Dell i9400 comes with crappy Sony DVD RW DW-Q58A

[mobilenvidia]

Here is proof of Dell's cost cutting.

Dell not mentioning anywhere the specs of their DVDRW drives for the i9400, one assumes that it's an 8x burner for + and - media.

But no, -r burn at 6x and +r at only 4x that is mediocre for a machine assembeled in late July 2006.

At least with a software tool from Liteon (drive is really made by) you can make the drive RPC1 (region free)

But no bit setting via Nero etc it has to done with another LG app for each disk.

My Wifes Dell Latitude D410 comes with a NEC ND-6650A this burns both + and - media at 8x.

This laptop was assembled in early 2006, it's a 12.1" machine with an external DVDRW for pity's sake, the i9400 is a power house.

With a Firmware update this drive auto resets the Region counter and best of all is fully bit settable, so your DVDRW media can be made to look like DVD-ROMs

Now I can only assume Dell has bought or has a contract for the Sony DVDRW drives.

Here we have one of their top end models, with a mediocre drive.

Here is what I did, I removed the NEC from the dock-bay it comes in, removed the Sony from the i9400.

Removed the caddy from the NEC and placed the Sony in here.

Swapped the 1 screw (no caddy) that holds the DVDRW drive in the i9400 from the Sony to the NEC and put it all back together again.

Everything fits perfectly and no one will be able to tell it was any different.

Now the Mrs can still burn her CD's for work, and I can rip through DVD's with ease.

I'm quite dissapointed in Dell for this, but luckily I was able to fix it with what I had.

Your thoughts welcomed as always.

Just though I'd share this with you guys :)

[if your DVDRW is different let us know what came with your i9400/E1705]

[Bill]

The good point is it is easy to replace optical drives in at least most of these Dell laptops.

I am pretty sure you have the option of getting a better burner when you configer one though.

[mobilenvidia]

The good point is it is easy to replace optical drives in at least most of these Dell laptops.

I am pretty sure you have the option of getting a better burner when you configer one though.

In the options I've only seen a CDRW combo or the DVDRW drive, no option as for make or faster.

I assume the Sony is standard upgrade from the CDRW drive.

[Kamika007z]

In the options I've only seen a CDRW combo or the DVDRW drive, no option as for make or faster.

I assume the Sony is standard upgrade from the CDRW drive.

There weren't any firmware updates from Dell resolving some of these issues?

[Richteralan]

There weren't any firmware updates from Dell resolving some of these issues?

Just to let you guys know that

the SONY DVD writer is a rebadged Lite-ON DVD writer.

So you can get the ltnflash.exe to disable it's region code completely.

Therefore you won't be able to find a modded firmware :)

[mattias]

europen 9400 comes with a Philips cd/dvd burner, really nice as well.

[PetPixel]

Dell replaced my Inspiron 9300 (US) with an E1705, device manager has the drive as:

TSSTCorp DVD+-RW TS-L632D (hardware's fine, but seated pretty poorly in the laptop, significant rumble when burning CD's high-speed).

[mobilenvidia]

Dell replaced my Inspiron 9300 (US) with an E1705, device manager has the drive as:

TSSTCorp DVD+-RW TS-L632D (hardware's fine, but seated pretty poorly in the laptop, significant rumble when burning CD's high-speed).

It mentions your drive in the driver downloads at www.dell.com

There is a firmware for it there.

Funnily enough it also mentions the NEC ND-6650A but not the Sony drive.

[gillies]

I got the NEC ND-6650A in mine (ordered at the end of May). I have always heard that the NEC drives can have problems with some media, but I didn't have any trouble with the last one I had in about 2003.

This time though I got what was either a poorly refurbished or otherwise junk drive. The region code was already set to the USA DVD region and it wouldn't work properly or at all with quite a few disks, curiously this included most of the Dell disks.

The replacement arrived with the faceplate only half attached, but with that fixed it has been working properly.

[mobilenvidia]

I got the NEC ND-6650A in mine (ordered at the end of May). I have always heard that the NEC drives can have problems with some media, but I didn't have any trouble with the last one I had in about 2003.

This time though I got what was either a poorly refurbished or otherwise junk drive. The region code was already set to the USA DVD region and it wouldn't work properly or at all with quite a few disks, curiously this included most of the Dell disks.

The replacement arrived with the faceplate only half attached, but with that fixed it has been working properly.

Head on over here and grab firmware Liggy's 1.62

This will enable Auto bit setting for +R(W) media.

Also makes the drive auto reset region changes.

My drive is working great with it, no problems yet with any media (havn't tried -RW yet)