Installing new DVD burner

Welcome to Geeks to Go

Have you already purchased a new DVD burner?

First you need to power down the computer

Then unplug the computer and the other wires\cables from the back of the computer.

Pick up the tower and place it on your kitchen table or another wooden surface...

Remove the side panel (there may be screws holding it in place, or a tab\lever that you slide to remove the panel.)

look at the back of the burner what kind of cable is plugged in... (There will be 2 cables one is a power cable and the other is a data cable...

An IDE cable is about 2in. wide and is flat

A SATA cable has a flat 1\2in. plug with a wire a little larger than a phone line...(Don't confuse a 4 pin Molex connector with a SATA connection) The molex connector is only plugged in to the burner it it has an IDE interface...

From what I read in your manual you have SATA interface connectivity. But Dell most likely used IDE. Now is a good time to upgrade to SATA if you have an IDE burner(as long as you have SATA connectivity... if you have already purchased another drive and it is IDE thn it is ok...

Once you have determined that your new drive has the same interface...

Remove the front panel, most likely there are 3 clips inside the case that retain the front panel...(the panel will swivel and pop out from the opposite side, be careful there maybe wires plugged in to the front so do break them...)

Once you have removed the cables from the back of the drive go back to the front panel.

There are 2 clips I believe on your setup just push them in towards the center of the drive and it should slide out...

Remove the metal clips from the old drive and place them on the new drive...

slide the new drive back in to the tower...

Plug the drive in...

Once you have made all the connections...

Plug the computer back in at your computer station and boot up...

Make sure it works...

If everything is fine then replace the front panel, and the side panel...

Congrats at this point everything is done and you should be fine...

Good luck let me know how this works

Cbarnard

Thank you.

I will try it and let you know if I am successful.

Bob