Sony Vaio optical drive not working

I posted this elsewhere in the forum and have only just noticed that there is a specific Sony Vaio section so thought it best to try here for an answer.

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?

 

Yes, the screw holding the drive in place is inside the laptop. Some models open up from the back, others by taking the keyboard off. The latter is the case with the vast majority of PCG models. You'll have to find the service manual for your particular model to find out for sure, though. Have a look here and more specifically in the Sony-section here.

 

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that Sony make it as difficult as possible to do a simple job. I certainly won't be buying another Vaio or anything else from Sony for that matter given their total lack of customer support.

Thanks for the info by the way.