Vostro 1700 noisy DVD drive

PaulProteus · 29 May 2008 at 21:43

I have just received my Vostro 1700. A massive and very studry machine, Vista index of 4.6 mainly due to the Vista Aero, otherwise is 5.3. Very happy with the machine so far. Very fast even the battery life is not as bad as I expected, provided you change the settings and let it run for maximum battery life.

How can I check the display manufacturer?

The one thing that spoils the full satisfaction is the noisy DVD optical drive. As soon as I put a DVD in it and it starts rotating with very discernible noise. If you want to watch a movie this is unbearable. One solution is to copy the film first to the hard drive but sometimes you cannot run it due to CopyRights protections.

Does anybody else experience similar problem? Any solution? I have seen that the DVD drive is a TSST one. Do you think that calling DELL and sharing this with them would do the trick?

Cheers,

Paul

Markus123 · 30 May 2008 at 12:05

I had a really noisy DVD drive with my Vostro 1500 - possibly the same as yours (can't remember the exact model) but it sounded like the laptop was going to break when it was reading a DVD.

Originally I used Nero DriveSpeed and set it to 4x read which was a decent solution under windows but when not under windows it was still an issue so I phoned up Dell, 3 days later I had an Optiarc AD-5560A on my doorstep for free. Swapped it out and sent them the old one back, MUCH better!

Janesy B · 30 May 2008 at 12:36

start > run > dxdiag will tell you display information.

PaulProteus · 30 May 2008 at 21:50

Markus123 said:
I had a really noisy DVD drive with my Vostro 1500 - possibly the same as yours (can't remember the exact model) but it sounded like the laptop was going to break when it was reading a DVD.

Originally I used Nero DriveSpeed and set it to 4x read which was a decent solution under windows but when not under windows it was still an issue so I phoned up Dell, 3 days later I had an Optiarc AD-5560A on my doorstep for free. Swapped it out and sent them the old one back, MUCH better!

I have tried NeroDriveSpeed with no success. I do not know whether the version was Vista compatible. I will check again. I like the response of Dell so I might give them a call on Monday.

Cheers.

PaulProteus · 30 May 2008 at 21:52

Janesy B said:
start > run > dxdiag will tell you display information.

Following this I found out the information that is already available in the System (Contro Panel) menu. Unfortunately it does not give you the display manufacturer, e.g. Samsung, LG, etc.

Cheers

schnipps · 31 May 2008 at 19:11

Got mine the other day, likely the same spec, yes it is noisy no more then i expected though really i just hate the noise they make generally. I dont really use or play many discs so it doesnt bother me. The machine is spot on though, really impressed for the price.

Markus123 · 31 May 2008 at 21:20

I have tried NeroDriveSpeed with no success. I do not know whether the version was Vista compatible. I will check again.

Yeah I had slight difficulty finding a Vista-compatible version, it seems only the newest versions that come with Nero 8 are compatible.

About finding out your screen manufacturer if dxdiag doesn't show it you could try the free stand-alone version of astra32 (http://www.astra32.com/download.htm) that shows the correct one for me under 'Monitor Vendor' (LG Philips)

PaulProteus · 1 Jun 2008 at 00:28

Markus123 said:
Yeah I had slight difficulty finding a Vista-compatible version, it seems only the newest versions that come with Nero 8 are compatible.

About finding out your screen manufacturer if dxdiag doesn't show it you could try the free stand-alone version of astra32 (http://www.astra32.com/download.htm) that shows the correct one for me under 'Monitor Vendor' (LG Philips)

Thanks Markus,

I found that the ID is SEC3258. It seems to be the Samsung one and te reviews I have found are pretty encouraging.

@schnipps I relly like it. It is very big (compared to my office Latitude 620) and very fast indeed. I will try to find the right version of drivespeed and turn the rpm down.

Does yours get hot? I expected for it to run a bot cooler but might be I have expected too much.

PaulProteus · 10 Jun 2008 at 21:39

Today I have called the Dell Technical Support and they will be sending me a DVD drive replacement tomorrow. Unfortunately there will not be anyone at home so I am a bit worried that I might have to go to the depot of the delivery company.

Do they use different brands for DVD optical drives? The current one is TSST, should be something as Toshiba Samsung Storage.

I hope that the new one would be better, i.e. silent.

PS The guy told me that they do not have yet e-mail support for the Vostro series. I had sent one a week ago and no asnwer whatsoever. This means that if you relied on an e-mail raised issue to be delt with, you have been wasting your time. It will be available in six months from now.

PaulProteus · 11 Jun 2008 at 22:59

Today whilst I was off town the Dell technician has paid us a visit. My eldest son let him replace the TSST drive with a Pioneer one.

You would expect that a Dell technician should know what they do, would not you?

What this guy has done is that he has managed to break the DVD drive connector inside the laptop. The new drive is not noisy at all, the simple reason being that it does not work at all!!!

What poor performance!!! Had he left it I could have exchanged it myself far better. Now the laptop is broken and I am wondering what to do. I need the laptop on Saturday and if I have to send it back (due to their incompetent technician) and wait for its repair I am going to ask them for compensation.

I still cannot believe that their own representative broke it!!!! :mad: