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William Waletitsch

Q: Failure to calibrate laser power level?

I am having some difficulty burning music cds. The "failed to calibrate the laser power level" message comes up after checking media, preparing titles, and ejects disc. I have tried both Memorex Music discs and TDK Music discs. I have used both brands succesfully in the past, many times.

I got the same message when I've tried to archive photos from iPhoto using imation cd-rw discs.

Is there another test I can run on my burner (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E)? I did run TechTool with no reported errors. Or is this one for the Apple shop?

thanks for any suggestions.

PowerBookG4, Choose, 17"

Posted on Aug 6, 2007 2:54 AM

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Q: Failure to calibrate laser power level?

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  • by jptrosclair,

    jptrosclair jptrosclair Jun 1, 2008 8:32 PM in response to yangguo47
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2008 8:32 PM in response to yangguo47
    I have 10.5.3 on a brand new MacBook pro I just purchased Friday night (May 30th). I have not been able to burn a single DVD with it. I have not tried CD's because I don't have any handy. I'm pretty disappointed about the problem, especially since I have spent the whole weekend setting it up, moving over data and what not. I cringe at the thought of carrying back but that's the way things are looking.
  • by jptrosclair,

    jptrosclair jptrosclair Jun 1, 2008 8:34 PM in response to jptrosclair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2008 8:34 PM in response to jptrosclair
    I want to add that I have tried resetting the system management controller and it had no affect.
  • by jptrosclair,

    jptrosclair jptrosclair Jun 1, 2008 9:17 PM in response to jptrosclair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2008 9:17 PM in response to jptrosclair
    Also tried creating another user account and burning from there, no luck. Saw that mentioned in a few places as something to try. Some folks have also said something about changing the language of the system, sounds obviously bogus and unrelated to the issue at hand.
  • by jptrosclair,

    jptrosclair jptrosclair Jun 1, 2008 10:25 PM in response to jptrosclair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2008 10:25 PM in response to jptrosclair
    I've successfully burned (going on my 3rd dvd) at 2x. Can't seem to burn any faster than that without the problem popping up. Hope this info helps someone out. I'm calling Apple first thing in the morning and I'm going to return the MacBook if I need to because I'm concerned about the problem and the long term life I can expect to get out of this $2100 investment. This is the second Mac I've owned, the last one was well worth the money, this machine has made a bad first impression for me on their intel line. Luckily I just bought it on friday so I should have no problem getting a full refund if I decide to go that route and hopefully someone from apple will read this thread and see all the problems people seem to be having out of these SuperDrive devices and maybe do something to address it. I personally expect little more than the machine to work as expected and I would call the laptop a lemon but I've seen so many people with this problem I just don't understand how there can be no known solutions for it. Hardware or not, this issue has been going on (as far as I can tell) since January of 2008 and for it to still exist on brand new hardware is disappointing to say the least. Anyway, I'm done with my rant and I hope they fix me up because I really like the new laptop.
  • by flare-au,

    flare-au flare-au Jun 3, 2008 4:52 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 3, 2008 4:52 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    I have the same issue. It is related to the 10.5.3 upgrade, prior to that everything was fine!
  • by poldidak,

    poldidak poldidak Jun 5, 2008 1:18 PM in response to flare-au
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 5, 2008 1:18 PM in response to flare-au
    Happy to say that blowing compressed air from a can into the slot did the trick for my PBG4. Thankfully I didn't spend a lot of time trying other fixes.
  • by RCMoeur,

    RCMoeur RCMoeur Jun 6, 2008 8:33 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2008 8:33 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    I was having the same problem as everyone else here ('laser power level' burn error on DL discs).

    The only solution that works for me is simple, but brutal, which implies the problem on my end is very likely software-related:

    1. Dust off old FireWire drive. Re-initialize if needed.
    2. Install 10.4 on FW drive (no updates).
    3. Boot off FW drive.
    4. Use Disk Utility on new system to burn one dual layer DVD.
    5. Reboot on old system.
    6. Re-initialize FW drive.
    7. Install 10.4 on FW drive (no updates).
    8. Repeat as needed.
  • by sculpyl,

    sculpyl sculpyl Jun 20, 2008 8:21 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 20, 2008 8:21 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    yes..I began having this problem today..When I try to burn a cd -R (memorex) I get the message: "The attempt to burn a disc failed. The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media" It is a very hot day...and it worked intermittently..I followed the instructions to change the language, and rebooted after which it appeared to then burn the disc, but then itunes unexpectedly quits. I tried putting the old settings back. I have been able to make 4 cd's since this happened..I have just put a small cookie rack under the mac mini...it is a hot day..like record breaking heat..Has anyone contacted Apple with this problem? I mean..has anybody written Apple support?
  • by Donald Morgan,

    Donald Morgan Donald Morgan Jun 21, 2008 12:42 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 6 (12,783 points)
    Jun 21, 2008 12:42 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    There are a couple of points that need to be mentioned here.
    This is a 2 fold problem,
    1st if a speck of any dust gets on your lens then you have a problem with the calibration of laser power level error message. Compressed air is the way to go to fix this short of taking it in and having it worked on.
    2nd there seems to be No Earthly way to impress on users that many of the Media Manufactures produce sub standard Media. Next it is important to note that buying the larger spools seems to be more of a problem than not.
    CD's and DVD's are mass produced and the cheaper brands can be a huge issue in some Optical Drive units.
    I find that using my drive a lot seems to help.
    Using the highest quality media you can buy is also a +
    I find that buying Media that is individually wrapped in there own Jewel Cases is also a +
    I, like many of you, have suffered from these issues until I did a couple of things to improve my results.
    There is such a big difference in the Quality of the Media the first tip is to read the packaging.
    Read and you will see that chooseing media that says it will burn at 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X will save you a ton of money by not producing what we call Coaster's, or junk.
    Using the Quality Media Guide will help as well.
    http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm
    Using this guide to buying top quality media, I find works for both CD's and DVD's.
    Remember that not all Optical Drives are created equal.
    Make sure you keep your System UP TO DATE by using the Software Update Feature, this will insure that you have the latest Firmware Updates from Apple.
    Next check often with your Optical Drive's Manufacture as well to be sure that you have there latest fixes, and updates.
    Following the above suggestions will more often than not solve the majority of problems.
    There is much much more, but I won't bore you with the reading that most users won't bother with anyway because they just want everything to work when they put media in there drives.
  • by William Waletitsch,

    William Waletitsch William Waletitsch Jul 4, 2008 11:53 AM in response to Jonny Apple
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 4, 2008 11:53 AM in response to Jonny Apple
    Thanks for the tip Jonny. Tried the air method. No luck burning. reader works like a champ, reads music cds and movie dvds fine. Just can't burn from iTunes.

    Thanks anyway?

    Looks like I'm in for the repace it myself method.
    Any suggestions there?
  • by Donald Morgan,

    Donald Morgan Donald Morgan Jul 4, 2008 9:14 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 6 (12,783 points)
    Jul 4, 2008 9:14 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    USE A BURNING SOFTWARE NOT iTunes
    Toast
  • by markcorran,

    markcorran markcorran Jul 6, 2008 11:22 AM in response to yangguo47
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2008 11:22 AM in response to yangguo47
    Hi,

    I had this problem and came across the most random solution (http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=77414):

    Open System Preferences.
    Click on "International".
    Under "Languages": Drag any of the other languages to the top, then drag English back to the top.
    Set "Order for sorted lists" to English.
    Set "Word Break" to English (United States, computer).
    Close System Preferences.
    Restart computer.

    I don't have a clue why this works but it did for me (although some of the people in the forum hadn't had any luck trying this method).

    Hope it works!


    -Mark
  • by brutusram,

    brutusram brutusram Jul 29, 2008 3:06 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2008 3:06 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Simple fix to correct this issue (Worked on my laptop and 5 others). Lift up the front of the laptop. Place your thumb and pinky finger under the left edge of the computer and the other three fingers on top of the computer...or wedge something small but the same height under the left corner. The issue is with heat dissipation and the front mounting of the superdrive. It sounds like a dumb fix and you will look silly doing it, but it works. Another solution is to buy a laptop cooler pad.
  • by I.heart.VoIP,

    I.heart.VoIP I.heart.VoIP Jul 30, 2008 1:06 PM in response to brutusram
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 1:06 PM in response to brutusram
    I have to agree with the suggestions that overheating is at least one cause of the "failure to calibrate laser" error.
    Here was my experience just today:
    Burned one Data CD.
    Burned one dual-layer DVD.
    Failed to burn a second dual-layer DVD (different .dmg file) 5 times in a row - got the laser calibration error each time.
    Downloaded smcFanControl from VersionTracker.com and used it to max out both fans on my MacBook Pro until temp dropped from 53 C to 43 C.
    Failed to burn a dual-layer DVD a few more times.
    Finally succeeded in burning dual-layer DVD once temperature was stable at 35 C for about 10 minutes and case was cool to the touch top and bottom. Fans remained running for the duration of the burn.

    If cranking the fans works for others, perhaps Apple can patch the SuperDrive drivers to cool off some models before burn starts...
  • by myriapod,

    myriapod myriapod Jul 31, 2008 12:10 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Jul 31, 2008 12:10 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Right now after losing any chance to burn a simply DVD many weeks ago, i upgraded my MBP 2.2ghz to MacOsX 10.5.4 and iTunes 7.7.1.
    Nothing! It's not a problem of cheapest DVD or dust on it, stressed or extra-used DVD-ROM , it simpy doesn't work! Disc Utility , iTunes, Toast 8/9 it's the same.
    Sometimes it happened also when burning CDRom's.
    As i remember i used to burn DVD only 5 times on this new MBP.
    It reads very well CDs,DVDs, no problem using it.
    As posted by other people, there's an incredibile heat inside MBP case after only 4-5 minutes with a cd/dvd rom playing but i don't know if this is the "killer".
    Anyway on my external Pioneer DVD (only 40 euro not 200E as for a superdrive) all works well,
    Next time , dear Apple, i prefer on my mac, as in the past for slowwww/freezing floppy disk readers, internal modems,1h batteries, another unseful internal "hot" device like our "matshita".
    MacBook Air means this?
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