IBM Thinkpad R32 Series Laptop Problems

[r32owner]

I tried an external DVD ROM drive that I have and that is recognized.

[ajkula66]

I meant another UltraBay drive...

[r32owner]

I am sorry, the other R32 that I did the initial swapping with is in California. I do remember putting this dvd-rom drive in the other R32 and it was recognized and worked, but when placed into this machine, it was not recognized. I may have to consider buying a replacement drive to see what happens. I will try to source a vendor.

[ajkula66]

eBay is your best bet. Look for any type of UltraBay 2000 drive, CD-ROM shouldn't run you more than $15 shipped.

[r32owner]

Thanks for the info. I will try that.

[r32owner]

I received the Ultrabay 2000 CD-ROM drive from Ebay today and installed it and the BIOS still does not recognize it.

[ajkula66]

I've read about this issue before but have never dealt with it myself. What I can tell you for a fact now that you've tested the unit with another drive is that you have a motherboard problem. There is no known fix (at least not to me) for this issue.

A fellow TPF forum member had reported this problem a couple of years ago on a R32, and went through several different drives until he found one that was recognized in BIOS. He had parts and time to spare, which is a predicament that most people don't have, and there's no guarantee that you'll eventually find the drive...

Depending on your needs, you may want to get a USB media drive, or get rid of the R32 altogether and purchase a newer machine.

Good luck and let us know. 

[r32owner]

I don't know whether this means anything, but I just ran PC Doctor for Windows and I got a clean bill of health on the motherboard.

[ajkula66]

I'm not sure whether PC-Doctor would necessarily detect this type of defect...

[netman]

Hi

I had a similar problem with an R40 recently running WinXP.

I found upgrading to the latest IBM DLA software fixed the problem.

I beleave that it also installs new CD/RW drivers which allow the OS to recognize the drive in WINDOWS.

Go to IBM download page.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?doctypeind=9&template=%2Fproductselection%2Fla...

click on "detect my system" upper left

assuming it can find your system.

try to get the

"CD-RW DLA application update for Windows 2000, XP - ThinkPad General "

update for your system and install it.

Good Luck.