can you replace the DVD drive with a Blue Ray drive in a Acer Aspire E 17 ES1-711-P14W?

songmn36
songmn36 Member Posts: 1 New User
edited March 2023 in 2017 Archives

I have an Acer Aspire E 17 ES1-711-P14W laptop. Lately dvd's are skipping and freezing. I've tried cleaning the drive to see if that would fix the issue, however it is not. DVD will start playing and I can hear the drive stop/start while it tries to play the dvd. In the end I have to remove the dvd from playing. Is it possible to upgrade the dvd drive to a Blue Ray RW drive and if so, where can I get the instructions to do that? 

 

Thank you!!!

Answers

  • mrollings53
    mrollings53 Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer

    The upgrade is super easy.  There is a total of one screw holding the optical drive in place.  It will be on the bottom of the laptop; about in the middle of the optical drive bezel, and six inches inboard from the bezel face, or outside edge of the laptop.  Remove the screw, and pry the drive bezel away from the laptop with your finger tips.  There will be some slight resitance at first as the data and power connectors come loose.

     

    Finding a replacement drive is a little tricky.  Optical drives come in various thicknesses.  12.7mm and 9.5mm are a couple popular sizes.  Measure yours to determine which you have.  You may also be able to google the part number on your original drive to determine it's specifications.  Once you know which size you have you can start searching for a new one. 

     

    The problem with this is that there are no retail models of laptop optical drives.  You can find them on Newegg, but they are OEM parts, and aren't sold by Newegg but by third party vendors.  Information will be lacking, providing little more than a part number.  Searching manufacturers websites might give more information.  It might be easier to find another laptop with the hardware you want, then order the optical drive for the other laptop.  Make sure the new drive has the same data connection as your old drive, ie. IDE or SATA.

     

    Once you've found and received your new drive you will need to transfer the bezel, and mounting hardware.  The bezel is held in place by three tabs that can be pried apart.  There are instructions elsewhere on the internet with pictures.  You will start at one end and pop each tab free one at a time.  The installation is the reverse of removal.  You may also have to remove the bezel on the new drive if it comes with one.  The mounting bracket should be screwed to the drive in the back near the data and power connectors.  Remove it and install it on the new drive.  Insert the new drive into the slot in the laptop, and reinstall the screw in the case.  Boot the computer, and Windows should automatically install the proper driver.

     

    As a side note, Windows does not come with any bluray playback support.  You will need to install a third party program, such as Cyperlink PowerDVD, to play bluray movies.

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