CF-27, CF-28, CF-29 CD to DVD Swap Tutorial-Lots of Pictures!

The following tutorial may take a while to download. It has LOTs of pictures!

The issue with swapping Panasonic’s CD/DVD out for a DVD R/W is that Panasonic makes their CD/DVD drives as a master at the factory. Almost all other manufacturers make theirs as cable select. Simply swapping drive for drive will cause your CF-27, CF-28 or CF-29 Toughbook to have an error upon boot… If it even boots at all.

This is a very easy “How-To!” All the hard work has been done… Figuring out how to do it! The whole operation can be done in about 30 minutes with a few simple tools. It is extremely important that you read these directions several times to familiarize yourself with the entire operation. Doing this will make things much easier when you are going through the process! You will need the following items for the swap;

1 - 40 watt soldering iron
About an inch or two of solder
A small Phillips head screwdriver
A replacement slimline DVD R/W.
(I recommend the Sony Optiarc model number AD-5540A)
Possibly a small strand of speaker wire (You’ll see)

The first thing to be done is to open the case. This is accomplished by removing screws on one side…



and four screws on the other…



Then carefully pop it open! (below)



At this point… You can see how easy this will be… Sort of…



Then flip it over and remove the screw shown. This will allow the CD/DVD module to come out. It will still be attached to the cable but you can very carefully separate the CD from the case.



When you remove the CD module you will see this… (below)



Now we need to remove the ribbon cable and small PC board that attaches to the back of the CD/DVD. To do this, we need to remove the next screw… Seen here… (Below)



With the screw removed the assembly comes out. (Below)



What you need to do next is to solder the two little dots of solder together in the box labeled R2. (Below)



Make sure that you have your soldering iron plugged in at this point and that the tip is clean. The iron obviously needs to be hot. You can solder these two points in one of two ways. You can try to bridge the gap with a blob of solder or you can string a tiny little piece of copper wire between the two points. This will allow the solder to “flow” along the wire and bridge the gap. This is what I am showing below. As you can see… It is lightly clamped in my vise. (If you are a purist you can use a small SMD 000 resistor... But the results will be the same!)

In either event you don't want to hold the soldering iron too long on the PC board. The last thing you want os to heat the board up too much and destroy it.



It is VERY important that the wire stay INSIDE the yellow box! You don’t want to solder ANYTHING ELSE other than the two solder points in the box, R2.

Once the soldering has been done you can snip off the excess and you will have this! (Below)



You have now finished the “hack” and need to start putting it all back together. You can start by laying the PC board back in the slot from where it came. Make sure you have the connector on the left hand side so it can snap into the back of the new DVD when reassembled.



Now you need to put the small plastic top back on and screw in the screw to secure it.



The next thing you need to do is to remove the side carrier plate from the old CD. It is secured by two screws. (Marked with red arrows below)


It is VERY important that you apply a firm pressure to these screws when backing them out of the side of the CD player. You do not want to strip them out. It is also VERY important that you have the correct size mini phillips head screwdriver. You may be able to get by with a good set of jeweler’s screwdrivers… But it is the firm pressure that you need to back the screws out. When that is done… Install it on the new DVD R/W! DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS WHEN REINSTALLING THE SIDE CARRIER!(Below)



You’ll notice that the small copper piece is not used in the swap. The new DVD R/W does not have the required hole in it for it to fit. And it is not needed in the first place! It is time for you start to put the DVD R/W back into the case. You may need to pull out the connector a little in order to snap it into the back of the DVD. This is okay. There is a little wiggle room for you to do this. But you MUST make sure that it is properly aligned! It should fit with just a little bit of pressure. You should NOT have to force it into place. (Below)



After snapping the connector in the back of the DVD all you need to do is to carefully fit the cover back on top. Reinstall the cover by screwing in the 6 screws of the outer case. Now… Put it in the media bay and boot up the laptop and… BEHOLD!



You can now see that you have a DVD R/W in your updated Panasonic Toughbook!

By the way... Something I must add... When you swap the drive... Make sure you run some electrical tape along the back of the DVD beside the connector. If you look at the drive you take out... You will see what I mean.

This project has now just saved you about $150.00

This “how-to” was written by Rick Kirby – Pasadena, MD

** I take no responsibility for anyone messing up their CD-DVD drive because of incompetance, lack of motor skills, or basic stupidity on the part of the person attempting this. This is a very easy "First-timer's" hack and not much really can go wrong.**

EDIT - I had to switch servers so the pictures have been up and down and now back up. I also have this in PDF format for anyone that needs it emailed to them... Just PM me your email address.

 

You are the man of toughbook...............
10/10 for the entire project hack.............

 

VERY NICELY done there mate!!!!!!

 

Thanks guys... We need to put something like this together for the GPS... Now who wants to do that?

<He looks out into the classroom to see all the kids raising their hands.)

 

Just completed the cd-rom to cdrw-dvd drive transfer and it works fine!

Thanks for the instructions - he only missed two minor items:

There are 7 screws to re-install in the last step, not 6.

One must take care with the little plastic clip on the right side (looking at the face of the drive
plate when the drive is right side up) - it is pretty brittle and easily broken during this procedure.

Excellent and money-saving! I just need to find the dvd drivers Win 2000 Professional. and to
then add Puppy Linux in dual-boot (kids love SuperTux and I don't allow PC's running any MS
version of windows on the Internet - far too vulnerable).

As for the GPS ... I have not read through the prior posts re. that or wireless (including the neat
little antenna on top of the lid) so I have no idea what may be involved ... and it could easily be
way over my head!

Love this list!

 

Correct... 6 screws in total on the sides and 1 on the bottom. Is that what you were referring to?

 

Pictures are back up on the server if anyone wants to do this!

 

You could also connect pins 47 and 45 together in your drive to convert it to master with either a contact pin or solder that's what I did. I like your mod though it allows you to upgrade to other drives in the future without messng with each drive.

 

In essence... Soldering R2 is shorting the pins! That is where the circuits lead to! You can either use a 000 SMD resistor, a blob of solder or a fine piece of wire. (Best way.)

 

Hi, is it possible to purchase the cd caddy anywhere?

 

Keep an eye out on eBay. I've seen them go as low as $40.

 

Yes... You need a CD or DVD caddy. The CD caddies are obviously cheaper and can go for $40 to $100... The DVDs go from $70 to $130. Since the caddy is the same in both cases and since you are going to replace it anyway... Get the cheaper one!

 

What specific errors are you referring to on boot?. when i had my CF-29,i just bought a caddy and put a dvd burner into it... no problems at all (booted fine, could boot from it ect...), except for the fact that i accidently only bought a + burner and not a +/- one... so i upgraded the firmware on the drive so i could do - dvd's, and in the process i broke the ability to boot off the drive, which didn't madder as i always use RIS server to load the laptops with xp. it was my fault for not paying attention when i bought the bare dvd burner drive off ebay to get a +/- one.

 

You must have bought that 1% drive that works in the caddy without mods... What drive did you buy? Most are cable select... Which won't work in the caddy without this mod. If you bought one that is Master from the factory it will work without the mod.

 

I did this same conversion minus the bridge. My machine recognizes the dvd and functions but boots veerrrryyyy ssslllooowwwwwww! And will not boot from cd when installing an OS. So this bridge will take care of all that?

 

Great doc TB...Thanks, you're right now one is needed for the GPS ( I dont have all my parts yet)

I see we share the appreciation for a fine watch too

Semper Fi
Glen

 

Gee, what a coinkidink....right after the tutorial, cdrom's go up to $100 on e-bay....

 

KUSA... Yes... Connecting R2 should solve the slow boot time.

Glen... Yes... I've had it for years. Two tone Submariner

 

Just finished bridging the points. Worked like a charm...no more sllloooww boot up.

Thanks!

 

Thank you.

This Hack the best one I have come across so far for the thoughbook cf27

 

You can also do the CF-72 if you solder R102 instead of R2... You should also put a piece of electrical tape across the back like the stock CD Rom. (Look on the back to see) Otherwise, far-fetched but it might happen if it is hit the wrong way, the connector may short out against the back of the new DVD.

Just wanted to let you know. This goes for the CF27/28/29... I'm not sure about the 72.

 

Nice job!!!

Are the pannasonic cd and dvd drives any more rugged than normal laptop drives? I'm just wondering if they have any kind of spiffy shock proofing or magic that makes them work better??

 

If you change you optical CD/DVD drive back to a Panasonic brand do you need to undo the soldering change? I did the mod that TB illustrated and it worked fine. But since I've come across some Panasonic drives I was just wondering if I needed to reverse it for it to work right?? Totally newbie question.

 

Yes... I think so. I don't think it would hurt to try it though. Either way...

I think the R2 Forces it to Master instead of giving the drive the choice to make the decision. The BIOS reads teh change that has been soldered instead of waiting to get that info back from the drive.

(Just my 2 cent guess though.)

 

No, they are not. If you drop the drive on the floor with your brand new DVD burner that you just installed inside, your new burner will be junk. Ask me how I know! The caddy survived though.

 

I'll unsolder the R2 on the spare 28 I have and report back on what if any differences I noticed.

 

Unsoldered the R2, installed the new CD/DVD drive, fired it up and BAM! started up and ran almost like new. I'd say it ran like new but since it's not new I can't really say that. This mod was so easy even a newbie like me could tackle it without cussing or throwing things...

 

Toughbook,

Thanks, was able to do this mod today (was a busy day). Used the fine wire method to form the bridge. Have a NEC AD-7590A and its working great and is able to boot an OS disk

PS. For those of us with "old" eyes be careful not to bridge R1 instead of R2, nothing serious happens, other then the mod not working. Ask me how I know

 

I have red X boxes for the pics???

If I wanted or needed a better CD/DVD drive than what I had put into my CF-30 when new how hard is that? If I get a Panny brand I am sure it's simple. Where is the best place price wise, to get a Panny drive?

Rick, If you are a watch affieciando you need to look at the Brietling's. Love mine. I have more $$ in watches than I do cars.....Thank god I have the best wife in the world!

 

Pics are dead...

 

Sory guys... I switched servers and had to delete all the pics. I'll upload a PDF file for download. It will have everything on it.

 

Can someone please send me the link for the PDF file to download. I'm hoping I can find a file with the pictures available.

 

Hi Toughbook,

Any chance you can post the pdf file of the DVD swap somewhere.

I would also like to upgrade to a DVD-burner.

So many projects to do.

cheers
zest4life

 

PM me your email address... I'll email it to you. I don't have server space yet.

 

Rick,
Perhaps Rob can help tide you over the interim period by hosting the files on his server?

Another thought came to mind when I revisited the 1st post, where you recommended the Sony Optiarc model number AD-5540A. Any reason for that; reliability, speed, blanks brand-friendly, mod-friendly, etc? What's your take on the Panasonic UJ-850 and UJ-870?

If you were to do the mod all over again, what and how would you have done differently? Hindsights?

Thanks!
Ron in SG

 

Yeah just email em to me and I'll make a folder and dedicate it to the swap tutorial no problem!

 

Let me know if you need another scan. I've got that one too!
Cap

 

Okay, here ya all go: http://www.robsnetworks.com/toughbook/HDD & CDD swap/CF-28 CD to DVD Swap.htm and here: http://www.robsnetworks.com/toughbook/HDD & CDD swap/CF28 - Change Your Hard Drive.htm

Peace

 

Thanks for taking the time to get the pics posted again. I actually went ahead and got my cd drives swapped just after that last post. I swapped drives with a Sony DVD (don't know exact model) I had pulled from a HP Pavillion laptop I had been partin out. Using the information in Toughbooks original post-minus the pics-and had no problem. Up until the time I slid the new dvd drive in it's slot, I thought for sure it was going to be screwed up cause it just seemed to simple...Works great!

Anyways, I'm just a newb here...I don't have anything important to say. I will say that my appreciation goes out to all you guys that have taken time to post and share your knowledge here in these forums. Your knowledge is PRICELESS! Now that the road has been paved, I hope ya'll don't mind if I hop on your bandwagon!

 

Welcome to the forum... And hopalong!

 

Hello Toughbook;

Please note that all the pictures that you included with the tutorial for the DVD burner upgrade are not loading. Could you post where they might be located?

Thanks
Demoness

NOTE:

Please ignore this newbie post, as I found the pictures further on. I should have read more carefully, sorry. Now to a different but the same topic. I have made your tutorials into .pdf files. If you would like copies of them, let me know. The CD/DVD one is 400kb and your HDD swap one is 630kb.

Demoness

 

What is the interface for the CD/DVD drives?

 

The end of the CD/DVD plugs into a circuit board that is hooked up to a ribbon cable that plugs into a an interface that plugs into the laptop..... Got that?

 

IDE or SATA?

 

IDE only

-James

 

This is a great tutorial but for some reason I can't get the pictures illustrating the steps, I can get the pictures on other threads but not this one. Is there any way to get this Tutorial with Pictures in an e-mail?? Second after doing this mod, will the system bios recognize the dvd so the system's OS can be loaded from it??

Thanks

Sorry I didn't read far enough, figured it out.... thanks for all the time you have spent figuring all this out and for sharing the info!!!!!!

 

Link here http://www.robsnetworks.com/toughbook/HDD & CDD swap/CF-28 CD to DVD Swap.htm
Yes you can boot from this



Alex

 

thanks so much for this mod .i wish i had found it sooner as i had been swapping drives in and out of the caddy for booting os etc.great work!

 

hello thanks for the tutorial
man it save me some bucks

but can some one tell me where i can find a
chip caddy without a cdrom for me to build a nice dvdrw ?

cause i only find caddys for hard drives
pls reply on this matter

 

I've never seen an empty optical caddy advertised.

Look for an old CD-Rom or DVD-Rom drive module for a CF-27 -28 or -29, these are often on Ebay relatively cheaply.

Robert.