Swapping out the optical drive in a laptop

[Vegetarianator]

Recently bought on the forum a laptop for my Dad, which has a dvd rom.

It plays DVD's no problems, but I get a weird message about the file format being unknown to Windows, or the disk being corrupt, when I insert a cd.

Was doing this prior to install of the OS but it worked OK for OS install after a few attempts, so it's an intermittent problem.

Am considering getting something like this External USB DVD Burner, but would rather find a cheaper solution, like a working 2nd hand cd rom, as he already has a desktop pc with dvd burner.

1. Could it be the firmware for the present dvd rom causing these issues?

2. If I attempt to swap out the dvd rom, does the face plate remove so I could use it on a working cd rom/burner?

Thanks for your experienced thoughts

[McbLt]

probably worth posting what modl laptop you have.