Modify Your CD-ROM to Watch DVD Movies

chrisalviola · 07-26-2007, 12:00 PM

just want to know if anyone here has done these
found this in some forum

Modify Your CD-ROM to Watch DVD Movies

There are two types of CD-ROM drives we can mod:
24x to 40x
40x or higher
Drives slower than 24x are too old to be modded.
24x to 40x CD ROMs
Laser Head Adjustments:
The track pitch of CDs is 1.6 microns, and the track pitch of DVDs is only 0.8 microns. The minimum length of track pits of CDs is 0.843mm, and the minimum length of track pits of DVDs is 0.293mm. That's why DVD discs can store much more data in the size of a CD.
Pinpointing this situation, we need to adjust the laser head so it can read discs with smaller track pitchs and shorter track pits. Open up the CD-ROM drive, do you see a lens on the rail? That's the laser head. On the side of the laser head, there's a screw you can adjust.
This is the key of this mod.
This screw can adjust the size of the laser beam that lands on the disc. Referring to the above, after adjusting, the laser beam should be less than 0.293mm, to suit the needs of DVD discs. So turn that screw 2-3 times. I got this number through trial and error. Mark with a pencil, in case you forget how many times you turned that screw.
Speed adjustments:
DVD-ROM drives can play DVD movies smoothly at 4x speed. If we're modding a 32x CD-ROM drive, the rotation speed is obviously too high, increasing heat, and shortening the life of the drive.
So we need to decrease the speed of it.
Most people know that power supplies can provide 5V (red wire) and 12V (yellow wire) electricity output for Molex connectors. Find the Molex connector you'll plug into the modded CD-ROM drive, cut the yellow wire or insulate it with tape, so only 5V of electricity is transferred to the CD-ROM drive. The speed of the drive is now 32 * 5/17 = 9.41x and can now fulfill our requirements.

40x or higher CD ROMs
When 40x CD-ROM drives are released, most manufacturers are already producing DVD-ROM drives. To lower cost, they use the same core as DVD-ROM drives with DVD functions disabled. What we need to do here is to re-enable the DVD function.
Open up the CD-ROM, behind the circuit board, look for a jumper that says DVD JUMP. Find a jumper to connect this jumper. Thin metal wire also works fine.
OK, so the DVD function is unlocked, but we still need to decrease the speed. Use the instructions above on how to decrase the speed of the drive.
Notes:
Modded drives cannot be detected in POST, that means you cannot use it in DOS. But once you get into Windows, the drive works fine.
Modded drives have no region code problems.
Modded drives MIGHT NOT read DVD9 discs, that's why I said you can watch most retail DVDs in the beginning.

Nevakonaza · 07-26-2007, 12:28 PM

i seen this before somewhere and i think it didnt work, or whoever attempted it didnt do it right.

would it be worth the hastle though i mean you can pick up a dvd drive cheap now

Platinum · 07-26-2007, 03:42 PM

They are cheap, but if you got a spare cd-rom lying around... why not try to mod it? i sure would try, assuming I need a dvd drive and have a cd-rom lying around.

[-0MEGA-] · 07-26-2007, 03:44 PM

It's a cool guide but pretty old. You can pickup a DVD-ROM for under $20 and a DVD Burner for around $30, so theres really no reason to mess around with a CD-ROM, unless your doing it for fun.

Emperor_nero · 07-26-2007, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [-0MEGA-]

It's a cool guide but pretty old. You can pickup a DVD-ROM for under $20 and a DVD Burner for around $30, so theres really no reason to mess around with a CD-ROM, unless your doing it for fun.

Ahhh but what fun it could be!

(I mean it)

bluedishwasher · 07-26-2007, 07:01 PM

it'd be so much better if you could mod it to do blu ray

Emperor_nero · 07-26-2007, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluedishwasher

it'd be so much better if you could mod it to do blu ray

Yes well you can't, it uses a blue laser not a red one plus tons of other things.

kof2000 · 07-26-2007, 08:13 PM

you can mod all cd drives in school so they can install vista

**oscaryu1** · 07-26-2007, 09:10 PM

Wow..... does this even work??

Wait... since an DVD can read smoothly at 4x then why cant you use 4x or Quad speed drive? Then you wont have to adjust it...

kof2000 · 07-26-2007, 09:17 PM

probably they use different parts on older drives so it wont work with older ones.

07-26-2007, 12:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
chrisalviola Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 866	Modify Your CD-ROM to Watch DVD Movies just want to know if anyone here has done these found this in some forum Modify Your CD-ROM to Watch DVD Movies There are two types of CD-ROM drives we can mod: 24x to 40x 40x or higher Drives slower than 24x are too old to be modded. 24x to 40x CD ROMs Laser Head Adjustments: The track pitch of CDs is 1.6 microns, and the track pitch of DVDs is only 0.8 microns. The minimum length of track pits of CDs is 0.843mm, and the minimum length of track pits of DVDs is 0.293mm. That's why DVD discs can store much more data in the size of a CD. Pinpointing this situation, we need to adjust the laser head so it can read discs with smaller track pitchs and shorter track pits. Open up the CD-ROM drive, do you see a lens on the rail? That's the laser head. On the side of the laser head, there's a screw you can adjust. This is the key of this mod. This screw can adjust the size of the laser beam that lands on the disc. Referring to the above, after adjusting, the laser beam should be less than 0.293mm, to suit the needs of DVD discs. So turn that screw 2-3 times. I got this number through trial and error. Mark with a pencil, in case you forget how many times you turned that screw. Speed adjustments: DVD-ROM drives can play DVD movies smoothly at 4x speed. If we're modding a 32x CD-ROM drive, the rotation speed is obviously too high, increasing heat, and shortening the life of the drive. So we need to decrease the speed of it. Most people know that power supplies can provide 5V (red wire) and 12V (yellow wire) electricity output for Molex connectors. Find the Molex connector you'll plug into the modded CD-ROM drive, cut the yellow wire or insulate it with tape, so only 5V of electricity is transferred to the CD-ROM drive. The speed of the drive is now 32 * 5/17 = 9.41x and can now fulfill our requirements. 40x or higher CD ROMs When 40x CD-ROM drives are released, most manufacturers are already producing DVD-ROM drives. To lower cost, they use the same core as DVD-ROM drives with DVD functions disabled. What we need to do here is to re-enable the DVD function. Open up the CD-ROM, behind the circuit board, look for a jumper that says DVD JUMP. Find a jumper to connect this jumper. Thin metal wire also works fine. OK, so the DVD function is unlocked, but we still need to decrease the speed. Use the instructions above on how to decrase the speed of the drive. Notes: Modded drives cannot be detected in POST, that means you cannot use it in DOS. But once you get into Windows, the drive works fine. Modded drives have no region code problems. Modded drives MIGHT NOT read DVD9 discs, that's why I said you can watch most retail DVDs in the beginning. __________________ At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer, you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer.

07-26-2007, 12:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
Nevakonaza Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Midlands,Uk Age: 20 Posts: 8,144	i seen this before somewhere and i think it didnt work, or whoever attempted it didnt do it right. would it be worth the hastle though i mean you can pick up a dvd drive cheap now __________________ Core 2 Duo E6300 2.8Ghz -Asus Silent Knight II MSI P35 Neo-F (45nm Ready) Seagate Barracuda 250Gb Sata II + WDC 400GB Sata II 3Gb GeIL DDR2 @ 800 Mhz (Dual channel) Asus Extreme 8800GT G92 512Mb with Glaciator cooler Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity 7.1 Sony 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM SATA Vista Ultimate X32\|Kaspersky IS 2009 Dual Display (Belinea 22'' + 19") LCD Widescreen

07-26-2007, 03:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
Platinum Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: New York Age: 20 Posts: 769	They are cheap, but if you got a spare cd-rom lying around... why not try to mod it? i sure would try, assuming I need a dvd drive and have a cd-rom lying around. __________________ A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. (______(________________((() SIG-ARETTE

07-26-2007, 03:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	It's a cool guide but pretty old. You can pickup a DVD-ROM for under $20 and a DVD Burner for around $30, so theres really no reason to mess around with a CD-ROM, unless your doing it for fun. __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

07-26-2007, 07:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
bluedishwasher Platinum Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Age: 17 Posts: 642	it'd be so much better if you could mod it to do blu ray __________________ - Jon

07-26-2007, 08:13 PM	#8 (permalink)
kof2000 Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Oahu Age: 27 Posts: 6,273	you can mod all cd drives in school so they can install vista __________________ QX9650@4.2 swiftech \|9600@3.0 9700 nt 780i \| 790fx 8gb ddr1200 \| 8gb ddr1200 2x150gb 3x1tb \|2x250gb 3x8800gtx \|3x2900xt 1gb 2x20xdvdrw \|2x20xdvdrw 15in1 card reader \|15in1 card reader ng15/g9 \|ng15/g9 1200w psu \|1200w psu 2x28" LCD \|2x28" LCD

07-26-2007, 09:10 PM	#9 (permalink)
oscaryu1 Moderator Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 13 Posts: 10,142	Wow..... does this even work?? Wait... since an DVD can read smoothly at 4x then why cant you use 4x or Quad speed drive? Then you wont have to adjust it... __________________ Core 2 Duo E2140 1.6GHz @ 3.04GHz GA-P31-DS3L pqi Turbo CL4 DDR2-800 2GB Sapphire HD3850 256MB Sony Writemaster DVD Burner EIDE Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200.9 8MB SATII

07-26-2007, 09:17 PM	#10 (permalink)
kof2000 Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Oahu Age: 27 Posts: 6,273	probably they use different parts on older drives so it wont work with older ones. __________________ QX9650@4.2 swiftech \|9600@3.0 9700 nt 780i \| 790fx 8gb ddr1200 \| 8gb ddr1200 2x150gb 3x1tb \|2x250gb 3x8800gtx \|3x2900xt 1gb 2x20xdvdrw \|2x20xdvdrw 15in1 card reader \|15in1 card reader ng15/g9 \|ng15/g9 1200w psu \|1200w psu 2x28" LCD \|2x28" LCD

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