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[Tug Fanatic]

I have a Dell Inspiron 17 5767 and the battery is end of life. I have tried to follow both Dell's and YouTube instructions for removing the optical drive to get at the 3 screws that are holding the case halves together to get at the internal battery. Whilst both sets of instructions are the same they are not what my computer optical drive (DVD) looks like. Both suggest that I should be able to just pull the optical drive out of the case (when I have removed the retaining screw). Unfortunately mine has a ribbon cable that disappears into the computer and at the drive end it disappears under a metal plate (see photo). I do not have access to a connector at either end.

I could undo the screws on the metal plate but I am not sure if they are a caddy or part of the drive!

I have checked my model number by using the service tag and reading the quick start guide that came with the laptop so I am sure that I am right.

Help please from the computer whiz kids.

[Tug Fanatic]

oops!
The photo is looking at the bottom of the case and the DVD drive.

[Aerodecked]

That plate looks to be a shield so you should be ok to remove the screws. That will let you at the connector underneath 


However, your pic suggests you have the tray ejected rather than having popped the drive out of the caddy. Have you removed the single screw to release the drive then tried pushing the drive out using the same hole. A small plastic pointy thing will be good here.

[malcolmfrary]

Guessing that the ribbon cable is not intended to be removed, it is an internal part of the drive allowing the tray to extend and retract.  The drive body is deeper inside the laptop case, and in most laptops, once the single screw is removed, the entire thing just pulls out from the socket that it is plugged into.

[Tug Fanatic]

Thank you both so much.

Battery now changed and charging nicely.

I was being so careful and not wanting to damage anything. As you suspected I wasn't removing enough so when I identified the outer casing and pulled that it came out just fine and looked like what the service manual and the videos showed.

I now need a cold shower and a lie down.   

PS The 3 screws under the DVD have about the smallest posidrive type slots that I have ever seen. If I didn't have a set of "Japanese fine" screwdrivers (used for cameras) I would never have got them out.

[malcolmfrary]

Most optical drives are much the same, at least to the outside world.  Usually the biggest difference is the fascia plate that shapes to the outline of the laptop body. 
A drive from a dead laptop can fit into a cheap case and give a handy USB optical drive. 
A dead optical drive can donate a small motor or two for driving small models.  The motors run on the same voltage and need the same current as servo motors.  Or they did - in all probability the nice brushed motors that drove the platter and head are now either brushless or steppers.  The tray motors that live in the full height drives don't exist in the low profile ones.