DVD/CD burning issues resolved

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DVD/CD burning issues resolved

I too have been having many of the issues as others here. The "failed to calibrate laser power level", "medium errors" & "sense errors". I tried repairing permissions, cranking up the fans, new account, various media. None of those worked.

Then today I decided to use some compressed air and and appzapped toast 8 & 9. Voila everything works fine now...no coasters after 5 discs. All media that previously has not worked now works great(TDK +R, SONY +R, Verbatim -/+ R). I am currently using Burn. Cant believe it was this simple, for those who are still having issues give it a try.

Still seems weird that right after leopard installed months ago I got the errors, somehow the leopard dvd made the drive dirty?

Message was edited by: jhsiao

15" Macbook Pro 2.4 C2D, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 6:05 PM

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Answer 1

isaiasss

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Aug 20, 2008 10:07 AM in response to jhsiao

But what did you do? Just clean up??... i have many problems trying to burn cd's and dvd's. My macbook pro always says error.

Please, anybody help me.

Message was edited by: isaiasss

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Answer 2

jhsiao Author

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Aug 20, 2008 10:58 AM in response to isaiasss

yup...literally all I did was take compressed air and aired the inside of the superdrive a few times. I didnt stick it all the way in...just enough to have the air go through.

I was reluctant to try this at first even though I read it a few times.

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2008 7:16 PM in response to jhsiao

WOW. It worked for me, too! I just zapped compressed air a few times and now my drive is reading blank DVDs!!!!!

Thank you for the great tip!

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Answer 4

Sep 16, 2008 10:06 AM in response to jhsiao

Great news! It worked here as well. Thanks so much. (I'm not sure who is supposed to mark this thread as "solved." I presume it is the original poster. Sure hope the many others having burning problems read this.)

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Answer 5

Sep 16, 2008 10:18 AM in response to jhsiao

Sounds great to me. I will shoot it with some compressed air. Do you use the little tube and put it in the slot or just blow without the tube?
Jim U.

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Answer 6

tony2you

Level 1

5 points

Sep 18, 2008 8:45 PM in response to jhsiao

Thanks for the tip.... It worked for me too. I have had a Mac (2 laps and a desk) for 10+ years now and never a hardware failure. Its good to know that quality control and vendor selection remains strong.

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Answer 7

Sep 18, 2008 9:02 PM in response to tony2you

I did a similar thing.
I had an old Allsop laser lens cleaner (a CD with little brushes on the bottom). I ran it through and suddenly I can burn DVDs again! Yay!
It would seem dust/dirt collects in the dvd drive. Compressed air / lens cleaner should fix many problems.

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Answer 8

Oct 17, 2008 4:57 PM in response to KevLeviathan

can the ones with little brushes also be used in the slot loading drives?

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Answer 9

laeri

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Oct 19, 2008 3:32 PM in response to jhsiao

After trying everything, AIR is the answer! Blow out that drive!

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Answer 10

Oct 19, 2008 5:12 PM in response to laeri

we should make a website called clean-mac-superdrive-with-air.com

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Answer 11

yowzer

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Dec 31, 2008 12:23 AM in response to jhsiao

I also tried everything from restoring system software to repairing permissions etc but my DVD write just wouldn't write!
Compressed air has been the cheapest, most hassle-free and effective method for me too! Thanks so much for this great suggestion.

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Answer 12

Jan 7, 2009 1:17 AM in response to jhsiao

Thanks so much for posting this. I haven't burnt a DVD in a couple of months and I just almost had a flat-out heart attack when I couldn't get any DVDs to burn. I thought I was going to need a new superdrive. I popped in one of those cleaner discs and it's working great now.

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Answer 13

l_french

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Jan 9, 2009 3:29 PM in response to jhsiao

Geeze - the compressed air worked for me, too! I suddenly couldn't burn CD's or DVD's and tried several things (repairing permissions, removing files, etc.). This was the thing that worked.

I'm so glad that I checked this discussion forum and I'm so glad that the rest of you mentioned this! Thanks so much!

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Answer 14

gtextor

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2009 10:27 PM in response to l_french

Worked for me as well! Thanks.

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Answer 15

davidrd

Level 1

2 points

Feb 10, 2009 9:05 AM in response to jhsiao

I have got the same problems with my drive now for about a month or so, it just won't read any burned media any more. It's a bit of a relief that I am not the only one with this irritating problem.
I just ordered a CD-cleaner and hope that it will do the trick, because this is absolutely driving me up the wall.

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