The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media
 

I have been looking for this answer since this morning with no resolution. This morning using Disk Utility I was trying to burn an .iso image. I have done it before successfully. Then I go the error indicated in the subject:

The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.

This is the log from Disk Utility:

Aug 28 09:58:11: Disk Utility started.
Burning Image "<file.iso>"
Preparing data for burn
Opening session
Opening track
Writing track
Closing session
Finishing burn
Burn failed
The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media. Unable to burn "<file.iso>"- The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media..

I doing the burning in another mac and is working fine. I'm having this problem in the server.

Looks like either a burner hardware problem or some media it didn't like.
Can you burn that exact disk in another computer? Can you burn some other disk in the server? Those two questions should give you an idea where the problem is. Oh a third one have you burned that type/brand before in the server.

1. I was able to burn the exact disk in another computer. At the end of the burning I got message: "Verification of the burn failed" not sure what that means, but I'm able to access the contents of the DVD.

2. Every time I insert a DVD disk at the server it ejects the disk after 20 seconds, when I insert a CD-R everything works fine and I'm able to burn. (this may indicate that the server doesn't like this brand of media)

3. Yes, we have use this type of media (Staples).

thanks for your help

Burning a iso-file and seeing "Verification of the burn failed" means BAD BAD.
Either bad media or some other problem. The exact meaning is that the contents of the disk is NOT exactly the same as what you wanted. Perhaps the first computer manged to harm it? Anyway reburn it.

To me it looks like the burner in the first computer is dead. Do you have Applecare take it to a repair man.

I was able to burn a CD-R in the server. Can the DVD burning be damaged and the CD-R part working? Don't they use the same optical lens? I also noticed at the server in the disk utility logs:

Unable to verify "<file.iso>"
This image has no checksum information to verify.

Does it means is corrupt?? thanks

My understanding is that CD burning and DVD burning use separate lenses and separate lasers.

Have you tried a cleaning DVD? There's no evidence yet that anything is damaged, it could just be dusty.

Trevor

Hmm interesting frankly here we have two different issues obviouly
1: An iso-file seems to be able to have a checksum so the file can be verified.
2: A cd-burner program can be set to verify the disk meaning compare every byte on the disk with the input. I assume that this is what you saw when you burned the file. Another way to check is to use dd and read the whole dvd to a file and then use diff to compare that and the original.
In terminal something like:
dd if=/dev/rdisk1s0 of=/path/to/new/file bs=2048
diff /path/to/new/file isofile

this should either say nothing = OK
or Binary files x and y differ
the latter meaning either that I have misremembered or that there really is a problem.
And finally yes I think a burner can stop making DVD:s but still be able to make CD:s

Seconding Trevor: A google search on your error message reveals that many people have solved their problems by running a CD/DVD cleaning disc through the burner to clean the lenses.

I cannot believe it, but this crazy fix (on a 24" Core 2 Duo iMac) worked for me:

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

Incredible! It works! This is now at the top of my list for unbelievably arcane fixes...

I don't believe it either. I doubt that was the solution to a hardware problem of this nature, since it doesn't have anything at all to do with your CD/DVD burner.

I also can't believe it, but guess what... it worked for me too - on a Mac Pro. you're a genius, landrick. but you have all of the Mac techs here wondering how you came up with this, or what lead you to it.

i meant to mention that i very deliberately did nothing between receiving the error and applying this fix. i even searched for the error on a different box.

Thanks!!
 

Thanks so much, it worked! Wow, no clue why, but thank you!

Hmm… three brand new members pop-up inside of a week and claim that this very unlikely trick works on their Macs. Something seems out of place here.

Yeah, something is awry. Very curious that they all came out of nowhere as soon as one guy's unbelievable solution was questioned, and that these are their first posts.

The proposed fix, while not precisely intuitive, is harmless enough, it seems to me; I don't see that anyone would do any damage to their system to try it if they faced that problem. Why the somewhat stronger-than-expected reaction? If others try it and it doesn't work, I'm sure we'll hear about it. It wouldn't be the first time in my experience that something off-the-wall was successful in resolving a problem, though I certainly have no better insight than anyone else why this ought to have the reported effects.

Joe VanZandt

No one is saying not to do it, but voodoo that can't be explained should be questioned, especially when we're talking about computers, where everything can be explained. This is a troubleshooting forum, and good troubleshooting needs good understanding of what's going on.

I don't buy this fix. Out of nowhere, after it's questioned, new members make their first posts to say (only) that it worked. Heck, Ironhead registered after I said I didn't buy it, just to post in this thread, it would appear. I can't see Cenacle's profile, so I don't know his specific join date, but that is his only post. This doesn't strike you as strange somehow?

Mikey - your assumption is correct! in fact i did register here just to post to this thread after successfully applying the fix then reading of your disbelief. after confirming the fix worked, i thought i'd help encourage others with the same issue who were also doubtful.

i still can't wrap my brain around why this works, but i maintain that it does. i don't usually have the luxury of analyzing curiosities like this. i'm responsible for 125 MacPros across three states and a lot of what i do is "meatball surgery" i.e. i get 'em back up and move on to the next one.

tell y'all what: i'll run this by Apple Engineering and see what (if anything) they have to say. maybe our incredibly expensive Enterprise Support contract will turn out to be worth the money.

one caveat on the fix: it seems that it needs to be repeated prior to each successive burn.

(did anyone else notice that this thread is the number one hit when googling "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media"?)

Especially if you use the title of the thread verbatim. MacOSXHints does tend to rank highly on Google since it's one of the most linked to resources for Mac solutions.

from Apple support:

"Perhaps there is a communication problem somewhere so that the proper region code can not be determined."

Well, that makes nearly as much sense as the fix--namely, very little. What could region codes possibly have to do with burning data to a blank DVD? I don't think you have yet got your money's worth from your support agreement. Does it ADD a region code to a DVD you produce? I didn't know that, if it does.

Joe VanZandt

Another mysterious success story...
 

I am a newbie here and to macs in general (I have owned an imac for 3 months), so I have no explanations for any of this either. I was attempting to burn the second disc ever on this machine, music files onto a Memorex cd-r, when I got the cursed error about the laser not calibrating, or whatever. After trying a few times with other discs, I did a search, found this thread, and decided to give that strange fix a try since it seems harmless enough. Sure enough, I moved around the intl. language settings as directed and restarted and she's burning again. I haven't made any more cds to figure out if this "fix" will be required each time I want to burn something (hopefully not...that could get pretty irritating), but Im feeling like a success story all the same. I am looking forward to hearing more about this from all you pros out there.

Thanks for the great input!
-Rebecca in North Pole, Alaska

It sounds as though you have had many encounters with this error message. Have you tried eliminating steps from the recipe to determine if there are any extraneous steps? For example: It might be that only the last step (restart) actually does any good.

I encountered this problem recently. First time I have ever had received this message and tried the International Language solution posted above. It worked immediately and I was able to burn a disc successfully. My guess is that it somehow clears the DVD region setting? In any case, it works!

Well, i'm the one who posted this thread. Should I try that "fix" and let you guys what happen?

Since I gave up on this a while ago I haven't try to burn a DVD for months. Now when I insert a DVD disk the computer ejects the DVD within 10-15 seconds. This does NOT happen with a CD. We burn a CD every friday. I followed the steps about changing the international settings, but still have not re-started the computer. Since this is a server a have a some user connected at this time. I will re-start in the morning and post the results. thanks..

Ok, that trick did NOT work for me. As I mentioned before I gave up a long time ago. Before trying the supposed solution my DVD drive keep ejecting the DVD disk after 10 seconds of being inside. I tried the "fix" suggested before and nada!! thanks

here's Apple's other suggestion... "Reset the SMC on this unit: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304123" i haven't bothered testing it yet. of course they also recommended the thoughtless "... wipe the drive - reinstall the OS... "

also, a note to ThreeBKK & cocotu: i learned i do not have to actually restart the system, only log out then back into the profile i was using.

That's a step in the right direction. I wonder if there are any other steps which can be eliminated from the recipe.

I could NOT BELIEVE it, but this fix worked for me. I had been trying to burn a DVD over and over and thought maybe the drive was broken. Changed the International settings and it worked fine after that!

But the problem recurred last night when I was trying to burn a CD, and the fix didn't work. Maybe it only works for DVD-burning? I tried a different CD, at a lower speed, and then it worked. Strange huh?

jb: Are you saying that you didn't have to restart?

So in other words, it did not work for you.

The region setting is stored in a setting on the drive. Otherwise, DVD drives could not be region-locked.

Honestly, after all the people I've seen say this "fix" doesn't do anything for them, or the problem just comes back . . . it sounds like coincidence involving some sort of intermittent hardware or media issue. (Or they're restarting and not always saying they are.)

Have any of the persons who had posted about having this problem with burning, tried burning from a different user account?

The original poster was running OS X server 10.4.6, but how about the others?

I read in one of the posts, from Rebecca, that she had used memorex media. I've always had problems with memorex on my macs. I have best success with verbatim or sony. Might the brand of media be part of the problem?

Forgotten now, but yeah I think I did have to restart.
read my post again
This happened (and the fix worked) on 10.5.0. I have, however, also had this problem with Tiger. I don’t know if the fix works on Tiger though, I didn't find it until after I'd upgraded to Leopard; I'd always thought my computer just had a flakey drive.

I had tried everything before the fix, re-installing the OS, using multiple burn programs, different media, resetting P-RAM etc. It is not an "intermittent" problem that a simple reboot will fix

Maybe after you've experienced the problem yourself and have tried the fix, you'll be qualified to comment?

Hi all,

Just thought I should post to say that the above fix worked for me.

Simon

Worked for me, too!
 

I was tasked by a friend to do a dvd for a party this evening...everything was going great until last night's burning of the dvds!! I got this "laser calibration" error & sometimes just a general "medium" error.

I went out bought new dvds, cleaner but nothing was working. I almost had to post this movie on youtube for my friend vs. having a dvd everyone could watch on TV at the party.

This odd but very successful "fix" did just that.
I burned many dvds on my macmini in the past but it went belly up for the first time last night.

I'm running OS X 10.4.11 1.33ghz PowerPC G4 with Matshitadvd-r UJ-845 burner.

Thanks again for posting this fix - you saved me buying a new burner & my friend some big-time embarrassment!
I also joined today just to post back that this fix is definitely legit...

I had the same problem with a CD-R 700Mb from Sony. My iMac G5 PPC is now happily burning away after applying the fix with just a logout, not reboot... Okay, hold the phone...

The burner completed it's duties but verification did not go so well.

"This disc could not be verified and might be unreliable. Try again using a new blank disc. (Error code 0x80020063)"

However, upon loading the dodgy disc and opening it in Finder, bearing in mind that I put a bunch of photos there, only some of the thumbs loaded. Then, rather strangely, the spinning umbrella, and then Finder completely relaunched: desktop icons, dock, open Finder windows, everything reloaded.

Next up... take Apple's advice and try a new cd.

oddly enough this worked for me. although it does not hold, and has to be redone for each successive burn.

also to note i got 75% into the burn after not being able to start the burn , but all burns fail to the media (hp dl dvd)

dave

"failed to calibrate" message
 

Hi,
If it makes any of you feel better, the language solution didn't work for me.

I still get the same "failed to calibrate the laser power level" message no matter how I burn, what speed, or what media.

I've tried cleaning, dusting, lowering the speed to 4x, changing media, upgrading to latest iTunes, using the Finder to burn instead of iTunes and, of course, the System Preferences/International language solution.

And I had such high hopes...

I'm desperate. It worked fine with the same media 2 weeks ago. What does everyone else think?

Thanks, Judy

What may have changed about your system in this intervening two weeks? Might you have installed new software, or upgraded/updated some software?

For all of the people posting that this fix works, or doesn't work, please be sure to mention what model optical drive you are using. Example: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E. Also, try to remember whether or not you have applied any of the SuperDrive Firmware Updates.

didnt work.
 

Didn’t work for me. I’m using a 20" core2 iMac. 10.5.1. firmware update yielded a message stating it wasn't necessary. hopefully we find a definitive fix here...

Thanks vicm.
Which model SuperDrive do you have in your iMac?
Were you also burning an .iso image?

works
 

The language fix works for me... i'll certainly look into WHY it worked!

didn't work
 

My Mac mini superdrive has been all kinds of flaky. I also got the laser power calibration error, and tried the fix (just log out, no reboot), to no avail. Then, I tried another of the Memorex (shudder) 3-pack of DVD+R DL and the second one seemed to work! Well, it got burning anyway. Got about half way and threw 'Unable to burn "NAME" - The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retrv..' I hate these drives. Major Apple failure. Third disc gives same error as first. I'll try with better media and post an update.

Also, in the past, I was unable to burn DVDs. CDROMs were fine, but 19-20 DVDs were spit out in 10 seconds. I followed one site's suggestion of a *carefully* blowing little compressed air in the slot. I did this (not full bursts, just some light touches) and it has worked since (20-30 burns). This was a different problem than the laser calibration one. In that one, the DVDs were accepted, the data checksummed, and then the error. The compressed air fix helped when the DVDs are not even being accepted (for more than 10 seconds). Hope this helps someone. Drive data below.


MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:

Firmware Revision: FM3J
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

MEMOREX 3pk DVD+R DL (red box)

Update: Fix apparently lasted
 

I originally posted some time back that I attempted this fix with success some time ago on my 20" aluminum imac running Tiger, but didn't use the burner frequently enough to really assess whether it had been a lasting fix or not.

Well, I have used the burner this month to burn about 40 discs with all different types of files and media and have not encountered the "laser failed to calibrate" message a second time. (Knock on wood, though, eh?) All aspects of the burning process have gone on without a hitch. I don't know what this means in the grand scheme of things, but if you're having a similar issue, don't be discouraged by the folks that claim the fix doesn't work and just give it a try for yourself, because it apparently does in some cases.

Side note: I don't know if this is a note-worthy factor or not, but I realized this week that I have never played a dvd on my machine, only created some, so my mac has never set its dvd region code. (Since I can only change 5 times, and I am pretty international, I am saving those 5 changes for when I really need the dvd player.)

-Rebecca
North Pole, Alaska

Oh, and per the request, my burner type is OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5630A
I have never sought out a firmware update, but the computer tells me the firmware revision is 1AHM, for whatever that's worth.

Fixing the calibration error
 

Good grief!

The fix really does work!

Interesting point though for any of those of you who didn't get it to work...

When selecting the languages, it seems you MUST choose "US English" (as per the example) and not just "English". There's something about the US version which makes it work. I initially just selected "English" (as I'm not in the USA) and did the 'dragging' bit and it failed.

Hope that helps someone.

Whatever next? Fixing disc problems by changing the screen saver?

YES ... I just had the same error on a new box of Memorex DVD- DL 8.5 2.4x .... Did the rather "odd" workaround, and burned the first DVD. Then turned right around and followed my friend Charly's directions to back up my new Leopard Install DVD, and that worked fine w/o going thru the original International Preferences stuff.


[QUOTE=
(did anyone else notice that this thread is the number one hit when googling "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media"?)[/QUOTE]

Yes, that is how I found the (odd) fix for the issue.

And, to the nice naysayers up-thread, notice I am not necessarily a first-time poster.

"International" fix no worky
 

Just so that I was on the safe side, I rebooted, then tried my burn again... no worky. So I tried the "international" fix, & then tried my burn again... no worky.

I have a 12" Powerbook G4 with the Matsushita UJ-835E & I'm trying to burn Maxell CD-R 48x. I tried the burns at 8x & 24x. No difference in results.

Hi,

I just registered to say that I did try the "fix" and it didn't work.
I did, however, tried switching my media from Memorex DVD-R 16x disc to a TDK DVD-R 16x disc, and it worked fine.

I have never had any problems with the TDK, as I have used over 100 discs in the last year, with only 1 or 2 bad burns, and not with this same message.

I'm assuming the type of media is factoring into this, but I do not know how to find a resoultion for this issue.

It totally worked!
 

:D:D:D

Ok, gotta say, that's one of the strangest work-arounds I've ever encountered. I have a 2GHz Core Duo Mac Mini and was having burn and CD/DVD recognition issue's. Didn't want the apple care downtime so wanted to get this fixed myself. I took it apart and cleaned the laser, it recognized the DVD/CD's but still wouldn't burn. The error changed to the failed to adjust laser power for media error, found this post and it worked like a charm. Very strange.

Thank you very much!!!:D:D:D

arcane, random, but much to my surprise, it does indeed work.

Mysterious "fix"
 

Bullocks. It doesn't work, nor is there any reason for it to work. (Yes, I tried it.) I tried two DVDs with the same calibration problem. I put in a third and it worked. It was that simple. The problem, IMO, is the quality control for burnable DVDs and CDs is shite.

Look through any of the posts and you'll see references to CD and DVD "coasters". There's a reason the term is so popular: It's accurate. I'm guessing there are imperfections in the media that cause the sensitive laser to not be able to get a firm "fix" on what it needs to do to make the burn "catch." (Yeah, I know. Sorry about the technical terms *grin*).

Regardless, you're going to go through a handful or CDs/DVDs before it works. You can try a different burner on a different machine and might have more luck, but $10 says if it does, it's a burner from a different manufacturer, hence a different the laser with different tolerance levels.

It does NOT work :-)
 

Same here. It obviously does not work, since there is no reason for it to work. As of the reply by Apple, what did that guy expect. He just contacted Apple stating his "fix" to his problem; and they say "oh well, it might be associated ..." (yes, but in a parallel universe :p). I mean "mercy!" This reminds me of an era back in windoze when people could say "don't open that app while I am dialing to connect to the internet because the line might drop... or the colors will go grey ... or *place another bunch of incoherence here and you have a valid win-statement of the 90s* (some guys still say similar things lol). I don't mean to be rude, but it is outrageous that some people insist on "switching languages" is "the catch" ...

Anyway, my macbook pro is not even a year old so I am really pissed.
Regarding my drive:
By the way, wtf is MATSHITA? I had never heard of the manufacturer before. I don't get it why it was chosen by Apple (apart from the obvious financial reason which also comes with so many dangers) ...
The only time that I though this so called "fix" was actually able to work was because in the final command of the "script" you have to restart your computer and therefore on a fresh boot you might have much more swap available if you are running very low on your hard drive (like I do atm - about 3GB free after the restart). Alas, it turned out *not* to work even when I attempted to write just 200MB instead. :( So, this idea is probably wrong again ( I tested only 2 dvds )

The dvds used (tested about 10 (8 randomly selected) of the 50 pack ==> my $s for that 50-pack go directly to a trash can...) were Sony DVD+R.

Atm, I purchased a lens cleaner from amazon as well as some verbatim dvd-r (this time minus since they are supposed to be more all-around) and I am waiting for them to be delivered. As soon as I try them out I'll report again but I don't expect much...

Oh, and as of the OS, when I bought my pro it came with tiger and now I am running leopard 10.5.2 all updates installed as of today. In details:

I'll be interested in seeing the results
 

I'm curious if the cleaner works. In theory (well, the theory we're talking about) it should make a difference if the quality of the media isn't that far off from the approved spec and the laser is slightly off as well. Pls post what you find.

There's what looks like a decent set of reviews for the various media types here: http://www.cdfreaks.com/media/ Can't vouch for it, but it looks promising.

And as an FYI MATSHITA = Panasonic. (It was three separate companies but then pulled each of the brands together.)

If your Macbook is "not even a year old" then it's covered under warranty. Call Apple and arrange for a warranty repair.

Eventually I will have to do that if I don't get around the problem in one way or another. But that's the only computer I have atm, and if they want to keep it for some days, then I don't know if I am willing to give it to them. :-)

And by the way, since last August (that's when I bought the macbook) I burnt no more than 15-20 cds and no more than 10-15 dvds... (all same brand - sony) I am just stating that because I read somewhere (probably in this forum) that latest dvd-recorders are not meant to last as long as the old ones, since the material is cheaper (plastic) and writing at maximum speed accelerates their death. But the quantities can not justify even that...

I don't know where you read that about drives. I can only report based on my own experiences. I've been burning discs in fairly large quantities since CD-R's came out. Drives fail no quicker today than they ever did. With the quantity of burning that I do, I expect to replace my drive in my desktop about once a year and always have.

Notebook drives are actually built more rugged than desktop drives because of the environmental factors they have to work under and the space the hardware has to fit into. I've only had one notebook drive ever fail on me and another on a client's machine. Of course, I don't do a lot of burning from the notebook.

Anyone ever try repairing disk permissions?

I agree with you and I burn cds since 98. I haven't noticed a difference on failures on drives just like you say, and I used to burn a lot on my desktop. Although I used to replace regular cd drives on a yearly basis and recorders once every 2 years. I just mentioned sth that I read without too much thought and it might as well be nonsense. :-)

As of the numbers that I state above, I hope that you do agree that it is rather conservative on a yearly basis, don't you? If you add them up I didn't burn more than 50 since August; and I am sure this is an over-estimate.

It could simply be that you ended up with a drive that didn't hold up as it should have. That's why we have warranties.

Verbatim arrived but still no luck ... I am now waiting for the cleaner in case it helps but I guess I need a new drive.

works
 

How strange that this fix should provoke such hostility. I can confirm that it works for me, provided (as another poster has mentioned) that the language is set to US English and not to English. Afterwards the disk (a DL DVD+R in my case) verifies and mounts.

It does seem like a crazy fix, but any programmer will tell you that it's probably just a notification bug. I expect laser calibration is the first interaction with the drive, so some initialisation routines are triggered. When they fail, an exception is thrown by the calibration routine instead of the failing subsystem.

The fact that international settings eliminate the problem tell us us that it's probably something to do with region settings or some other pernicious rights-limitation routine that is invoked on DVD burn. I wonder if the bug has affected anyone whose computer is set to US English by default?

I am very curious as to how landrick manage to find and isolate the fix, though...

meglio ancora - better still
 

I have stacks less tall than me of two different appearing DVD+R DL media. One says Ritek at the hub and is plain white, and the other is flat silver Memorex with shiny checks (not Czechs). Each has the same media code (RITEK…S04B) when examined with DVD Media Inspector.app.

Using either a Sony or a Philips FW external burner connected to a G5 iMac 1800GHz, the silver ones often return the laser power calibration error, but the white ones burn at close to a 100% success rate.

I can't wait to try landrick's voodoo or not voodoo detailed again below.

And Las Vegas, I have compostable thumbs.

I've been on this forum for a while, and didn't noticed this thread before!

I'm having the same problem with my External Firewire Plextor PX-740UF DVD burner.

Maybe I'll try the language changing trick and see what happens.

No, any programmer would probably tell you that you're pulling enough assumptions out of the air to last a lifetime, and that assumptions are evil.

That same programmer would then point out how absolutely random the results of the procedure are and then point out how everyone is restarting at the end. He'd also emphasize how often it doesn't do anything at all.

Nuts! (in the Bastogne sense)
 

Landrick's voodoo did not work. I made another coaster labeled Memorex.

Another thread in these forums recommends using a DVD/CD laser lens cleaning disk. I bought one and used it, and made another coaster labeled Memorex before I tried landrick's voodoo.

So, ebay or craig's list here I come, to make someone who can burn these a good deal.

I would not call myself an expert, but I have several DVD burners and I've been burning DVDs for several years. These media are uniquely truculent and merit harsh rebuke.

This brought a huge smile to my face.

Replaced
 

Ok. Since my warranty was still effective, I visited the local "genius bar" and as soon as the people saw all the error messages, they simply said: "Do you have applecare?" :) And that was it. I left my pro there on May 28th, and after 3 days I got it back and working. Now I can burn cds/dvds again. Simple as that.
I guess the fact that I had tested two different brands also mattered. Just check how many error reports you have in your DiscRecording.log under Applications/Utilities/Console.app. For example I had lots of error messages like the following ones:
In fact, they didn't even try to burn a dvd ... ;)
Yeah, go change the language settings, open a window (fresh air), and don't forget to turn on the lights even if it's broad daylight. This is the recipe for optimum efficiency. :p

cheers

LOL.

Okay, so what was done to your machine at the shop to now make it right?

The obvious. I had the drive replaced by a brand new one.

It wasn't entirely obvious. I was about to post the same question that johngpt asked.

Next question: Is the new SuperDrive the same model and brand as the previous one?

How frustrating! This fix really did work for me originally. But not any more! Has anyone managed to figure out WHY the fix works (for some, anyway)? If we can work out WHY it works we can figure out how to make it ALWAYS work. There must be some other setting that needs to be set at the same time as playing with the Language settings.

Hello all,

I am another among the many to register strictly because of this thread. (You might say that it is relevant to my interests.) after setting up 2 partitions on a separate internal HD and installing windows on one of them I was having the same problem as everyone here.
the region thing DID NOT work for me, though I tried it. as crazy as this sounds here is what I did.

1. tried the language/region thing
2. tried a dvd/cd cleaner disc still the same error
3. got pissed off
4. ???????????
5. said "Ok F**k" it and put in a DVD movie to see if it would play. it did.
6. said "Ok F**k" again and tried burning the same iso that I had been trying to burn for several hours.
7. It worked.(profit)

what the hell.

solutions like this voodoo make me close to furious.
I don't like solutions that include watching part of fight club to solve the problem.

if anyone has any idea what might have been the gateway to the solution in my string of events, I would be interested.


love,

peanutboy

Ok. Well, I'm burning successfully again. All I can do is say WHAT I did to achieve it this time. Last time the Language thingy worked. Then it didn't. I've been trying again all evening.

Finally I logged off and logged back on as System Administrator (you may need to have to 'Enable Root User' before you can do this). Note this is the root account - you can log in as user 'root' - and not just any account with administrator privileges. I immediately tried burning and it worked. (In fact it's 85% through so far...)

Can't say WHY it might have worked. Possibly because it's got different user settings. Possibly because the root account just allows more things. Who knows?

All I know is it works NOW. Might not work tomorrow. Who can say?

Bring back the good ol' days of computing! When it either worked or it didn't! Every time!

I suppose I'll add my incredulous account to the fire.

I just tried to burn a Memorex DVD+R DL 8x at 2.4x.
The first attempt failed with Disk Utility via the built in SuperDrive (the laser sense error).
The second attempt failed with Toast via the built in SuperDrive (some series of arcane hex code errors).
The third attempt failed with Disk Utility via an external LaCie writer (laser sense).
I then tried the "fix" of swapping the languages around (why not). But, I realized I had just started a download so I skipped rebooting and went right to the burn.
It's burning via Disk Utility in the SuperDrive.

W ... T ... F

Now there are all manner of uncontrolled variables which may have lead to this success:
Perhaps changing the language clears some cache file.
Perhaps after 3 burn attempts the drive was warmed up.
Perhaps after 3 burn attempts the disc itself was warmed up.
Perhaps changing the language really does have an effect (I'll note that I originally had English selected and added US English above it, I also originally had Standard selected for Word Break).

This is about as voodoo of Mac troubleshooting I've ever seen. I just can't let myself fall to "post hoc, ergo prompter hoc" here. Maybe this is one of the few remaining Easter Eggs in Leopard? Performing the above actions invokes a special kind of magic only Steve Wozniak could control.

Just to be sure I'm going outside to bury my iPod upside down in front of my door. Hopefully that will keep me safe.

Maybe the root of the problem isn't the software/firmware/OS, maybe it's related to physical conditions such as temperature/humidity/barometric pressure. Condensation on either the lens, or on the disc, might be preventing the necessary calibration. That would be a much more reasonable explanation for the erratic nature of the problem.

I realize this is a dangerous thing to post, but quite honestly I haven't heard of PCs experiencing this sort of problem. I use both Macs and PCs, so I keep up on both platforms, and nothing resembling this is reported even under the reviled Vista (which has been a pretty major flop for Microsoft, despite not being QUITE as bad as some have reported). There is something going on with the Mac OS and the driver support for DVD burners, it would seem, though just -what- this is is by no means clear. I'm surprised that Apple hasn't had more to say about this. It is obviously a problem, though it may not be consistent enough to count as a bug. But just look at the length of this thread! A lot of people in the Mac world are having this problem, one would have to think. It would be particularly interesting if we could see if there is any consistency in the version of the OS which could be a factor....I don't know how to begin to do that, however. But if the cause were variable media, environmental differences, or such, one would expect the same failure rate among all of the burners in use, and this really does seem to be largely a Mac problem--unless someone has evidence to the contrary that I haven't seen?

Joe VanZandt

It's possible that the problem is that Apple is more demanding of the drive. Remember a few years ago when an Apple update rendered a bunch of RAM unusable? The issue was that Apple was now applying more stringent guidelines towards testing the RAM before enabling it and "lesser quality" RAM, though still valid, was disabled.

It's possible that other systems are more lenient when sensing the laser calibration. I think this would lend credence to an environmental cause.

Like the RAM issue, it's debatable as to whether this is the desired behavior or not. I will say it's not acceptable given the use of Apple supplied hardware. Though I tend to think this is more likely a media issue as I haven't had problems until I tried to burn a Memorex disc of unknown supplier, where typically I order unbranded Taiyo Yuden. I'll have to give it another go if I even buy more DL discs. They're'nt ( :) ) really worth the price unless the capacity is absolutely required.

I'm burning an iso of Xubuntu. Using disk utility (although Toast also displays a burn error), and its the same one about the laser. I tried burning to a CD (maxell) then a DVD (Playo). Neither worked, same error.

I tried the International thing twice and same message. Repeated the international thing again and it didn't work again. Restarted again and zapped the PRAM.

Next thing I did was use my mouth to blow to blow into the slot drive on my Mac Book Pro (yea, I know its dumb, but I was really angry and it seemed better than breaking it in half). Entered the maxell CDR again and it still didn't work. I picked a CDR off the bottom of the stack and put it in and it worked like a charm. My vote goes to media problems.

MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2.16
OS 10.4.11

Drive info:
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857:

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857
Revision: HAEA
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes

I have a macbook duo core with the same problem.

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E:

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E
Revision: ZB0E
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes

I read through this forum and here is my result:

I tried rebooting - still got the error
I tried messing with the languages as posted earlier - still got the error
I turned my macbook upside-down while open and sprayed canned air across the DVD opening and put in a different dvd disc and then it worked.
Then I tried again, using a dvd disc that I had gotten the error message on, and it didn't work.
Then I blew more air into the dvd drive and put my laptop on top of my laptop cooler and used a new dvd disc and it worked.

So? Dirty? Hot? Bad DVD disk? That's all I got.

Yes. The new SuperDrive is the same model and brand as the previous one.
Just as a friendly reminder to the other guys above: check the error logs you have as I describe in the previous page. This, most likely, will suffice so that they can change your drive in an apple-store.

I just stumbled upon this thread, because I had the same error message. I was using Memorex DVD-R media, and they all failed. I tried the voodoo thingy, and it didn't work. I finally tried a DVD+RW from another brand (I don't even know what brand it is, because it is not stamped on the disk). It works fine now. It looks to me as if it is a media problem, perhaps combined with the laser getting weaker over time. In any case, I would urge people to first check out their media. Best - MM

Does anyone think that it could have anything to do with Leopard? I've read elsewhere that alot of these problems have arised since the upgrade. Thoughts?

Regardless... I'm stumped. I've tried everything but sing to it!

I still get the error "The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 drive failed. The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media."

Hi guys. My girlfriend's laptop was having this laser power level warning and I found this thread on the problem. I just did this process and it worked... I don't even care why, just adding another confirmed success.

I have tiger and had this error. In fact I was burning a Leopard disk though :D

I arrived via google (search term "device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media")

The drive is OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5630A in a 24" aluminum iMac running 10.5.3.

I have had problems burning discs since early on so I've been using Burn.app without a problem.

Today I tried burning through Finder, it failed with the above error so I googled and arrived here.

Even before reading the replies here I was already a skeptic. This must be a case of a random string of things making one small change that goes unnoticed. Anyone who's hacked around with computers long enough knows there's no magic wands.

I can confirm a few things to try and get to the bottom of this.

-A reboot alone after the error does not fix it.
-The error persists even when cleanly formatted (with OEM 10.5 DVDs)
-The workaround did allow me to burn. I did nothing extra between going through the motions listed in the fix and attempting another burn.

The OP of the fix seems to have gotten this info from a mac tech in the know. Has anyone gotten any other info from a tech about why this would work?

If this truly is a case of the drive's beginning to fail I'm sure there are plenty of folks who would like to know about it.

It's within a year of purchasing so on Monday I'm planning on calling in and seeing if it qualifies for a repair (even though the problem no longer exists).

I also plan on formatting back to 10.5 and running some tests (such as, how consistently does this fix work, and does it last beyond a format, among others).

I will post back with any info I can get.

I read up to page two on this thread and i had not heard of anyone having any problems with the random language fix. Anyhow, it did not work for me BUT i was trying to burn a cd with Imitation CD-R's... I used about half of a stack of 30 before my computer decided to stop burning. I switched to a Memorex CD-R and the problem was solved.If anyone has had a problem with there drive not being able to calibrate enough power to burn i would suggest trying a different CD-R if the language trick does not solve anything.

Like i said i only read up to 2 pages on this thread so i am unsure if this issue has been addressed. Thanks for your help.

Landrick, thanks for this fix. It works for me. Just burnt the first data DVD onto TDK DVD-R. I have a Optiarc AD-5630A with firmware: 1AHN
Cheers

I take it that's an external burner.

Does reverting the settings back to what they were cause you to lose burning capability?

Completely and totally bizarre, but this fixed my problem. I was unable to burn in Toast, Disk Utility, Nero(Parallels or VMWare) all with MEDIUM ERROR(toast) or Laser Calibration errors(other 2.)

I did this and it burned in Toast flawlessly. I did NOTHING else (other than the restart prescribed in the fix.)

I have an Optiarc DVD RW AD-5630A and I bought this iMac less than a week ago New. :)

Just joined, because it worked for me.
 

Dual 2.5, running OS 10.5.1

My Disc is Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-117D

I'm using (and have been for about 8 months) crappy Staples media, 100 to a spindle DVD-R.

Macs don't care.. right?

I have used the "burn from a disc image" method for over 2 years, and taught others how to build a disc image to do so.

Under 10.4. It worked to a T. Everytime. 20 discs, no problem.

I've only recently upgraded to 10.5 (4 or so months)

I don't think I've burned a disc since then. I tried one tonight. I got this stupid (new, to my recollection) error.

Disc started.
Disc finishing.

Failed to calibrate laser level.

I typed into Google "Failed to calibrate laser level" and came upon this thread.

I looked at the "voodoo magic" and thought.. "that's so dumb, no way"

So I did it.

Works like a champ!!

I think the problem lies in the upgrade.

For example. I have DVD Studio 3 (2 years old, before Final Cut Studio)

It worked great under 10.4 .

10.5... Starts up.. Freezes on Title screen. Doesn't go past that.

So I would theorize that it's an unadressed issue in the upgrade.

With luck, maybe it'll fix my Studio Pro too????

Also, yes. I have to rerun the "magic fix" everytime.

But yes, as is the message in the Sys Pref's. "Changes upon Logout"

You don't have to restart.. Thanks for that posting btw.

If anyone finds a permanant fix on this, or hears from apple,

please post..

Thanks for all your help.

seanster55, if I remember from way back at the beginning of this thread, the original problem and fix had surfaced during 10.4.11.

Excellent question, has anyone recently tried this?

Burning causes high temperatures
 

I have to agree with previous suggestions that overheating is at least one cause of the "failure to calibrate laser" error.
Just wanted to share my experience from 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.
Unplugged the mag-safe charger in case battery heat was slowing down the cooling (probably irrelevant).
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. Left the fans running at max for the duration of the burn.

Other Tidbits:
I have not fiddled with my language settings at all.
Running 10.5.4

I read somewhere that manual fan controls void warranties (so be careful if you try it), but if cranking the fans works for others, perhaps Apple can patch the SuperDrive drivers to cool off some models before the burn starts...

FYI, I posted most of this on Apple's forum as well before finding the macosxhints thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=7756162

I don't burn many discs but if I have to resort to the fan thing a couple more times, I'll be taking the book back to Apple for a drive swap under warranty.

Lifting the notebook, blowing compressed air. The compressed air, as well as possibly blowing schmutz off the lens, also cools the innards. Running the fans harder.

All these sorts of fixes have heat in common.

Makes one wonder if the voodoo fix of language settings can possibly have an effect on how heat is recognized/interpreted? I, in my infinite ignorance, can't think of a way it could, but perhaps someone else can?

i'm amazed by the response to this thread. i haven't being in here for many months. bad news is i'm still having the issue. i'm able to burn CD-R, but not DVD-R. the DVD-R gets ejected with no error messages. i tried that "I cannot believe it, but this crazy fix works"....thanks

Well, I have been following this thread for the last 6 months, since I changed around my international language settings and was able to burn discs again, and Im pleased to report that I still haven't had any recurring issues. This may also have something to do with the burned offerings I set out in front of my imac each night. Seems to make about as much sense if you ask me. Knowing that each disc I burn could be my last keeps me at the end of my seat, but the instant it acts up again, Ive decided to make my first call to AppleCare and will likely replace the drive to be safe. (Im pleased to report it'll be my first call because all of you on macosxhints have been so incredibly helpful. THANK YOU!)

Here's another vote for cleaning the lens as a fix. I found this on an unrelated blog.

I'm having the same problem. Language thing didn't work for me. Tried a cleaner disc (4x), didn't help. Was using the same media for some time before the problem developed.

Is there any consensus as to which brand(s) of DVDs have a lower incidence of the problem?

Interstingly (to me at least), the problem first came up about a year ago, then mysteriously cleared up, and now has come back.

In going through this thread, it appears the problem occurs with different brands of drives and different media. It also doesn't appear to be a problem in the Windows world. All that indicates to me that OSX is the most likely culprit. Too bad Apple support is so poor.

Looking forward to reading future posts on the thread

2 Ghz Intel Core Duo
OSX 10.5.4
2 GB SDRAM
Matshita DVD-R UJ-846
Maxell DVD+RW, Memorex DVD-RW