Sony Vaio optical drive not working

I have a Sony Vaio laptop Model PCG-61211M. The code on the front of the screen is VPCEA3C5E. It is running Windows 7, has an i7 processor and 6 GB of ram. It is fitted with a pioneer blue ray writer. I was recently on holiday in Malta and took some DVD's with me to watch in the evenings. I had watched several since arriving but then one night when I tried to play one nothing happened. The last thing I did was use Nero to try and make a copy of a DVD for a friend, but it only burned about half the content and then failed. Now the drive won't work at all. It shows up okay in my computer and if I click on it the tray opens, I put in a DVD and it won't play. I checked in device manager and it reports that the drive is working properly but when I checked device region I found that it was set to region 1 instead of region 2. When I try to switch to region 2 I get the following error message;

"Unable to update region setting. The drive reports that it requires media of the destination region (region 2) so please insert appropriate media and try again."

When I insert a region 2 DVD into the drive and click okay it asks if I'm sure I want to change to region 2, I click OK and I get the same error message as above. I have tried uninstalling the drive and then rebooting the computer to force Windows 7 to reinstall it but it just comes up the same as it was. Tried that twice. in case Nero was screwing it up somehow I have uninstalled Nero but that didn't make any difference either. I borrowed and tried a Region 1 DVD but that didn't work either. I found one of the Fix-it tools on Microsoft to repair a DVD drive which is not working and ran it. It said it found and corrected errors but the fault remains! I have also tried System Restore but that doesn't work either no matter which date I choose. Is there anything else I can try or is the drive screwed?

I contacted Pioneer who say that they no longer provide laptop drives and can't offer any support. I then contacted Sony who haven't even bothered to answer me. I spent almost £1200 having this laptop custom built by Sony and they basically don't give a damn about me when I have a problem, so I think we can safely assume that my next laptop will not be Sony!
I have now reached the stage where I want to replace the drive but I can't get it out. I understood that most modern laptops have just one screw holding the DVD drive in place but I have removed every screw I could find in the region of the DVD drive including one in the memory slot and it still won't come out. Do I have to take the whole back off the thing to get at other screws?

 

If I remember this particular problem correctly (the region problem...), I think I had to flash the DVD's firmware to clear the set region.

Oh, does any CD/DVD work at all?

The 'burning' you were doing may have disconnected/fried a wire somewhere?

I wouldn't be able to guide you through thorough disassembly - but I would recommend it so you can eliminate any obvious faults before you start ordering parts.

Sorry I don't have any other info - hope others do.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply.

How do I go about flashing the firmware? In fact where can I get the firmware? I tried the Pioneer site but they don't have anything for the drive in my laptop which is a Pioneer BD-RW BDR-TD03.

I know I can take the whole back off but I would feel stupid if it was a one screw job and I have just missed it!