i think another thing to keep in mind is that even if you were to be able to replace the dvd player itself, there are other parts at play like the sata connector that can also be at fault. if the question is just about why the dvd doesn’t work instead of absolutely needing to boot from a dvd, it is possible (as with most all troubleshooting whether hard- or software) to go through all of that work and possibly (no matter how small or not) expense just to end up at the same place.
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