Is it difficult to install a DVD burner into an HP tower?

Question

Is it difficult to install a DVD burner into an HP tower? I have installed more RAM with no problem. Is this something I can handle on my own, or should I pay the $40 to have it installed?

Answer 1

No it is not difficult, just need to know a few things. First thing are the jumpers. These are the very little plastic and metal connectors near where the power and data cables go. They allow the computer to recognize the configuration of the different components.

http://www.diskidee.nl/images/i/idream_jumpers.jpg

If you are going to replace your existing cd drive with the dvd burner, put the jumper on "master" or "CS" for Cable Select (there should be a little diagram on the DVD or look for little letters on the motherboard next to the pins on the drive.) Cable Select means it will determine which one is the Master (last component on the end of the data cable) and which is the Slave (second to last component on the data cable) by where it is plugged in. It is kind of like saying auto configure yourself. Right out of the box the DVD burner is probably set to Master or Cable Select. Simply remove the data and power cables from your cd drive and plug them into the DVD burner. Read the DVD burner owner's manual before you do this because sometimes you need to install the software before you install the hardware and sometimes not.
Now, if you want to keep the cd drive as well if gets a little trickier. Take the DVD out of the box and make sure that the cd drive's jumper is set to Master or Cable Select (I like using Master) and that it is on the end (last plug) of the data cable. Next, put the jumper on the DVD burner to Slave or Cable Select (I prefer Slave) and put it on the second to last plug on the data cable. It doesn't matter which power plug you use for either, so plug them into the power. Finally, go into your BIOS and change the setting for secondary drive 1 to Auto Detect (or auto, etc) as it is currently set to Off or Disabled i.e. When you boot up, the computer should recognize both the cd drive (secondary drive 0) and the DVD burner (secondary drive 1)
After you install the drivers and software off the cd that came with your burner, you're done. You really can't mess it up. If your computer does not recognize the drive, check your jumper locations again. Should take about 15 minutes after you've done it a couple times. All of this is assuming that your hard drive is on primary drive 0, and your cd drive is on secondary drive 0, and you have open locations for other devices. Good luck.

Answer 2

Not if you know what you're doing. But it's about as simple as installing RAM.
What you do is you make certain there's a place where you can physically install the DVD burner.
Then you check the IDE cables: There can be one, two or none at all in your computer: those big flat cables inside your PC. One of them (might) go up to a harddisk, one might go to a CD player/burner.
If there aren't any, you'll have to make sure one has come with your DVD burner, or you'll have to go out and get yourself one (they're only a couple of dollars).
If there is one, see how many devices are attached to it: if there's one (a harddisk or CDplayer), you're in luck. If there are 2: you'll need a second cable. If there are 3 or more: go stand on a market cause you've encountered a bleeding miracle :) (or you have a SCSI cable on board).

Check out the pin settings of the device that's already onboard. One device has to be set to master, the second one to slave. Put both in Master or Slave mode, and you'll end up with the most peculiar errors! Don't use Cable Select: it hardly ever works correctly and is a good way of asking for disaster as time goes by.
If you can, install the DVD burner to it's own IDE channel (each motherboard has 2 IDE channels). If you can't, make sure it's the master device of the second IDE channel.

Answer 3

It is very easy, just make sure you have enough power connections.