How to replace a dead DVD-ROM drive "loader" in your DVD player

This section started out originally as a how-to page for replacing a dead DVS loader in an AD-600A player with a Toshiba DVD-ROM drive, however since then the idea has been expanded to cover many different brands of DVD-ROM drives and installing them in many different players that have an IDE type interface.

How do you tell if your DVD player has an IDE interfaced type loader in it? Simply remove the cover from your DVD player and have a look. If the loader has a 40-pin connector like those used on IDE devices to connect the loader with the mainboard then it is an IDE type unit. If it has one or two odd shaped looking wiring connectors that look nothing like an IDE type connector then it is not an IDE type loader. Unfortunately not a lot can be done about these types of loaders at present as they use proprietary means of talking to the mainboard. The best you can do for now is look around for another DVD player of the same type and make one good player out of two. I am still researching more into these non-IDE type players but for now there is nothing to tell, sorry.

The Toshiba 1202 DVD-ROM drive used in the original concept as a replacement as this is now an obsolete unit however I will keep Adrian Black's page link (see further down the page) because it shows how to mount another DVD-ROM drive unit into your AD-600A (see details below). If you can still get your hands on a Toshiba 1202 second hand or refurbished they are an excellent loader to use, but they are getting rare to find.

The website Area 450 has an extensive list of DVD-ROM drives that people have tried in their Sampo based players. The principles are similar for Apex based players and the list is presented HERE for anyone wishing to experiment.

Alternatively, Bob Lafleur has been kind enough to set up a register for people to post which drives will and will not work along with an brief explanation as to why some work and other models do not. Bob's page can be viewed HERE. Many thanks to Bob for making this possible, however people's further input would be appreciated.

You may also find help in different firmware for your intended replacement drive, especially convering it to RPC1 (all region) at www.rpc1.org. Your drive has to be all region for it to work. This is different and has no bearing on whether your player is currently all region or not by way of upgrading the mainboard firmware. The DVD-ROM itself must also be all-region (RPC1) for it to work properly too.

If you do not wish to go to the hassle and expense of putting another DVD drive in your player, did you know that just about any old IDE CD-ROM drive will work too? Of course you will not be able to play DVD media, however it will allow you to use your player for everything else like MP3, VCD, SVCD, CD and others. Might be worth a thought before you throw the player away!

First up I will show you how to mount an IDE 12X DVD-ROM drive into a Magnavox MDVD-100 player where the original DVS 710A drive had failed. This concept also works for other players too however it is up to you on how to work out the removal of the old drive and fitting the new one. The good news is that most players are very similar in this regard and it should not be too hard to figure out a method that best suits your player.

REPLACEMENT DVD DRIVE SELECTION

First of all you need to select a suitable loader. I have chosen an Actima AD12S for this excercise.

You will need to ensure that the drive is set to MASTER for it to work (note jumper position).

Place the drive on top of the faulty original loader and remove the IDE and power cable going into the faulty loader and connect it up to the new drive. Try out the drive like this and see if it works to your satisfaction. You will notice that there is no need to use the eject button on the drive or worry about wiring it up to the front panel as the existing eject button on the player will work the drive anyway through the IDE cable just like it did for the original loader.

If you are not happy with the performance of the selected drive (skipping, refusing to play, etc) then you will need to either select another drive that is more compatible or find out why the drive attempting to be used is not working. Use the above links to other sites up this page to assist you in this regard. At the very least try an ATA-133 type IDE cable in place of the original IDE cable as it has been noted in some cases to improve performance. This is no guarantee but if you have one spare it is worth a shot. You may have to poke out the closed off hole in the row to make it fit into the IDE slot as most mainboards and DVD drives have all the 40 pins present. If you look close at the IDE port on the above rear shot of the DVD drive you will notice that there is a pin missing in the bottom row so it does not matter with this example, however if it is required for you then poking out the blanked off hole in the IDE connector is easily accomplished with a hot pin or carefully with a knife.

If you are happy with the drive then leave the tray open (important!) and unplug it. Also at this time remove the tray face plate and the front plastic panel on the new drive, which as can be seen by the above photo of the front of the drive it is simply clipped on. Remove the tray face plate first (usually accomplished by pulling forward at the bottom and then pushing the plate upwards) and then remove the front face. Doing it the other way around is usually impossible as the tray face plate is usually larger than the hole for the tray.

ORIGINAL LOADER REMOVAL

The first step in removing the original loader is to eject the tray and remove the tray face plate otherwise the loader will not come out as the face plate usually locks onto the front panel when closed. The faceplate is clipped onto the front of the tray as can be seen by the next photo. Gently pull the bottom clips away from the tray and push upwards and the face plate should slide upwards and off. After the face plate is removed you can close the tray again to allow easy removal of the drive. It may also be a good time to make sure the tray face plate off the dead loader fits OK on the new drive. If not you may have to use a sharp knife to carve off some small pieces of plastic to make it fit, or use some glue or silicone to hold the face place in place. This will vary from drive to drive but luckily in my example it just clips on without modification.

The next step in removing the original drive is to remove the mounting screws. In most DVD players this is accomplished by removing four screws along the bottom edge of the loader or on the mounting tags attaching the drive to the support bracket as shown here (only 2 screws shown, there are two on the other side):

After the loader has been fully removed and the IDE ribbon cable and power cable unplugged all that is left is the mounting bracket. This bracket will vary from player to player but most players have some sort of bracket used to raise the loader to the desired height to match up with the front panel tray opening.

INSTALLING THE REPLACEMENT DVD DRIVE

The question now of course is how to attach the new DVD-ROM drive to the bracket, given that PC type drive's have side mounting screws and almost all DVD loaders have bottom mounting screws. Well you can get as technical or as simple as you like on this. My method of choice is to just silicone the bracket down onto the chassis and put dobs of silicone on top of the bracket and push the new drive onto this. After the silicone dries the new DVD drive is held rather well. Of course it makes it hard to remove later on if you wish to replace this new drive, but it is a balance you will have to decide on yourself between doing a rather quick and easy job or getting rather fancy making up new brackets to suit. Just remember to use a neutral cure silicone and not an acid type cure (the vinegar smelling type) otherwise things may corrode on you making the DVD player unreliable.

With the bracket like this it is now time to mount in the new drive. Make sure that the tray is open and gently place it down onto the bracket. With the tray sticking out the front of the player, clip on the original DVD player face plate and close the tray. With some minor placement adjustment the face plate should line up in the opening. Ensure that the face plate has an even gap around it to the front panel when closed to avoid the face plate scraping when opening and closing.

And that is it. One replaced loader. Ensure that before you use the player the silicone is cured (24 hours or so) otherwise the drive may move and alter the alignment of the tray. Once silicone is dry it is hard to get it to move to where you want it to go so be careful to get the alignment correct and remember not to move the player while the silicone cures!

The Original Concept

Here is a link to Adrian Black's AD-600A web site. Adrian had problems upgrading his loader firmware and in the process killed the original AD-600A drive. Instead of throwing out his Apex, he has replaced the dead DVD-ROM drive unit Toshiba DVD-ROM drive.

To help others he has made a web page on his efforts and also does some performance tests with impressive results. It looks like the Toshiba DVD-ROM works better than he could have imagined!

As you can see it is also a really good fit! Click on the picture to go to Adrian's page.