Anybody keep losing their DVD hard drive?

[Nashville Kat]

I don't trust these computer people these days- I'm on my second laptop in three years that keeps losing the DVD drive after loading software disks-

The first was my Sony- they finally have some fixes on their own site that seem to be working- but originally it dumped me off onto somke site selling a fix for 30 dollars- I was frustrated and started getting suspicious

then the battery circuit blew on that, and because I get online a lot in public- I got this emachine laptop at the holidays- it keeps losing the DVD drive in the very same way when I try to load software- it seems that it is all kinds of software too- not just the same-

I'm wondering if this is all planned- I specifically get a machine with a drive so I can load software and burn disks- then it keeps disappearing-

Is this to force us to buy software on;line? Then you have to reformat or restore, and lose all the stuff- and have to buy again- I lost some software in a flood- I have some disks and drivers that I would like to use

Also- the stupid UPDATES-- they ALWAYS seem to slow the machine down- outside of taking my time installing them and even first dropping me offline to restart the computer-

I turn off automatic updating now-- and it's sorta a search to do that until the umpteenth time-

I don't trust the computer people these days- The machines seemed more user friendly until recently-

now it selective discouragement my paranoia fears...

 

[matthurd]

seems like bad luck on your end, my family runs a small computer repair shop and dvd drives are not a common issue, occasionally someones goes bad, but it's not a very common problem imo.

you can still get your software on the laptop even with out a dvd drive though, just torrent the software and download it, mount it to a virtual drive, and use your cd key to activate it.

now if it's a software issue with your dvd drive, go to the support site for your machine, and download the drivers for it,delete the old ones, and install your new ones (theres tons of guides on removing drivers online).

then last if the dvd drive is actually dead, they're usually pretty easy to replace as they're generally modular, 1 screw and a paper clip and you can get the dvd drive out of many laptops.

slot loaders are the worst and your best bet is to bring it to a pc shop since those often require disassembling the machine, swapping it out, and reassembling it.

emachines+acers (same company) and hps/compaq (again same company) are the worst machines imo though, dell toshiba and asus make pretty reliable laptops.

anyways good luck.