On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 11:43 AM, Scott Silva ssilva@sgvwater.com wrote:
on 7-28-2008 6:26 PM Lanny Marcus spake the following:
<snip>
Mark: Try that! On my Desktop, it gives me the SN for the HD (hda), but the space for SN is blank, for hdc (DVD reader) and hdd (CD-RW). . If you are lucky, on your box, it will give you the SN for the DVD burner. Lanny
I don't think most optical drive manufacturers embed serial numbers in their drives. Hard drives are different, as their testing process lets them change something like a serial number, but an optical drive would require a custom firmware to be created and then loaded to the drive. That would slow the process.
That probably explains why when I tried it, there were no serial numbers for my opticlal drives. I always see an SN for a HD, when running diagnostics on them. Sounds like Mark is going to need to pull the bad DVD burner anyway, so when he does, he can read the SN on the label and get an RMA for it.
I would have tried also, because now the system needs to come apart twice unless you just buy a new one and let the replacement be a spare.
Mark: Scott has the right plan for you. Buy a new drive and install it, when you take out the defective one. Send the defective drive in on an RMA and they will probably replace it with a remanufactured drive and you keep that one available as a spare or install it in another box.. If your box is like 3 of ours, it is a PITA to R&R a 5.25" drive. We have 2 Dell Dimensions that are very easy to open (that's the idea, if it works). Dell Latin America replaced one of them, after I got it, because I could not open it. It took two (2) of their Tech Support people, to get the thing open, so I asked for a new one. Plastic cases...... Lanny