Will Toshiba Satellite A15-S127 notebook take a DVD-R drive?

Nice site. Have a Satellite A15-S127. Very nice to find disassembly instructions as I have had a very balky CDR/DVD drive for a long time now. Many times will not read a CD/DVD, but will if I open drive and reorient the disc. Have to do this multiple times sometimes.

My question is: Will this machine take a DVD-R drive? Any recommendations?

I think your CD/DVD drive is going bad and should be replaced. There are two different multifunction drives (DVD+/-RW) listed for Toshiba Satellite A15. Here are part numbers: P000384990 and P000422740. I tried to google for it and found it on sale for $360. Man, that’s a lot! I can buy a used laptop for as much. When I tried to search on ebay for “A15 DVD” I found what you are looking for: New 8X DVD+/-RW burner for Toshiba Satellite A10/A15/A40/A45/A55. The description says that it is compatible with Toshiba Satellite A15-S127 and the price was much better: $95+$15 for shipping. I think that is a great price for a new laptop burner. Here are some tips for buying a new notebook DVD drive.

44 Responses to “Will Toshiba Satellite A15-S127 notebook take a DVD-R drive?”

  1. 1
    Robert Washington Says:

    I hope I didnt overlook it, but I am replacing the DVD drive on a toshiba a15-s157 and cannot remove the old
    DVD drive. I looked at the disassembly instructions, but
    this section is not specifically addressed. I have removed several screws of course, but there appears to
    be a fixture holding it in from the rear of the drive, but there is no visible access to the screw? I wouldn’t
    think removing the entire back cover is necessary.
    thanks

  2. 2
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Robert,
    It is not necessary to remove the entire back cover in order to replace the DVD drive. The DVD drive is secured by 2 screws. One screw is located on the bottom of the laptop. On the step 7 you can see the laptop bottom and I believe the DVD drive screw is third from the left top corner. Another screw is located under the keyboard and you can see it on the step 13, the same screw that secures the keyboard cable plate.

  3. 3
    Robert W. Says:

    Thanks, you saved me a few $$ by doing it myself. What a great site you have.

  4. 4
    Bryan Says:

    We have an old HP 3310 laptop and the cd drive quit working about a year ago so over the holidays I found a site where I could buy the same CD drive real cheap, well I received the drive and decided to start replacing it but I have been unable to find any guides which shows me how this is done for an HP. The hard drive just pots out but i can not figure out how extensive I have to tear down the case to replace the CD drive. Do you have any sites or guidelines ? Would appreciate the help !!
    Bryan

  5. 5
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Brian,
    I’m not familiar with this model and cannot help you with step-by-step instructions. May be you can find some help here?

  6. 6
    Bryan Says:

    I was able to figure it out, all I had to do was remove the keyboard and remove two tiny! screws and the CD drive pulled right out.Then I just had to switch the little holding bracket from the old drive to the new one and then slide the whole assembly back in to the slot, install the two screws, done.

    Thanks for the help !
    Bryan

  7. 7
    Gary Says:

    I have an A15-127 with a bad DVD/CD-RW, a TEAC DW-224E, part #0396221. I tried to replace it with a Toshiba SD-R2312, but get the IDE #1 Error. Some have suggested flashing the drive, but I can’t figure out how to do that, since the computer and the drive don’t know each other. Complicating things is a trashed WindowsXP Home install. I re-partitioned and formatted the drive as FAT32 and copied the recovery DVD onto Drive C:. I can boot with a USB floppy, but the recovery evidently cannot deal with source and target being the same partition. I guess I need to re-partition and load the recovery data into Drive D:, eh? I found a Teac drive on ebay that is described as thus: THIS IS A USED TOSHIBA SATELLITE M35X CDRW-DVD ROM DRIVE, TESTED AND WORKS FINE. MODEL# DW-224E, P/N K000015780. What are the chances that this drive will be configured correctly, which is as the Primary Slave? By the way, I believe that the Toshiba SD-R2312 is configured Cable Select. Sorry for the two-in-one question, but I seem to have double trouble.

  8. 8
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Gary,
    I’ve never tried flashing an optical drive myself and cannot help you here. But I can give you a list of DVD drives listed for a Satellite A15-S127 notebook, so you can search on the Internet by the part number (P number) and find the cheapest one. There shouldn’t be any compatibility issues.
    Here it is.
    P000377270 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Teac DW-224E-T4,
    P000377280 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Panasonic UJDA740TB1,
    P000379280 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Toshiba SD-R2412-OAA,
    P000379290 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Teac DW-224EA,
    P000383900 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Panasonic UJDA-750TB1-A,
    P000379320 DVD-R/-RW DRIVE Toshiba SD-R6012-OAA,
    P000384990 DVD-MULTI RECORDER Panasonic UJ811TJ2-A,
    P000422740 DVD-MULTI RECORDER Panasonic UJ-820BTNJ

  9. 9
    Gary Says:

    The dead drive is a Teac DW-224E-AT4. What I ended up doing is opening the Toshiba SD R2312 and drawing a line between pins 45 and 47 with a #2 pencil. It worked! Wonders never cease. If I run into any more problems with it I will shop for one of the drives you list.

  10. 10
    Doug Says:

    I’m looking to replace the DVD/CD drive in my Toshiba A105-S4384 Satellite laptop. What I have presently is a Matshita UJ-841S DVD/CD drive, but that’s incompatible with two programs I need to be running. Any ideas about what drives might be compatible, or where I might find this information? And since I’ve been reading about potential compatibility issues, please let me know what software issues might crop up in this replacement. Many thanks!

  11. 11
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Doug,
    Here’s a list of drives compatible with your notebook

    CD-RW/DVD-ROM COMBO DRIVES
    V000061010 Hitachi (HLDS) GCC-4244-ATAKK0
    V000061020 KME UJDA770TBV-A
    V000061030 Toshiba Samsung (TSST) TS-L462C/TOBJ

    DVD SUPER Double Layer MULTIDRIVES
    V000061040 Teac DV-W28EB-5TT
    V000061050 KME UJ-850BTJV-A
    V000061060 Hitachi (HLDS) GMA-4082N-ATAKK0
    V000061070 Nec ND-7550A
    V000061080 Pioneer DVR-K16TBS
    V000061090 Pioneer DVR-K16TBL
    V000061750 KME UJ-841BTJV-A
    V000062240 Panasonic (KME) UJ-850BTJA-A

    I don’t know your requirements for the drive and have no idea what kind of software might require a specific drive, but all listed above drives should be compatible with your Satellite A105-S4384 notebook. You can find a new drive on the Internet if you search by the part number (V-number).

  12. 12
    Doug Says:

    Fantastic! I appreciate the help. Great website, by the way. Cheers!

  13. 13
    max Says:

    1)does TOSHIBA SATELLITE A15-S127 SUPPORT DVD-RW/CD-RW DRIVE. I mean if i can replace my regular dvd/dc combo drive to this option.

    2) can I replace 30GB HDD to bigger one? say 120GB?

    please give some tips how to do it if it is possible?

  14. 14
    Jake Says:

    Hi all, I have a Toshiba A15-S129 that the DVD/CDRW has died on. Can any one tell me what DVD / CD burners are compatible with this model…???

    Lovely Jubbely…!!!

    Thanks

    Jake

  15. 15
    Dana Says:

    Hello, I have a Compaq Evo N600c. The CD-ROM died. I bought a Lite-on SSW-8015S. It was said to be compatible, but I am having the issue in one of the articles here where the front face sizes are different.
    The Lite-on has a 5″ front face and the old Toshiba drive has a 5 3/16″ front face.
    In the vast world of computer gadgets, I thought for sure there would be a fix for this. Like, maybe a front bezel resizer. Something that would fit in the empty sides of a smaller drive. I couldn’t find anything like that so, can anyone point me in the right direction on a possible solution OR another drive that might fit? Is it not recommended to swap the new drive faceplate with the old drive’s faceplate?
    Thanks in advance,
    Dana

  16. 16
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Max, Jake,
    Here’s a list of drives you can use with Toshiba Satellite A15 notebook:
    CD-RW/DVD drives
    P000377270 Teac DW-224E-T4
    P000377280 Panasonic UJDA740TB1
    P000379280 Toshiba SD-R2412-OAA
    P000379290 Teac DW-224EA
    P000383900 Panasonic UJDA-750TB1-A
    DVD –R/-RW drive
    P000379320 Toshiba SD-R6012-OAA
    DVD Multirecorder
    P000384990 Panasonic UJ811TJ2-A
    P000422740 Panasonic UJ-820BTNJ
    Search on the Internet using the part number (P-number). You shouldn’t have any problem using either of the above mentioned drives, but just in case contact the seller and make sure the drive is compatible with your computer.

  17. 17
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Max,
    Originally Toshiba equipped Satellite A15 notebooks with three different hard drives: 30GB, 40GB and 60G. You can use a larger hard drive too. You shouldn’t have any problem if you install 80GB, 100G or 120GB hard drive. Here’s a guide for taking apart Satellite A15 notebook, it’ll show how to access and replace the hard drive.

  18. 18
    Fred STrigun Says:

    Hi
    I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S2311 with a Matshita
    UJ820S DVD-Ram I have had problems with this drive from day on
    contacted Toshiba and they told me it is software I installed or I can take it to their service center 250miles one way and leave it there. I have another Toshiba I purchased 6 month ago and have same configuration with no problems it has a UJ841S
    Which model can I put in my Toshiba A75 that will also do double density DVD-Ram plus CD and where to buy I thank you in advance
    And this is a real nice web site Thanks Fred Strigun

  19. 19
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Fred Strigun,

    Which model can I put in my Toshiba A75 that will also do double density DVD-Ram plus CD

    Here’s a list of double layer DVD multi recorders you can use in your notebook:

    K000025200 KME UJ-840BTJYA
    K000029620 KME UJ-840BTJY-A (830)
    K000018830 Panasonic UJ-831BTJV-A
    K000020480 Teac DV-W28E
    K000025640 KME UJ-840BTJU-A

    You can search for the best price on the internet by the part number I provided (K-number). Make sure contact the seller and ask if the drive comes with the front panel.

  20. 20
    Fred STrigun Says:

    Hi thanks for the reply!
    I was also told that the Panasonic UJ85J
    would work what do you think?

    Thank you

  21. 21
    Sean Says:

    I have a Toshiba A65-S1070 and I’ve been thinking about replacing the CD-RW/DVD drive with a DVD Burner. But now that I know I need a compatible drive I’m having trouble finding one. So I was wondering do you have a list of compatible drives for the A65?

  22. 22
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Sean,
    I found three internal DVD burners listed for Toshiba Satellite A65 notebook:
    V000040190 KME UJ-820BTJV-A 21-E-1
    V000041810 Teac DV-W24E-0TT 21-E-2
    V000043060 KME UJ-840BTJZ-A
    You shouldn’t have any compatibility issues if you use either of them.

  23. 23
    Sean Says:

    Thanks…now to go find them :-)

  24. 24
    Tomas Says:

    Hi, I have an A45-S120 and I just tried to change my DVD Drive for a DVD RW one. But every time I start the computer, it says IDE ERROR and I cant see the drive on Windows.

    Any idea of how can I Fix this? I also tryed upgrading my BIOS version, but it didnt work.

    Thanks..

    Tomas

  25. 25
    chris Says:

    I recently brought a DIGISTOR DVD RW drive from buy.com . I put it in my Toshiba A10-S1291 but got an IDE #1 ERROR. THe machine boots up but will not recognize the drive.

  26. 26
    Laptop Freak Says:

    chris,
    I think you get an IDE#1 error because the DVD drive is not configured the same way as the original drive.

  27. 27
    Paul Watson Says:

    Hi, I would like to remove a faulty DVD drive on an NEC Generation laptop (similar to NEC Versa S950). I have looked all over the internet for disassembly guides but with no luck.
    Do you, or anybody else, know how to remove the optical drive from the NEC Generation/Versa S950? Any help greatly appreciated and great site BTW.

  28. 28
    Robert Says:

    Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite L35-S2151 with a CD/DVD Combo drive. I would like to upgrade to a DVD Dual-Layer burner but I don’t know where to find one. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

  29. 29
    ken Says:

    how do I replace a dvd drive on a a85 toshiba laptop

  30. 30
    Pritam Says:

    Hi
    I have a toshiba satelite M45-S2653 laptop its model no is PSM40U-11Z04H. Exsisting DVD writter is from Panasonic UJ-841. I tried to clean its lense with perfume and since then it is not working properly. I want to replace this drive. I tried to searh for this drive but unable to find it. Can any one pls tell me which drives are compatible with it.

    I heard that Panasonic UJ-85J drive is compatible it. Is it true. Pls help me.

    thanks
    Pritam

  31. 31
    Steve Says:

    Hi,

    What a great site! And that´s before I find out if you can help me!!!

    I have a Toshiba Equium A110-233 with a dodgey CD/DVD drive – model Matshita UJ-841S

    Can I replace this and if so with what? Other than another UJ-841S…

    Regards,

    Steve

  32. 32
    Mark Johnson Says:

    Can you help me with my problem.

    I have a Time 8375 laptop with a broken Panasonic UJDA 750 cd drive I have replaced it with the same model drive but when I boot up the computer it says Secondary Master None ( it recognises the broken one). I have tried other cd drives with the same result.
    I have accessed the System Configuration Facility (is this the same as the BIOS) and it shows IDE Secondary Disabled. The BIOS is Insyde Software SCU.

    Any help greatfully received.
    Mark

  33. 33
    emma Says:

    Im fixing a friend of a friends Toshiba Satellite M45 , its in such bad shape, it wont even go past the Windows loding screen, I was finally able to get into safe mode when that screen saying “windows did not load correctly” came up, but even in safe mode the computer was SLOW , defragging took a day and a half, so after all that I decided to just use the restore disc and get a fresh start (after her consent of course) now the real issue is it wont boot from the CD Drive, I hit F2 for boot options, selected CD drive, and it simply refused to boot, it will go straight to the hard drive, I tried setting the bios to load from CD and it still won’t, it just wont go to the OD, I even tried a Windows XP Home disc, could this be something more serious than a corrupt windows? any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

  34. 34
    Ken Corbett Says:

    I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop model 1805-s253 (Windows ME)in which I replaced the original CD/DVD ROM with a good working Toshiba CD-RW/DVD ROM combo drive Model SD-R2512 out of another Satellite(not sure of model). I installed Adaptec Easy Creator 4 which I had previously used with Windows ME on another computer. The 1805′s Device Manager identifies it as Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2512. It will play DVD movies, CD audio disks and data disks but will not write to CDs. I tried having Windows search for a better driver but it says the best one is installed. Also says the drive is working properly. When I try to write, Easy CD creator says no writeable drive is installed. What do I need to do to make it write capable?

  35. 35
    Vogi Says:

    Dear Sir,
    I hava Dell Inspiron 5150 and very strange problem on it. Recently DVD-RW stopped responding and I replaced it with my old DVD-rom . Everything works fine except I can’t boot from DVD-rom because BIOS doesn’t see it. Once Windows is loaded DVD-rom works perfectly. I tryed everything but no success :( . It looks that DVD-rom is on Primary IDE channel and HD on the secondary (secondary master). Couldn’t get reading for DVD-rom, don’t know if it’s primary master or slave…….
    Any help would be much appreciated.

    Cheers from Sydney-Australia

  36. 36
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Vogi,
    Did you try to load default BIOS settings? I believe there should be a key in the BIOS setup menu to load default settings.

  37. 37
    Richard Highstreet Says:

    I have a Toshiba Satellite A60-142 with a MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-820S. Which models can I put in my Toshiba A60, the same as mentioned january 27th 2007?
    Double density and DVD-Ram is not required

  38. 38
    Antonio Says:

    I have a toshiba satellite A15 S129 y bought a DVDRW Sony SONY DW-D58A 8X Slim DVD+/-RW. DVD/CD Rewritable but dont Boot and i cant install the OS some know if this drive make a conflict with the bios of this laptop or is not compatible for this model.

    I really appreciate your help.

  39. 39
    mark Says:

    Hi
    First check is the drive is recognised in the BIOS. If it isn’t it might be recognised by Windows operating system, I had this problem and got round it by taking out the Hard drive and buying (off Ebay) an adaptor for the hard drive so I could connect it to my desktop computer. I then loaded windows put the hard drive back into the laptop and windows recognised the drive no problem.

  40. 40
    mochi Says:

    Hi all.

    Another question regarding replacing DVD ROM drive to a writable drive.
    I have a Toshiba Satelite A100 PSAA2Z-02M020 and have checked the user manual for compatable writable drives. It says the “DVD super Multi +/- double layer” drive would be compatable, but gives no further specifics. Are some brands (both internal and freestanding) more compatable than others?
    Also, what do I need to look for in the bios info before choosing a new DVD drive?

    many thanks.

  41. 41
    Dave Says:

    Mark How did you load Windows

  42. 42
    Carlotta Webb Says:

    Hello,
    I have disassembled my Toshiba A15 laptop, all except the top cover. I am unable to separate the top from the LCD cover. Can you tell me how to I replace the A15 A10 TOP COVER.

  43. 43
    Carlotta Says:

    I have disassembled my Toshiba A15 laptop, all except the top cover. I am unable to separate the top from the LCD cover. Can you tell me how to I replace the A15 A10 TOP COVER.

    This is the point I am stuck on!

    Peeling off the mask tapes from the sides of the display to get to the screws.

  44. 44
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Carlotta,

    I have disassembled my Toshiba A15 laptop, all except the top cover. I am unable to separate the top from the LCD cover. Can you tell me how to I replace the A15 A10 TOP COVER.

    This is the point I am stuck on!

    Peeling off the mask tapes from the sides of the display to get to the screws.

    You’ll find laptop disassembly guide here: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaA15/SatelliteA15_laptop_disassembly_1.htm
    The guide has three pages.

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