i am unable to burn iphoto and itunes to a cd, but I can burn a slideshow to dvd. It started suddenly. Thought maybe bad cd (even though other cd's in the pack worked just fine.) Got a different brand; same thing. For iTunes, this is the error message: "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media; for iPhoto: "The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 drive failed. The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry." I've checked the hard drive memory; it shows "ok" under about this Mac. Any suggestions? (iDVD does just fine; I can burn the iphoto and itunes together without any problems as a slideshow)
You could try going to Disk Utility and verify permissions and repair if necessary just in case it is a permissions problem. You could also have a problem with the optical drive. Have you tried running the Apple Hardware Test or Tech Tool Delux to look for hardware problems? If you are under warranty, you might want to call Apple about this.
I have the same drive, and all available updates (to OS X, the MacBkPro ROM, and the battery) have been applied successfully. Since early summer I have been unable to write CDs reliably although DVDs burn properly. I get a variety of errors trying to burn CDs. Until recently I could burn them with an external drive. Now that does not work either.
When I first noticed this during the summer a friend from Germany was visiting. He has the same MacBkPro, but with a different brand drive. CDs that my drive would not recognize at all (they were blank) were easily recognized by his drive.
Because the problem has varied with software and firmware updates, I think this is a programming problem, not a hardware fault.
How do we tell Apple about these issues? Since it's not a regular crash, it isn't automatically reported, and in an effort to reduce chatter from ignorant users they have made it very difficult for reports of genuine problems to filter through.
BTW, my drive has produced 6 CD coasters this morning and
no readable CDs. I used the OS X burning function and Toast 8, with the internal drive and an external drive (USB 2.0 and then Firewire 400). I used two different brands of CDs.
How did your friend have a different drive in his MBP? Did he get it installed by a third party after buying the MBP from Apple?
I have another post with strange things happening to my drive.
It may be that it just came with a different drive. Apple does not manufacture optical drives--it buys them to their specifications on the open market, very likely from more than one source. It wouldn't surprise me that one MBP would have a drive from one manufacturer and another MBP would have one from a different manufacturer. By dealing with multiple suppliers, Apple can be assured of a steady supply of optical drives. If there is a problem with one manufacturer, say a plant fire or a typhoon, Apple would not have to shut down its computer line because one of its suppliers was not able to deliver. It would have alternate sources.
I don't know if this is actually true of Apple, but it is the way that most manufacturers do operate.
I'm experiencing the same problem on a 20" iMac. CD's do not burn properly. I get the same error message: "The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 drive failed. The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry."
Usually I can take the failed CD, put it in a PC and read the files. But, I can't read the CD on my iMac.
I am having the reverse problem. My optical disk drive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857, and recently it started to fail when trying to read or write to DVDs only. It will rarely recognize any blank DVDs and won't burn to a DVD but it will recognize and burn a CD no problem. The last time I got a DVD to start to burn, I got the error message saying the drive failed to respond properly. Any advice?
The same thing happens with me. However, I have a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E. I cannot burn Cd's or DVD's. I cannot even burn anything using my window's partition. Any Idea's? Should I talk to apple about this?
ditto. I try to burn CDs works okay. DVDs will start to burn then within a second go to the closing session dialog for about as long as it takes to normally burn, finishes the disk then give me an error. It is not brand because both are Memorex, and the CDs and DVD+R DL work okay, the DVD+R do not.
yup this is happening to me too... first my superdrive would just hang and i would have to force a restart and eject the cd before startup... so i bought a lacie d2 external dvd burner... now i am getting this error (although a cd burned in between cds that had errors)... i am guessing this is a mac os problem... why do previous os always seem to become buggy around time of new version?
I think I may have discovered the cause of my problem burning CD-R's from iPhoto '06.
iPhoto '06 stores information about each roll in three folder areas of your iPhoto Library folder. The original imported pictures are stored under the Originals folder. Thumbnails of each photo are stored under the Data folder. When you modify and save a picture, it is saved under the Modified folder. When you select and burn photos to a CD-R from iPhoto, it actually burns the files from all three folders (Originals, Modified, and Data).
As you select rolls/photos a meter at the bottom of the screen displays the size of the photos you've selected and how much of the CD-R space is remaining. Every time I select close to the 700 MB capacity, I get the burn error in my message above. I selected about 400 MB and the burn within iPhoto worked properly.
iPhoto is underestimating the size of the data to be burned to the CD-R disc. It doesn't seem to properly total all of the file sizes from the three different folders (Originals, Modified, and Data). For example, in iPhoto I selected a single roll with 96 photos to burn to a 700 MB CD-R disc. The burn capacity meter in iPhoto calculated the burn size as 579 MB. Using Finder I checked the three folders on my hard drive (Originals, Data, and Modified) that corresponded to the roll I selected in iPhoto. Finder reported the total size of the three folders as 759 MB. When I burned the disc from within iPhoto, I got the burn error and my iMac couldn't read/mount the CD when I reinserted it.
I put the CD in a Windows XP PC and the PC could read the disc. Windows disk properties revealed 798 MB used on the disk. The disk has a 700 MB capacity. All of the files from the three folders (Originals, Modified, and Data) showed up in the file directory. The PC could read most of the pictures, but the ones that burned last couldn't be read because they were beyond the capacity of the disk.
iPhoto '06 tried to burn more data onto the CD-R than it could hold and the result is the cryptic error message: "The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 drive failed. The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry."
Same here. I have this internal drive: MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846. I tried to burn a data to a CD through Toast 8.0.3 and the disk didn't pass the verification after it was burned. It would still open but it took a very long time to do so. So I threw it away and tried to burn another two and got the following errors:
The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = HARDWARE ERROR
Sense Code = 0x09
TRACK FOLLOWING ERROR
Then when I clicked OK I got this error:
The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = MEDIUM ERROR
Sense Code = 0x73, 0x03
I clicked OK, got the same error again and then I think the disk got ejected. While it was trying to burn a CD I got an unusual buzzing sound from the burner. It sounded if it was just spinning like crazy.
Then I tried to use Apple's Burn and got this error:
The disk can't be burned, because device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.
I don't know if this is just a bad CR-R brand (Dynex) because I haven't tried a different media. I'll take some Maxwell CD-R with me to work on Monday and see if it works. I had no problems with burning CD or DVD prior to this incident (although on occasion verification would fail and I'd have to burn it again). If it still doesn't burn a different CD-R brand then I'll take it to my local Apple store for repairs. I'll let you know what the outcome would be.
OK, Maxell CD burned without a problem. Staples DVD failed to burn though. Toast again gave me a Hardware Error. I think this is a media issue. I used some crappy Dynex CD-Rs they bought at work, a cheap Best Buy brand.
BTW, I just noticed this thread is about MacBook. I'm writing about iMac. But I don't think the issue is any different.
It sounds like most of you are having mixed results with different recordable discs from various manufacturers. If it is a burning issue. Trying different manufacturers and find one that works. From personal experience, I can tell you that Memorex is the worst company out there. Don't ever give them a penny of your money for any of their products. I had horrible experiences with their dvd drives and blank media, as have many others. I have pretty good luck with Maxell media.
An issue I am having right now, which seems different from most of this is itunes freezing up on me when playing audio cd's on my brand new UJ-857e that I put into my macbook pro. The same cd plays fine on other programs, so clearly I must conclude that this is an itunes problem.
