about any other 9.5mm drive would fit.

Okay, opened it up. Blu Ray drive is a 12.7mm Hitachi-LG CA40N. ~$85 from China.

Mine:


Link to buy:
CA40N Hitachi LG 6X 12 7mm Internal Blu Ray Reader CD DVD Multi Recorder HP | eBay

 

mmolteratx you are the man! I appreciate you helping me out! So did you order your 17 from Dell with the Blu Ray player or did you install yours yourself? Also just an FYI for everyone that's helped me in the thread I just received my new Alienware 17 today and I am on it typing this as we speak. Love it!

 

You should be good with any standard interface slot load drive

 

Mine came with it from Dell. Enjoy your 17.

 

Personnally, i would go to the Panasonic UJ265, i've just ordered one, and it seems compatible, plus you'll be able to burn bluray if needed.

 

Thanks again everyone. tchig0zette can you update once you receive and install your new drive? If all goes well for you I may go with the UJ265.

 

So I was looking at the UJ265 and I see that it has an eject button on it. Is that going to cause and issue or is that just a front plate on the the drive that you can remove?

 

You have to remove the front plate before installing it

I'll post some pics wheni'llreceive it.

 

Cool tchig0zette. I look forward to your update.

 

It may take somedays, because i've ordered it on ebay from china, and shipping to belgium can take up to 10 or more days

 

Hahaha, it's all good. Whenever you have the chance. So how do you like your 17 tchig?

 

I don't know yet, i'll receive it tomorrow

Livraison programmée :
Lundi, 22/07/2013, Avant la fin de la journée

Dernier centre :
Parti - Shanghai, China, Dimanche, 21/07/2013

 

So tchig did you get your laptop? If so how do you like it?

 

Hi

Yes, i'ev received the laptop.

Actually, not very happy, i cannot find a way to activate the 3D, and my screen is flickering all times under windows 8, i guess i've got a defective screen

The fans is getting loud sometimes, and only under windows 8, without doing any specials thingies...

I've tried to install nvidia driver from nvidia website but doesn't want to install, i've added my video card ID in nvcvn.inf file, now, it detects my video card but windows doesn't allow me to install unsigned drivers

 

Can you post Pictures on how you got to your drive i.e. taking off your back plate to removing your BDROM.

 

Can you post pictures on how you got this out, all the steps from taking off the back cover to taking the BDROM out

 

After you remove the bottom door and the battery you'll spot the ODD right away.



Disconnect the optical drive FPC from the system board.



Remove the four screws securing the optical drive in place.



Remove the optical drive.

 

@aAliewnare Luis Pardo, this for the new Alienware 17, and not the 17x right?

...also do you know where to find the driver for the BDROM (Hitachi CA40N) that will be compatible with the 17?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Normally, there are no need to install driver, windows got a generic one.

 

tchigozette...Im not sure about that, I think it's pretty specific, Anyone else confirm or know of a driver for the (Hitachi CA40N) BDROM

 

Correct, and as tchigozette says there's no need for a driver Windows will take care of it.

 

Sorry to hear that you're having issues tchig. Keep us posted though. Also thanks for the pics Luis!

 

Question for you guys, I just received my Alienware 17 and its pretty awesome. The Intel HD
Graphics 4600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M drivers are both installed, however when I select screen resolution the only display choices that show are "Mobile PC" and when I click advanced settings it brings up the Intel HD Graphics Properties. How do I switch it to utilize the NVIDIA? Thoughts? Help?

 

Optical drive will be installed on monday, i've received it, i'll post pics and comments about its compatibility

 

Did you try the FN + graphic switch key combination ?

 

I did, but in my older M15x, you had the ability to choose which graphic card to use in the drop down display selection when you right click personalization? Why is it not loading the NVIDIA as a display choice?

 

Because in switchable mode only the intel IGP is connected to the display outputs.

 

Unfortuantely, all I Have is that option, when I switch graphics it reverts to a standard VGA adapter. Not sure. the Alienware tech explained to me that the LCD is physically connected to the Intel processor but the NVIDIA graphics is the processor?

Does that make sense? Anyone verify

 

Anyone have an answer to the above?

 

I can confirm, the UJ265 is working with Alienware 17, it's currently installed

Actually, the keyboard key FN + Eject doesn't work, i have to eject a DVD from windows explorer by right-click, and then choose eject, i'll have a look at it tomorrow.
I'll also post pics about installation, but it's really easy.

I'll also try to check if there's an region free firmware and will post my results.

 

Could be that you're missing the driver, you can download it here.

 

What is the best Blu Ray Burning Software? I see some folks state: Cyberlink (which is a BS one I think, has a lot of 3rd party crap), Win DVD, Arcsoft, Corel...Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Glad to hear that the UJ265 is confirmed working and that it's easy to install. Thanks for the info tchig. I'm wondering if you you had a chance to install the driver that Luis was kind enough to provide to see if that fixes the FN + Eject issue. I'm sad to hear that the key combo doesn't work but hopefully that driver fixes it. Also Luis since you are a company rep do you know if opening and installing this ODD voids your warranty? Thanks again everyone for all the help! Oh and hopefully you can still post some pics tchig. I'm looking forward to them!

 

Sorry to hijack the thread - I have an Alienware 17 with super-multi DVD writer GS40N, I am aiming to swap this out with a CA40N Blu-ray drive which I have - however the mounting bracket is too tall. Can anyone tell me the part number for the Blu-ray mounting backet?? Thanks