Need to find out what kind of cd hardware is in my Dell


I have 2 Dell PCs.

One is a $3,000 laptop.

One is a desktop, a tower with 2 CDs.

#1
I can?t get the laptop to burn CDs.  How can I find out if it has a
DVD burner or not.  I don?t have a copy of my Dell order around, but I
swore I ordered a laptop with a dvd burner.

I checked the device manager and it reports back a model number of:
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4240N

Can this be looked up on the web to see if it is a burner?
Will Dell offer some kind of replacement if I pay them enough, or once
it is made, that?s it?

#2
I can?t get either drive in the Dell desktop (which has 2 drives, one
a cd burner) to read a video rental DVD.  I don?t have any other DVDs
to test.

I checked the device manager and it reports back a model numbers of:
Lite-On LTN4865 48x Max
LITE-On LTR24102M

Can this be looked up on the web to see if it is a DVD/CD-rom player
or just a CD-Rom player?


thanx in advnce

sherpaj-ga:

According to this ZDNet UK review of the Dell Inspiron 8500 featuring
the same optical drive model, it is a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, capable of
reading DVDs at 8x, reading CDs at 24x, burning CD-Rs at 24x, and
burning CD-RWs at 10x. The drive cannot burn DVDs.

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,39023984,10003346,00.htm

The can only burn CD-Rs and CD-RWs, it cannot burn DVD Recordables.
The appropriate upgrade from Dell for burning DVDs is their DVD+RW
drive. I happen to have one of these in my possession (with an
Inspiron 600M), the drive identifies itself to Windows as an "_NEC
DVD+RW ND-5100A". This drive, shown here:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?category_id=5683&sku=313-2055&c=us&l=en&cs=19&iCompatid=160108

is compatible with the Dell Inspiron 300m/600m/8500/8600 notebooks. If
you happen to have a Dell Latitude model, please let me know so that I
can reference you to the correct accessory for that model line.

If you are able to locate your original Dell shipping waybill or
invoice to confirm that you ordered a DVD+RW drive instead of a
DVD/CD-RW drive, then you may be able to convince Dell's customer
service group to provide you with the correct part. Otherwise, the
link above will allow you to purchase the DVD+RW drive from Dell for
use in the modular bay of your laptop.

As for the optical drives in your desktop PC, according to the Dell
website the Lite-On LTN486 48x Max drive is a CD-ROM drive, while the
Lite-On LTR24102M is a CD-RW drive. Neither are capable of reading a
DVD.

Lite-On LTN486
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/storage/286de/en/intro.htm

LTR24102M
http://support.dell.com/filelib/format.aspx?releaseid=r38713

If you wish to play or read DVDs in your desktop PC, it will be
necessary for you to replace one of these two optical drives with one
that supports DVDs.

Hope this helps,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Register yourself with Dell at
https://premiersupport.dell.com/premier/login/login.asp

Go to http://premiersupport.dell.com/us/en/home.asp, put in your
serial # at Enter Service Tag and select System Details.

If you are not able to access this site, forward me the serial #, I
will forward you the system details.