Expansion Bay inaccessible

Would it be possible to take a picture, because I cant picture in my head what your talkin about. Thanks

Or maybe a more precise description?

Expansion Bay inaccessible
Okay:

In the front of the computer is the tray for the CD/DVD etc. This has a small button to the right as you face the machine. When pressed the tray slides out and you place your CD in it, press the button again, and the tray slides back in. The same thing should happen with this Expansion Bay; the button is identical, the front of the tray is identical, there is nothing to indicate that the bay can be accessed in any different way from the CD tray.

I don't actually know what the Expansion Bay is used for; probably nothing I would ever need, but with a two-week old machine, such things should be in good working order.

I got a response from HP about this, in which the tech support guy repeated almost word for word in his first paragraph what I had written, and two paragraphs later asked what the exact problem was! Gives you lot of confidence, no?

As I understand it, the Expansion Bay would be a blank spot in which you can place an additional optical drive, CD/DVD, card reader or whatever. If there's nothing like that IN the Expansion Bay, there would be nothing to shoot out a little tray (or anything else). It's a placeholder, basically, until you fill it with something.

Right, that's how it works on other computers, got such on my earlier ones as well.

Expansion Bay inaccessible
Well, you would have to open the bay in order to put something in it, wouldn't you, hmmmm?

That's what screwdrivers are for.
You have to open the case to remove the blanking plate for the bay into which you intend to put your shiny new drive.

There is no tray just a little door for a future tray to push open. The tray comes with the CD/DVD drive you don't have yet. The button is floppy because it doesn't have a button behind it to push against. That button also comes with the future drive.

Ahhhh !
Tomkitten, you haven't bought one of these fancy cases with a seriously curved front panel have you ?
That would need extension buttons to the drive eject control etc...

Expansion Bay inaccessible
If there is no tray, just a door, how does one access the bay in the first place? There is no screw or catch or latch.

HP has offered to repair the damn thing, but if you are right, and there is nothing there for the button to engage with, what can they do anyway?

And no, it's not one of those fancy curved fronts, just normal, pretty much flat.

My inclination is to leave the whole thing alone; I doubt I ever have use for this feature. But I do think HP should reimburse me for what the feature cost me. That is, if it should work like the CD tray above it. If parados is right, then they can't solve the problem, because there is no problem. But in that case, how do you open the bay door to install anything???

Well, there should be a plastic piece in front of a metal piece (usually). When u open the computer u will see how this works. The plastic piece will pop out from the inside and the metal piece will usually just come up by twisting it back and forth until the metal notches break off. Thats when u slide an optical drive of some sort (CD-RW or DVD burner or ROM) inside from the front of the piece back inside the slot

Expansion Bay inaccessible
Well, I have no intention of opening the computer. It's supposed to have an optical drive, CD burner, etc inside already anyway.

Is it supposed to have one CD/DVD drive or 2?

Your order slip should tell you that. If you have a CD/DVD drive AND a CD/writer or some combination of 2 CD or DVD drives then it is broken.
If you have only one drive then it is probably OK with a blank space designed to accept a drive later.

You can check easily by just opening the case and looking to see if it is empty behind the plate that concerns you. If there is a drive there it shoud be easy to see. Most cases open easily these days.