DVD-RW Tray Belt Replacement

So there I was sitting in front of my PC wanting to burn a music CD disc for my truck when I went to place the blank CD-R into my Lite-On DH20A4H drive all I heard was “whirr, whirr, whirr, chunk!” What had happened was my tray drive belt after 4 years gave up. This small belt drives the mechanism that opens the DVD-RW tray where you place your blank discs.

Interesting note I have two drives in my PC the other DVD-RW drive is 7 years old and is still working fine it’s the PHILIPS DVD+/-RW DVD8631. Its tray drive belt is way bigger than the Lite-On DH20A4H tray drive belt by about 10x!

To replace the tray drive belt remove the DVD-RW drive from the computer. Then use a paper clip to release the drive tray there should be a small hole right under the lower edge of the drive tray. Stick the straighten paper clip into that hole and the tray should pop-out. Then look for the tabs that hold the front faceplate there should be one on each side and one on the bottom. You have to press on the tab and wiggle the front faceplate off the case its best to start on one end and work your way to the middle/other side. Note when I first took off my faceplate there is a clip that holds the top of the faceplate that will come off by itself while you are wiggling it.

Now that you have the tray released and the faceplate detached flip the DVD-RW over to remove the case screws there should be (4) of them. By unscrewing these case screws you will be able to remove the DVD-RW top cover to gain access to the tray belt.

Once you have the top of the DVD-RW case removed you will be able to see the tray drive belt.

When my situation happened I used a small rubber band as a temporary fix until I could order an actual replacement tray drive belt. 

I could have just left it that way with the small rubber band, but I managed to find a replacement belt online. The belt is actually designed to fix a common problem for the Xbox 360 CD-ROM tray that won’t open (sounds familiar?) I got 10 belts for $2. So if it happens again I’ll be ready!

Note I ended up using an ear-cleaning tool that I had in my grooming kit that I never used (does anybody uses it?) it worked really well in handling the small drive belt. The tool had a small curved surface that worked great for cupping the drive belt to maneuver around the drive wheel. I first place the new drive belt over the small drive wheel and gently stretched it over and slid it around the bigger wheel. That’s it the Lite-On DH20A4H disc tray works like it did when I first got it! Hope this helps someone... if there is any questions ask in the comment area.

BAD CAPACITORS

OK I had this situation with my HP Pavilion A705W its an old computer I believe it was purchased back in 2005. The HP Pavilion A705W’s configuration is not bad at all it is still fast enough for general browsing the internet and emailing also for doing homework. For the most part it was doing well I maxed out the RAM memory to 1GB (not much by today’s standards) and added a case fan to keep things cool. The only thing that went bad after about 4 years or so was the power supply so that was replaced.

So now 3 years later... I noticed that the computer was taking longer to turn ON. Once on the Desktop launching programs seemed to take longer to load. At first I though maybe I had a virus or some kind of adware or malicious program lurking in my computer. After several scans nothing was found (this process takes time). So I thought what else could it be? Just to be through I took a look inside the computer case. Then I saw the bad capacitors on the motherboard most of them were leaking pretty bad couple of the smaller one were just bulge a little.

I gathered all the parts and the tools needed to do the job. I replaced the bad capacitors and since I had the case open I cleaned it out by using canned air. I then hooked everything back up, pressed the power button and... BAM it worked! The computer was working noticeably faster than it was before (back the way I remembered it working).

So in conclusion... don’t rule out the hardware if your computer is running slow especially on older computers. Run the scans first then if the scans find nothing then check inside the case and look at the components on the motherboard. See if there are any failed components. Hope this helps someone... if there is any questions ask in the comment area.

Here are some images of the bad capacitors:

Wireless-N PCI-E x1 Card

So I wanted to add wireless connectivity to my Dell XPS 200 desktop PC, but its one of these small form factor (SFF) PC’s so I needed to find a low profile wireless card that would fit in my Dell XPS 200 desktop PC. My computer is old, but still is in good working order so I want to add to its functionality by making it wireless so I can place it anywhere in my home. Because of its size I was planning on using it as a Media Room PC.

Ok if your not in a rush and are able to check eBay daily for great deals on computer parts you may find some exceptional deals. I found a “HP Anatel RT3090PCIE-C1 3025-09-4419 LP Low Profile Wireless PCI-E WLAN Card” within my budget for this upgrade. When buying previously own parts look for words like “tested, pulled from a working system, new, and guaranty no DOA (Dead On Arrival).”

The HP Anatel RT3090PCIE-C1 3025-09-4419 LP Low Profile Wireless PCI-E WLAN Card arrived and I forgot to mention this card did not come with an antenna and no installation disc or any set up guides. As far as the antenna any RP-SMA antenna will work. I already had a RP-SMA antenna I was not using. If you don’t have one they are readily available on eBay and are not expensive at all.

When installing the card and you are running Windows XP the OS will not install the drivers automatically. No fret you can get it here (click here). When I did this on my Dell XPS 200 the file downloaded just fine and it extracted just fine, but it would not continue to install; the install program just stops after the extraction with no indications. Note remember where it exacted this is important because in this folder there is a Drivers folder that has the driver you need.

The workaround. In Windows XP right click on My Computer, click on Properties, click on Hardware tab, click on the Device Manager button. When you see the Device Manager window you will notice an “unknown device” with a yellow check mark next to it. Right click on it and click on “Update Driver” now browse to the location of the Driver folder select the Windows XP driver and now wait until it the OS finishes installing the driver. When its done you will see in the Device Manager no unknown devices (no yellow check marks) and you will find the wireless card in your Network Adapters listing.

The performance. The HP Anatel RT3090PCIE-C1 3025-09-4419 LP Low Profile Wireless PCI-E WLAN Card works great! I was really impressed with the speed keep in mind all of my PC’s are 4-7 years old! Awhile back I bought a wireless-N router at a Black Friday sale, but this was my first wireless-N card I installed in one of my PC’s and wow now I want to upgrade my other PC’s with wireless-N connectivity. The HP Anatel RT3090PCIE-C1 3025-09-4419 LP Low Profile Wireless PCI-E WLAN Card was connecting at 135 Mbps! The computer I’m on right now is connected with a wireless-G PCI card and it’s connecting at 36 Mbps.

Note if you are running Windows 7 then the HP Anatel RT3090PCIE-C1 3025-09-4419 LP Low Profile Wireless PCI-E WLAN Card will install automatically no need to hunt for the drivers. If you have any questions about this install or want to find out how it’s performing then please leave a comment and I will get back with you. Have a great day!