Toshiba XS32B dvd drive failure???

[picard25]

Hi,
Last night I created a DVD from recorded hdd content with no problem and today I am trying to create some more DVDs (taiyo yuden blanks being used). However with every blank I put in the Tosh comes back with disc error, clean or replace and I have also tried Verbatim & Ritek blanks with the same result. I have just inserted a legit pre-recorded DVD (Hero) and that has generated the same result.
It seems to me (rightly or wrongly) that the DVD drive has gone kaput so I was wondered if

a) this assumption is right
or
b) what could be the problem

If the answer is a) is it possible to replace the DVD drive and if so what is the best make to use.

Thank you for any input anyone may have.

[Justin42]

I just had to do it this weekend and it worked beautifully. My XS32 refused to recognize ANY disc, so the drive was totally dead. You may want to try a head cleaning DVD just in case (I don't normally recommend those but if you're debating replacing the drive anyway, it won't hurt)

I used an LG H22L drive I had as a spare. I'd recommend finding the "H22N" variation as it's cheaper (the H22L has the Lightscribe disc labelling hardware, which is useless inside the Toshiba) and usually a better burner than the H22L. I'd buy an H22N, hook it up to your PC, be sure it's set to your correct DVD region (Region 1 for the US, Region 2 for Europe) -- play a commercial DVD in it, and upgrade the firmware to 1.01 before installing it in the XS32.

Other LG DVD-RAM drives work, but the "Panasonic chipset" units (LG 4164, LG 4166, H20L, H20N, H22L, H22N) work the best. They appear to allow previously unfinalized discs to finalize properly. Warning: You DO lose the ability to play CDs for some reason. (people have reported this; on mine it sees the disc is a CD but refuses to play)

Discs will still burn at 4X.

The upside is the DVD burn quality is immensely better than the stock (horrible) Toshiba DVD-RAM drive.

People have discussed this on AVS Forum's XS32 help thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=490616

I followed these directions, and it worked perfectly. Just go slow, read them 2-3 times before you start, and it should take around 30-45 minutes tops.
http://www.esbuilder.com/rdxs32/rdxs32-replace-dvd.htm

[picard25]

Thank you for the great info. I opened up my Tosh to see what needed to be done re changing the drive and when I connected it back up the bloomin thing started working. However I feel it will not be long before I will be using your walk-through so thank you again.