Matshita UJDA745 CD-RW/DVD combo drive

Matshita UJDA745 (Panasonic/Matsushita) is a ultraslim 9.5mm (regular is 12.7mm high) cdrw/dvd drive build into some light laptops, eg. Sony Vaio PCG-V505BX (and probably other from 505 series), IBM T40.

DVD reading problems

Unfortunately it seems that it is build on weak parts, or something else bad happens to the hardware as after some period of time for unspecified reason drive stops reading/playing DVDs. Some DVD still can be recognised, but later a lot of read errors shows up. Same DVDs are read without any problem in another drive.
This happened to drive I bought (new) in a laptop and another I've bought on eBay as a replacement.

more info

• CD and CD-writing is not affected.
• both data DVD and video DVD does not work (neither DVD-R/RW nor pressed)
• not an OS issue (doesn't work in Linux nor in WinXP)
• uploading newest firmware 1.05 doesn't help
• software or hardware were not abused in any way (eg. no unofficial firmwares, no disassembling)
• BTW, drive 'by design' doesn't read DVD+R (but firmware 1.05 states to add support for Double Layer DVD+R)

devices that failed

• manufactured: June 2003, serial no: 3FBEB127xxx
• manufactured: March 2003, serial no: 3CAEB037xxx

finally..., replace with compatible drive

After unsuccesful tries to rescue or replace broken UJDA745 drive, with new one. I have finally decided to buy compatible DVD+-RW drive MATSHITA UJ-822Da. I've paid about $130 on eBay. Replacing the drive is easy, and the drive seems to work without any problems so far (a few months now).

Resources

Here I'm trying to collect web resources on that issue, for others that are hit by that issue, and to show that it is not single issue, but rather common problem with this hardware...

various complains on the issue

• http://www.driversearch.com/forums/cdrom/5020.html (a lot of complains)
• http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=28973.0
• http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=32519
• http://www.siliconpopculture.com/sonytr/viewtopic.php?p=35085, p=35085
• http://www.computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/37516.html
• http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/sutra216442.html

Compatible models

Some says that UJDA755, Panasonic UJ-812B DVD-R or Panasonic UJ-822B DVD+-R can replace UJDA745

• http://www.siliconpopculture.com/sonytr/viewtopic.php?p=38651
• Others say that Panasonic UJ-810 fails after 12 months too...
• Reports that updating Panasonic UJ-812B bios from K101 to K103 broke DVD reading.
• Another UJ-812B problem reports

Other resources

• Firmware update for Sony Vaio laptops
• Firmware update for IBM laptops

Comments

Any solution for the problem really appreciated...
Any additional info, of course, too...
By then, I would recommend to avoid buying laptop with UJDA745.

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Jan Słupski, email: