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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 argonaut,

    argonaut argonaut Aug 22, 2008 10:53 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Aug 22, 2008 10:53 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Hi all,

    I got the same error 3 times when burning pictures from iPhoto (from default SuperDrive MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E for MBP 15"). Decided to move the burning speed to 4x (instead of default Max 8x) and now (one more try) it burnt it.

    Seems like a simple solution so I hope it helps others.
  • by mpwalsh,

    mpwalsh mpwalsh Sep 15, 2008 12:07 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2008 12:07 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    I found this on this web site, I tried it and it worked for me....

    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. MPW
  • by Richard Hudak Ii,

    Richard Hudak Ii Richard Hudak Ii Sep 15, 2008 2:30 PM in response to Shawn M.
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 15, 2008 2:30 PM in response to Shawn M.
    I had this problem with my G5 iMac trying to burn a Data DVD in iTunes 8. I solved it by manually setting the write speed from "Maximum possible" to "4x". It worked.

    My guess is that the OS is not interpreting "Maximum possible" correctly for DVDs here. That may be what the OS X 10.5.5 update is for. But, I need to burn the DVD to archive some files to make room for the update.
  • by pgh-oscar,

    pgh-oscar pgh-oscar Oct 4, 2008 5:29 AM in response to markcorran
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2008 5:29 AM in response to markcorran
    I just tried what markcorran suggested, and it worked beautifully. That's one crazy solution.

    Thanks
  • by Clinto,

    Clinto Clinto Oct 6, 2008 4:29 PM in response to pgh-oscar
    Level 1 (139 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2008 4:29 PM in response to pgh-oscar
    I posted a topic in the forum for PB G4 15" about my CD/DVD drive not being able to burn - and somebody reading that topic referred me to this topic.

    I have the same problem on two Mac laptops - a PB G4 15" (a few years old) and a MacBook Pro 17" (less than six months old). When I try to burn a CD, I get the dialog box about not being able to calibrate the laser - on both computers.

    I have spent many hours over the past three days trying every bit of advice I have received from the forums, and nothing has solved the problem.

    I purchased 3-year AppleCare for the MBP, and I have an appointment to get the drive replaced on that.

    I think the only reasonable solution for the PB G4 will be to buy an external optical drive. It looks to me like both drives have failed.
  • by CBaitz,

    CBaitz CBaitz Nov 14, 2008 5:02 PM in response to Brad Maestas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 14, 2008 5:02 PM in response to Brad Maestas
    Add me to the list of users having problems with "calibrating the laser power level." This problem has had me frustrated for nearly 4 months now on my Macbook Pro, both for burning DVDs and CDs. Here were the solutions I tried that others have gotten to work:

    1. Changing the writing speed. This seemed to work for the first few CD's, but then it didn't work any longer.

    2. Restarting the computer. This also would work for me, if I left the writing speed down and restarted the computer, then it would write one CD, but no more. Eventually, this option didn't work either.

    3. Changing the weird "International" and "Language" settings. This did not work for me. I am still not convinced that this is a real solution, but it doesn't hurt trying. In fact I tried setting it to many different options, all to no avail.

    4. Compressed air. I just put the tip of a compressed air tube in my superdrive, let it rip, and swept back and forth horizontally to blow off the entire drive (I'm not sure where the laser actually is). This has proven to be SUCCESSFUL. I am currently burning a DVD with Disk Utility. I will continue to try burning a CD with iTunes and a DVD with iDVD, and edit this post with an update. One time I had a stereo system with a CD player, and since it was 3-4 years old, it wouldn't play CD's anymore. I opened the CD player (normally) and just wiped off the lens of the laser. It then played CD's fine. I believe dust is a major hinderance to laser power, especially since lasers are just condensed light, basically. But I'm no light saber Harvard student, so I'm not sure. But hey. IT WORKS. Thank God. Finally.
  • by CBaitz,

    CBaitz CBaitz Nov 15, 2008 9:49 AM in response to CBaitz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2008 9:49 AM in response to CBaitz
    Update: Dusting it worked. I've burned two DVDs and three CDs without breaks in between!
  • by starsabin,

    starsabin starsabin Nov 15, 2008 5:23 PM in response to markcorran
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2008 5:23 PM in response to markcorran
    Hi. The Language thing worked last night (burning DVD)
    I tried to burn a CD this time (no more DVD left on me) but didn't work.
    I went through the language method again, but still the same.
    I don't know if it's because I put a CD in, not a DVD? The issue occurred since I upgrade the OS (I'm not saying it is the reason though)
  • by AppleMacGuyUK,

    AppleMacGuyUK AppleMacGuyUK Jan 14, 2009 3:02 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2009 3:02 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Hi. I recently started to get this error when trying to burn to CD -RW discs only, these are decent quality Verbatim branded. I have no problem burning to CD-R or DVD-R. I have an older PowerBook 15" which has no problem burning to the same CD-RW discs so the discs are not the problem. I figure it's either an optical drive fault or dust related. I have AppleCare but only want to send the unit away as a last resort.

    I tried a couple of the suggestions here with no luck. *The solution in my case, also suggested here, was to buy a £6 can of Airduster high pressure aerosol spray from Maplin's.* A couple of short bursts through the drive slot and drive is sorted! I can now burn to CD-RW again!

    Hope this helps someone else out.

    Regards,

    AppleMacGuyUK.
  • by Rei Yoshioka,

    Rei Yoshioka Rei Yoshioka Jan 23, 2009 4:01 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jan 23, 2009 4:01 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    I just had a similar failure using Toast Titanium 8 under 10.5.6 on my MacBook Pro. When I went to the Finder to just burn the folder to a DVD-R, I got the dreaded "laser power" error. I tried a can of compressed air and now I was able to burn 1GB to a DVD-R. Thanks. -Rei
  • by onewhaleid,

    onewhaleid onewhaleid Feb 11, 2009 2:32 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2009 2:32 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Hooray! I used the compressed air method, but without the can. I just gave my superdrive compressed air from my lungs, the 'kiss of life' if you will. It's burning now. Thanks for the tip.
  • by deepakmathur,

    deepakmathur deepakmathur Feb 17, 2009 3:55 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2009 3:55 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Greetings all

    Thank you for your suggestions on fixing this problem. I tried everything including the changes to the language and using another software to burn the discs but to no avail. Finally what worked for me was to use a disc cleaner....one with bristles. So far things are OK. Hope this helps.

    DM
  • by Robert Cole1,

    Robert Cole1 Robert Cole1 Mar 7, 2009 10:46 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2009 10:46 AM in response to William Waletitsch
    Replying up here to get it to the top. I encountered this issue today. Odd thing is, I could burn on CD-R media fine, and with relatively good success on some DVD-R media.

    What I'm using is a 2.2GHz MBP with the built-in Superdrive. I have just purchased some new 16X DVD+R media (TDK at Office Depot).

    I have an image I made with iDVD, and it would give me this error with Disk Utility and strange errors with Toast 10.

    I've tried the various methods described in the threads - restarting, using different media (the DVD-R), and resetting the International Pane. The DVD-R media would burn the image and not give me the error, but it was slow (maximum 2X on 4X media) and would give me "Verification Failed" on about 1 out of 3 disks. Only the DVD+R media was giving me the calibration error so I went with the thought that the media was the issue.

    Dusting out the drive caused the DVD+R media to burn immediately, and at 8X speed. Verification went off without a hitch.
  • by Montis,

    Montis Montis Mar 21, 2009 8:22 AM in response to Robert Cole1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2009 8:22 AM in response to Robert Cole1
    I have a similar scenario, can not burn DVD's, but can burn CD's...
  • by Santa_cruz_mex,

    Santa_cruz_mex Santa_cruz_mex Apr 3, 2009 12:39 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2009 12:39 PM in response to William Waletitsch
    Here is what worked for me after listening to all the other BS. Just take a can of compressed air; the kind made to clean keyboards with the long thin red nozzle and stick it into the cd slot. Blow it out a couple of times and it will clean the little lens. I've owned my MacBook Pro for a little less than a year and never burned a DVD. First thing I got, after doing everything I was supposed to do was this error message above. But the compressed air solution douching definitely worked for me.
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