On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 7:44 PM, John Jason Jordan <[email protected]>wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:44:31 -0700 > MJang <[email protected]> dijo: > > >On Wed, 2013-04-10 at 20:19 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote: > >> I think the DVD drive in my Thinkpad is kaput. Actually, not the > >> drive. I think it is the connector in the back that the drive plugs > >> into that is flaky. It has been temperamental for some time. I > >> bought a refurbished drive that worked better at first, but now it > >> won't work either. I can't get anything to mount - DVD, CD, new > >> media, nada. The light flashes for a while, but then stops and > >> nothing appears in /media. > > Thanks to all who responded. > > I already tried a new drive, and it doesn't work any better. Hence my > conclusion that it is the connector. > > A USB drive is a stopgap, but I usually need an optical drive when > away from home, and having to schlep another piece of hardware around > is something I'd prefer to avoid. > > I think the thing to do is wait until the Clinic on the 21st. With help > from Keith (who has been inside many Thinkpads) and Wes, we will see if > it is just dirt, or a broken connection. Keith's suggestion that is > dirt has certainly already occurred to me. I used a can of compressed > air on it without success. But I couldn't really get the air pointed > directly where it needs to be without disassembling the shell, so it > could still be dirt. > > I do lust for a faster computer. This one is five years old, the CPU > cannot be upgraded enough to make much difference, I've already > maxed out the RAM, and the hard disk is the fastest I can buy for it. > Scribus can sometimes be glacial when I am working on large files. On > the other hand, to get what I want, complete with dock and accessories, > would cost over $2,000. Yet, if I get a new computer it will pretty much > force a new installation, clearing out five years of accumulated junk > from multiple dist-upgrades. That's good, even if it will take me a > week to get all my stuff reinstalled. However, I don't want to embark > on that enterprise until the middle of June when classes are over. > > Decisions, decisions. I'll wait and see what we find at the Clinic, > then make a decision. > A 256GB SSD drive can make an old laptop leap to life. Most slowness in laptops is not because of a bottleneck for CPU time, but a bottleneck accessing the disk. The SSD will not fix your DVD problem, but it will make Scribus run faster. Bill _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
