Is it the optical drive or the motherboard?

Well, here's the deal:
1) The original drive for my notebook failed after about 3 months.
2) The replacement drive whined out of the box and was replaced at my request.
3) The replacement for the replacement just died tonight.

HP is starting to wonder if more than the optical drive is bad...what do you think?

The 3rd drive was made in Feb 2005, so I'm tempted to say that it would never have worked anyway...

 

I'm tempted to say that HP sent you a drive that someone had returned that HP's techs failed to find anything wrong with, but I'm cynical about these things. Or they gutted a returned notebook for parts.

Ask for a new/unused drive built in 2007, or at least late 2006.

 

I tried, and the best they could promise is a refurbished drive made sometime this year...they hope.

If this one is too old, I'll probably call and ask for a supervisor and ask for a new part.

 

My GSA-4084N drive died the day after my return window at COMPUSA closed. What drive do you have? Did they send you a new one without you having to return your whole laptop? Did they cross-ship? I don't want those monkeys touching my banana!

 

I have the GMA-4082N drive.

In my case, with an accidental warranty and at-home coverage, they ship the new drive and then I return the old in the box that the replacement was shipped in.

Depending on the warranty that you have, you may or may not have to ship it back. I'd call HP and ask them to just ship you a replacement drive, as it involves less trouble for both you and HP, is cheaper than having one of their techs look at this, and it's really easily to replace. They'll probably say okay.

 

well looking at the chances that 3 drives that were sent to you ended up faulty vs your motherboard or part of it being at fault, i would have to go with the motherboard. Only way to tell would have been to have another laptop that the drives would fit in to see, either before or after they stop working in yours.

 

I'd tend to agree with SideSwipe (not that I *know* anything), it just seems unlikely that three drives would fail in that way independently of each other. As for the last one being "old", iirc it was unused, right? So I wouldn't think that would be a factor at all.

Was it you who had some issues with the casing as well? Or am I mixing people up here?
I'm just thinking, could there be some other issue (apart from the motherboard) that could be eating drives? Something mechanical that vibrates them to death, or something electrical that fries them.

If I were you and could convince HP to exchange the whole machine I'd go for that.

 

As for the last one being "old", iirc it was unused, right? - Refurb, so they got the part back from someone else and restored it.

Was it you who had some issues with the casing as well? - Other than an LCD problem, no...there was a guy who managed to warp his nc8430 pretty good, but I'm not him.

 

That's what I needed to know...thanks very much! Maybe I've been too hard on them without even testing the waters...

 

Hello, sorry to jump into the middle of your thread but this is what came up when I googled my laptop problem.

The CD-drive (optical drive?) on my Compaq laptop reads CDs and DVDs but makes this gawd awful noise any time I put a disc in it. Not only is this noise drive me insane, but it makes me think that the drive is on its way out.

So my question is, do you all think that the drive broken? If so, what to do? And is replacing the drive something I could do myself?

Thank you thank you.

oh, and on a note related to your 3 optical drives from HP, another compaq laptop of mine has had its hard drive replaced 3 times, lucky all under a service plan, and the latest time it had to be sent out to be serviced under suspisions that the motherboard may be bad. do any companies make decent parts any more!?

 

Yes but you have to be a member of the stonecutters to get the good stuff

Im sure we all watched that simpsons episode and we all know the simpsons is based on true stories lol

 

Well, the good news is that the drive arrived today and I'll be replacing it tonight.

The best new is, that despite the fact I was supposed to get a refurb replacement, they went ahead and shipped me a *new* drive manufactured in March of 2007...

The worst news...I have to log off from NBR to turn the computer off and swap the drive...

Anyway...it's nap time. Be back in a few hours.