Can't remove optical drive from HP Pavilion 570

[Bomberal]

Hi,

I wanted to take apart my HP Pavilion 570, with a view to upgrading various parts. I couldn't find any way to remove the optical drive. Everything I've seen online suggests there should be a big release lever, here is one of many examples (at 04:16):

On my model there is no such lever:


There is some kind of fabric sleeve which seems to be part of what's holding it in place, although maybe if the release lever was there, it would be irrelevant.


Hope somebody has some tips or ideas!

 

[voyagerfan99]

From the service manual it looks like there is a tab you need to push in and yours is missing it


Also why the hell did you black out a section of the picture? There's nothing personal on it

 

[Bomberal]

From the service manual it looks like there is a tab you need to push in and yours is missing it

Yeah indeed. I hope there's somebody who's seen something similar before and has some ideas.

Also why the hell did you black out a section of the picture? There's nothing personal on it

Habit

 

[voyagerfan99]

Yeah indeed. I hope there's somebody who's seen something similar before and has some ideas.

You're unlikely to get direct responses from similar people.
Did the clip break? Can you see a smaller section and push it in with a screwdriver maybe?

 

[Bomberal]

Can you see a smaller section and push it in with a screwdriver maybe?

Good suggestion! That was actually embarrassingly easy on the 2nd attempt. Thank you for your help.

In case anybody faces a similar issue, this is what the optical drive looks like when it's been removed and flipped over:


What you're looking for is the black plastic latch on the bottom left of the photo. When it's inside the case and the PC is standing upright, that bit faces towards the floor. It's not very visible, because of the casing surrounding it, but once you know where it is it's pretty easy to push a screwdriver in from underneath and unclip it.

The full model number is HP Pavilion 570-p049nb. It's possible that just looking for 570 was leading me to the wrong manuals and guides.