Looking to see how it’s laid out.
It is very tidy with lots of room to work.
Attached files 
Thanks Elk. So if one wants to replace the drive with a current day Asus, it looks like the outer bezel surrounding the drawer (of the drive) would have to be pulled off. Otherwise the drawer would not be able to be aligned flush with the front of the chassis.
I would caution you from taking this course. The problem is drive speed at low. We have yet to find an off the shelf DVD ROM drive that will work at the slower speeds we require for low noise from the drive. A standard drive will run at about 4X speed at its lowest and so while it may work, it will be quite noisy when playing.
We buy drives that the manufacturer is willing to write a special code for that permits 1X drive speed and then we load that code into the drive mechanism itself.
Paul, the Asus 818 series has a specified DVD read speed down to 1x. I don’t know if that means CD read can also go down to 1x.
Worth a try.
Can you tell us what part number is currently being used in the PWT?
No. Maybe on Monday I can try. I am at home and clueless. :-B
Paul McGowan said: I am at home and clueless.
I do not limit my cluelessness to home. :)
Tony, the PWT is really easy to open. I bet the drive itself is labeled.
Elk, can you advise as to which screws to remove for the cover? I figured I’d take a look this afternoon.
Flip him on his back. There are four screws to remove. They are inboard of the feet. It will be pretty obvious. Then place it on its side and ease off the top (the top will come off once the screws are removed).
Just like the PWD, good.
…
It’s an Asus DVD-E818A6T mechanism. The DVD-E818AAT appears to be the current day replacement.
Yes, exactly like the PWD.
It looks like you succeeded.
The DVD-E818AAT appears to be the current day replacement.
If anyone is interested, Newegg has these in stock. I don't know for sure if it's a one for one replacement but it carries the same base model number, so it probably is using the same or current version of the same chipset. It's selling for so little money that it might be worth trying. I took the plunge and bought one.
@elk Where did that picture of the PWD/PWT come from?
I can tell you it was taken in our engineering lab. Where it came from I don’t know but I recognize the surroundings and the discs. >:D<
Ahhh I see. I noticed that the transformer was unusual in the the PWD.
nile49 said: Where did that picture of the PWD/PWT come from?
I am good friends with secret squirrel. We critters stick together.
you woodland creatures stick together, don’t you?
What happens in the woods, stays in the woods.
