Please note that before you begin, if your computer is newer than one year your warranty will be void by just opening the case - and Sony WILL hold you to this.
If its older, then you can proceed without fear of voiding the warranty because it will have expired in one year.
FIrstly, you need to get a Philips PK Cross-headed screwdriver for the case, the DVD-ROM Drive, and have about half an hour to spare. If you need additional mounting screws, then purchase suitable ones from your nearest local PC store.
1. Unplug ALL components from your computer (you may want to take a photo of the back if you are not sure about where the leads go). Unplug the power cables and move the computer carefully to a tabletop if it is in an inaccessible area.
2. Remove the case screws and put them into a glass or box where they can easily be found - you don't want to lose any screws!
3. Slide the case carefully toward you - it may take some practice but above all don't force it and BE GENTLE!
4. Now you will see the innards of your PC. Before you go any further be sure you can spot a grey ribbon cable with one free spare splug on the end, and one free spare power connector (these have red, yellow and black cables in a colourless/white plastic plug). Touch the metal part of your PC's case to discharge any static electricity or you may wish to purchase an anti-static strap.
5. Remove the DVD-ROM drive from all of its packaging carefully, and remove a plastic 5-1/4" cover from your computer's case on the front facia. Retain this cover, and slide your DVD-ROM drive into the case checking that it will fit the drive bay.
6. Using appropriate mounting screws (some are normally provided by the DVD-ROM drive manufacturer), secure your DVD-ROM drive in the computer, but do not overtighten the screws as this could damage your drive.
7. Attach the grey ribbon cable to your new drive. You need to decide is this going to be the master drive or the slave drive? A master drive is the drive attached to the very end of the grey cable - I say grey but you might have yellow round IDE cables instead - same principle applies. A slave drive is typically attached to the socket nearest the motherboard. Spend a few moments carefully thinking about this - don't add the DVD-ROM drive to a cable shared by the hard disk drive as this gives poor performance.Once you have decided, you may need to adjust the jumpers for your drive, these are little plastic hoods which slide over two pins - see the documentation that came with your drive to select the correct hardware setting. Now you can connect the grey/yellow cable. Observe a red wire marked onto the cable, and align the cable so that this red wire is closest to the power supply socket - get this wrong an the drive will fail to operate.
8. Now attach your power cable with the white plastic hood - these normally only fit one way round ("keyed connectors").
9. Slide the case cover back on to your computer, and replace the screws you removed earlier.
10. Attach all of the components back to your computer.
11. Start Windows XP (or Windows), and then insert the driver disk (if one was supplied to you) to complete the driver installation. Windows should detect your new DVD-ROM drive and offer to install drivers. Not all drives need drivers, Windows will provide its own driver instead, however, those that do need drivers normally have them on a CD.
Good luck - don't hestitate to ask further questions if you become unstuck. If you dont feel comfortable about doing this then let a technician at a computer shop do this for you.
