So is my DVD-R dead? And another question:

Suddenly, my Lenovo (IBM) Thinkpad doesn’t recognize the DVD player. In ‘properties’, I see a message that says “The device cannot start (code 10)”. When I put a disk in, it just churns and nothing comes up on screen. I updated to Windows 7 some time ago, but am pretty sure I’ve used the DVD since then. There don’t appear to be any new drivers out there for it. Is it hosed?

Second question: if I want to replace it, are most laptop DVD players designed to universally fit into the provided slot?

Good chance it died, the drivers for optical drives are fairly universal and bundled into windows itself. If you managed to get the upgrade to work your drivers are probably fine.

Sortof

best bet, usually they are held in by one small screw about 4" in from the edge on the side the drive is on. Remove that screw, the drive should slide out fairly easily. It should have some branding/part numbers to identify the same drive. Many others may fit and line up with the socets but if you try to go that route, save the little front bezel, lots of those are custom to fit cleanly with various cases and will not fit well with a standard bezel.

If you have a ThinkPad, then the optical drive is presumably an UltraBay unit, which is not interchangeable with other laptop DVD players.

Depending on how and where you use the DVD player, you might want to just get an external USB optical drive.

Yes, it’s an Ultrabay unit. I suppose I could just buy another of the same type. What’s a really good external drive?

You might want to check for a replacement first. I googled some replacement drives, but you might want to check the part number on the drive in your laptop to be on the safe side.

http://www.google.com/products?q=ultrabay+dvd+replacement+drive&show=dd&price1=15&price2=60&cond=1&scoring=p

Thanks for the link. It’s a Matshita (Panasonic) drive and pops out very easily, so at least I don’t have to open the laptop case.