[PLUG] Thinkpad DVD drive failure, maybe

[John Jason Jordan]

I think the DVD drive in my Thinkpad is kaput. Actually, not the drive.
I think it is the connector in the back that the drive plugs into that
is flaky. It has been temperamental for some time. I bought a
refurbished drive that worked better at first, but now it won't work
either. I can't get anything to mount - DVD, CD, new media, nada. The
light flashes for a while, but then stops and nothing appears
in /media. I tried mount and nothing interesting appeared. I also tried
dmesg and got no clues.

Before assuming that I need to buy a new computer:

1) is there anything at the command line or otherwise that I could do
to see what is actually happening?

2) I looked at the service manual for my T61 and cannot figure out the
drawings. Is it possible to replace the connector that the optical
drive connects to? Has anyone ever been deep inside that part of a T61?