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This page is a stub article from the main Compaq Armada 1750 Upgrade, Disassembly & Repair guide. From the FAQ question: "third-party internal laptop DVD-ROM or CD-RW drive conflicts with the HDD and/or is not recognized."
My experiences with swapping CD-ROM drives between a Compaq Armada 1750 and Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop (as an experiment) suggest that you probably need to exchange the CD caddies (if you haven't already), like the one shown in the photograph to the right. Note that the Armada was using a Toshiba model XM-1902B 24X CD-ROM, and the Toshiba Tecra was using a TEAC model CD-224E 24X CD-ROM; this may not extend to all laptop-type optical drives. If you would like more information on the process, look at the detailed photo journal.
My recommendation is to see if there is a way to change the Dell DVD burner from a master to a slave device (information on whether this is possible is pending; success has been limited so far, but you could try a search for information on Google / Groups if you need to). Relevant search results, from my very brief search - you may be able to get better results:
Attempting to use a TEAC CD-W216E on a Compaq Armada 1750
Conflict between hard drive and CD-RW, probably for master status
Troubleshooting Teac CD-W216E CD-RW Drive
Note - apparently some of these drives use the CSEL signal in the data cable, which, if I remember correctly, is delivered by a single pin. If you can determine which pin it is, you may be able to bridge it to another pin (I'm not exactly sure how it works, since I always jumper my desktop drives manually, but the information ought* to be online) to force the drive to operate in slave mode. One can very easily get specific details by googling such things as "CSEL", and, if you need to, adding in the specific model of the drive, a similar drive, or the laptop designation ("Armada 1750 CSEL").
* - Point in case: Forcing CSEL
And, of course, if one gets search engine results with people asking how to do the exact thing I'm suggesting, but no responses, try broadening the search terms, e.g. to include *all* laptops, not just Armadas.
Compatible DVD/CD-RW Drives
It isn't the cheapest (~$80USD), but searching Google or eBay for "Armada 1750 DVD" turns up several matches for the OEM DVD drive for the Armada 1700 and 1750 - part number 316295-001 (or 316258-B21 - the "kit" version - I'm not sure what the difference is, aside from maybe having instructions or screws).
I have also received one report of the Panasonic/Matsushita UJDA330 CD-R/RW drive working with the Compaq Armada 1750. This seems to be a commonly supported CD-RW model. However, beware; there may be problems with new drives which have the MASTER mode flashed in the firmware - Krzysztof is of the opinion that there should be another firmware available (with SLAVE mode) which after flashing the drive with it should allow the drive to work in the Armada. You can try Googling the UJDA330 below, searching on Froogle, or eBay.
Krzysztof writes that he successfully got the TSST TSL462CCOMBO DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive from a Dell laptop working fine with the Armada 1750, with no modifications.
Speaking of modifications, Krzysztof also got a TEAC CD-224E CD-RW drive working with his Armada 1750. He says the original drive (that was working in his laptop) was set to CSEL mode, so he needed to force the TEAC to work in that mode. He downloaded the CD-224E CD-RW drive specifications (I've mirrored a copy), and noted on page 7 that pin 47 is responsible for CSEL mode. You can change the mode by connecting it to ground or 5V. He tried soldering it to pin 45, which didn't have any effect, nor did pin 41 (still "no system disk or disk error" during bootup). He noticed that on the drive's interface connector pin 47 was permanently connected to the ground, so he desoldered pin 47 (well, actually he had to scratch it away - after making certain he had the right pin) and left it disconnected, and that worked. Apparently this tells the ATA interface that the drive is working in slave mode, but only as long as there is no electrical connection on pin 47 (if necessary, a little bit of electrical tape or paper tape insulation might be in order).
Paul writes that he successfully installed an LG DRN-8080B DVD-ROM drive in his Compaq Armada 1750 (12" LCD) and has it running with no problems. He notes that this drive has a M/S/CS switch under a foil sticker at the back of the drive, he set his to Slave, and the machine was up and running.
External USB drives are not affected by the master/slave conflict issue. However, given the Armada 1750's built-in USB1.1 port (which peaks at 1MB/sec), you may also want to use a PCMCIA USB2.0 adapter card with any external CD-RW or DVD-ROM drive, to get adequate performance.
I have also received one report of the Panasonic/Matsushita UJDA330 CD-R/RW drive working with the Compaq Armada 1750. This seems to be a commonly supported CD-RW model. Try Googling it above, searching on Froogle, or eBay.
I cannot respond to questions via e-mail at this time.
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