Since cyber surfing this forum there has be topics raised on if certain optical drive could be fitted into one’s laptop etc, etc.
So since many seem to be about the Compal type laptops I have put together a small but useful
Tutorial, for converting one’s optical drive in a Compal 5 series and their spin off counterpart’s laptop, for a replacement optical drive unit which may not have the right connections.
It describes the removal only of the main components needed to carry out this task (A one for one exchange of parts and not replacement of the bezel).
This guide can be used for other brands/make of laptops and will have to be adjusted as needed.
Most Slot type optical drives will fit nicely without any trimming of the bezel into the Compal 5xx laptop. With tray type optical drive you may be able to replace the bezel on the front of the drive with your original bezel from your Compal drive maybe for cosmetic reason drive dependent. (Unscrew bezel fixing screw on top and maybe the underside then unclip and pull out)
Even so you may have to undertake some filing on some bezel
Before undertaking any mod you need to identify the type of drive and connectors you have.
Have a look at some shots below of my drives …………the rear and connection.



Connection on our replacement drive



Close up of a Conncetor for our Compal 5xx drive




Tools: Need to carry out this task.
Precision screwdriver set



Typical connections:



Tray draw open



Lets begin
Now would be a good time to have your optical drive out of your laptop.
Working area should been clean you may wish to have some blue tak or double sided tape to stick your screw onto so you don’t lose them as you take the out.
Once out your drive will look something like this, notice housing frame and back plate. See below



Close-up of the connector
And here is a close-up of the connector on the original fitted Compal optical drive.



Next to remove the back plate.
Now we need to unscrew the two screws around the back plate so we can remove it.
For this I used a screwdriver with a cross drive head size #1.
Once both screw are out all you need to do is lift the back plate out.
Photos below show topside view of drive.


It's off!!!!

Back plate off see below. (Topside of drive)



Removing housing frame.
Now that our back plate is off we can proceed to take off the housing frame around out optical drive.
This is held in place by four screws for this I used a cross head size #0 screwdriver.
There no set order to take these screws out. Once you have done this you need to have the underside of the drive face upwards to remove the housing frame. See photos.
With just a gentle force pull away the housing frame BUT make sure you don’t pull onto the Piggy back board (PCB connector) which is behind this frame and connected to our drive, as this could be damaged in doing so.

It’s easy enough to take out so no sweat……and put housing frame and screw to one side there after.



Housing frame removed
Housing frame has now be removed and you can see
the components taken off so far in the photo below.



Removal of PCB connector (Piggy back board)

Now to take off the connector PCB just a gentle pull will release this.
Pull from ends of PCB with even pressure away from the drive.
Yes we have our connector PCB removed from drive now.
This is the most important part so keep it save, without this your ****$$$£% get me!
See photos below!



Here's another view.

These are close up's of the Connector PCB.







Bare drive
And now we have a bare drive without housing frame and back plate etc.



The refit of these components to your replacement drive is the reverse of the removal.
And this is what the end product looks like replaced onto our new drive.

New drive



Components stack neatly together




Note
Although I’ve put this short guide together don’t under take this mod if you feel unable to complete it.
Warranties could be void and I will not be held responsible for any damages.
All the best from…..Wu-Tang
Shaolin brotherhood selfdefence.

PS: All though this may not be to everyone's taste it may serve to aids others...
Yes I know there are some typo mistakes etc, etc.

Hi Katt need some of your nice cooking tanx...

great job, however, are there any drives I can buy without doing this?

It appears that my drive is a toshiba with the compal name on it.

I have yet to come across a bare optical drive which will just slot straight into a Compal CL 5xx. come to thing of it any laptop.
This is why if you buy from your laptop manufacturer it will have the right fittings housing frame etc.
You see most laptop optical drives come as standard with IDE Interface Connector with 50 Pin I/F ATAPI Standard (I/F=internal/female).
And most are set to the right of the drive as shown in my photos.
I did have a 50 Pin E/M ATAPI Standard (E/M= external/male) but this was on a slow speed DVD-Rom drive.
You see most of the drives come in bare to the manufactures to build into their system. So this is why they use different housing frame, piggy back boards to suite a particularly design laptop.
Added a few more photo shots below of a different type of connection.
PS: Maybe if you guy's would like to take some photo shots of you laptop optical drive and its connection along with any printed markings on the piggy back board, maybe I could source parts for convertion to suite your lappy.

50 pin assignments





And below connection and housing shots







Notice the piggy back board (connector PCB) in the above shot.

Hey Wu-Tang,
Awesome work Dude!
It's members like you that make a forum great.
Thanks a gazillion!

No problem colossus at the moment I'm on hold with a few mod's due to buy a new digital camera. Once I get my hands on a new camera there should be a few more mod's to be posted in here.

Excellent post Wu-Tang

I was wondering if anybody knew where to buy an additional mount for the CL56 so that I can have two drives ready to swap instead of having to dis-assemble one and then re-assemble it on another drive?

Try here
Canada
Bizcom Electronics Inc. (Canada)
6901 Creditview Road
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5N 8E9

Telephone # 905-286-6900
Fax # 905-286-6901
Web site www.bizcom-ca.com

USA
Bizcom Electronics Inc.
881 Wrigley Way
Milpitas, California
USA 95035

Telephone # 408-262-7877
Fax # 408-262-3907
Web site www.bizcom-us.com

Or try the company to which you placed your order with for your laptop.

Here we have an optical drive from a Dell laptop.







Just a few shots from a Dell unit.

this should be a sticky for all the people who ask "will the universal slimline optical drive fit in MY machine?" YES!

Wu-Tang, you mentioned in another thread that you had put a slot load drive in your CL56. Could you post a couple of pics of that installed? I'm mostly interested in seeing what the front bezel looks like. I hate the tray load drives that Compal ships with the CL56 and would love to put in a slot loading one.

Thanks!

Neuron I would love to post some shots of the drive for you but at the moment I'm without a camera..
Sorry M8.

Ah, thanks anyway. Can you at least give me a few details like what drive you're using and what bezel? Does the bezel line up with the front of the case smoothly or did you have to modify it? I'm mainly interested in the fit and finish of the laptop with the slot load drive installed.

@Neuron sorry buddie just read your post.
It's a Pioneer k04 drive and it line's up fine in my rig a very good drive.
Now if you wanted to go all the way for it to look like it came with the Compal (Compal has a slight tapered angle at the bottom edge) you could use some p120 grit wet or dry paper to get this effect by rubbing along the bottom edge of the bezel till you get a smiliar effect to the originl drivw. But if you under go this please make sure that your working on the correct edge..