This may be a dead topic, but I just had this problem that is described above.

Problem: tried to burn an audio CD in the superdrive
Error: "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media"

I tried the solution presented by going to system preferences etc, and it actually worked...no idea why, but the CD burned successfully after multiple attempts had failed when I restarted, tried new disks, etc.

I did the steps and it burned on first try.

I have been having DVD write problems since I updated to 10.5.8 - especially the Error: "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media". I wasted a lot of time trying to solve the issue using a variety of different media, doing permissions repair, cleaning the drive etc and had almost given up and resigned myself to the cost of a new drive when I tried the sys/pref language trick and the DVD wrote a disk flawlessly! I would love to hear Apple's explanation for this phenomenon.

About 2 years ago my iMac reported that the DVD drive had failed. It refused to burn CDs or DVDs. Then I discovered that if I set up a new user account and burned disks from there, it worked perfectly. Mac OSX can be very quirky sometimes.

This is still an ongoing problem, as I've discovered in the past two (exceedingly frustrating) days. No matter what, I am unable to burn a DVD without getting the dreaded "device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media" message.

None of the solutions in this thread have worked for me, including the voodoo.

MacBook OS X 10.6.8
Processor 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868:
Firmware Revision: KB19
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

I'm using Memorex DVD+R 16X 4.7 GB disks. My project was created in iDVD. I've tried burning straight from there. I've created a disk image and tried burning directly from the Finder and from the Disk Utility.

I've tried the compressed air trick, the credit card wrapped in cleaner cloth trick, the languages trick, the play another DVD trick, the sacrifice a goat to Steve Jobs trick...nothing works. Can anyone help me before I require large IV doses of thorazine and a padded cell?

To add to my post above (since I cannot edit it), I also used a drive cleaner several times, changed my disc utility permissions to R/W, and attempted a burn at the slowest possible speed (2.4X). One disc actually began to burn, then stopped midway through the menu portion of the content.

I think I actually have steam coming out of my ears at this point.

I am having same problem.Tried +R (2differnt brands) and _R which was Sony and drive wouldn't even read disk. My specs are just like LunaNik. What do I do next?

I had this problem and just wanted to let others know what seems to have cured it for me.
I did not need to go as far as the "International Reset" solution, although I expected to. I did not try each of the following separately, so I cannot be more 'forensic' than to say that what worked for me was this entire sequence.

1. Close all applications and Restart
2. Repair Permissions
3. Verify (hard) disk (just in case)
4. Powered down
5. Blew pressurised canned air with straw/pipe attached and inserted a short distance into the drive. Then left it for a couple of hours, just in case moisture had gone in (but I did pretest the air jet and it had seemed dry).
6. Reset the system management controller (no idea how this would help, but it was mentioned by someone, somewhere and seemed worth doing as it was so simple). Apple article HT3964 refers:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US
7. With the machine now powered up, I cleaned/brushed the drive with a newly-bought drive lens-cleaning disc (I didn't have one before).

My problem had been mainly with iDVD - I couldn't burn to DVD from iDVD directly (I got that "failed to calibrate" message), but nor could I burn an iDVD-derived disc image via Disk Utilities. In fact, Disk Utility did an "Unexpectedly Quit" at one point.
Just to be sure, I now trashed the existing iDVD-derived disc image and saved a new one. I could now burn my DVD via Disk Utility, and burned five immediately with no problem. All worked correctly in DVD Player.
I then burned one more directly from within iDVD, as a further check. This also played correctly. (However, I did have a heart-stopping moment when the process failed at the "Process menus" stage; cured by quitting and reopening - and not doing anything in any other program as it did so.)
iDVD seems a bit fragile. I think I'll create disk images in future and burn via Disk Utility. (iDVD help seemed to indicate that this may be preferable, if only because it allows you to fully check the DVD before committing to a physical disc.) Maybe I will also consider closing all other applications before working in iDVD, since it is a fairly infrequent-used application and I do wonder if what really goes on if other applications are running, especially media apps like QuickTime and iMovie (and I'm ready to Restart, if necessary). I know that sounds silly. There again, so does the "International Reset"…

Solution for this problem.
 

I got the same error, along with an error in Toast Ultimate 9.0.4

The Toast error was

sense key = ILLEGAL REQUEST
sense code = 0x24
INVALID FIELD IN CDB

and

sense key = MEDIUM ERROR
sense code = 0x73, 0x03

I figured from all the post responses that my lens was just dirty. People said they had results from using a drive cleaning disc. Well I don't have one ....

So, what did I do?

I put my head on the desk and did the old-school Nintendo blow-into-the-drive-trick.

Literally, I used my mouth and blew air into the drive slot. Don't do it too much because the moisture in your exhaled air could probably mess up the drive.

:cool: It worked first time. The disc is burning right now.

Thanks, y'all.

-R

System Specs:

Running OSX 10.5.8

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Languages fix worked for me
 

I'm about to sell my 2006 Core2Duo MBP and at some point a few years ago (I swear it was a software update) became unable to burn DVDs.

So I erased the hard disk and did a clean install from the restore discs. Still had the problem of the DVD being ejected and the "Cannot calibrate laser" error code. I was running around trying to find a lens cleaner and saw this "languages fix". Tried it and it worked. I am able to burn DVDs again. I'm still in shock but grateful! I always suspected it was a software issue...

This thread is interesting. My preferences were different. My settings were not in english and I noticed I can't burn any media (DVD or CD) ever since an update a little while back. This trick has not worked for me, but we'll see what I come up with.

Is there anyone with a post count higher than 1 that has figured something out? I'm thinking this is a hoax.

I just kept trying different DVDs from the stack... I found only 8 out of the huge spool that let me burn on them. Must have just been the Verbatim DVDs

At what write speed capability does disk utility show when attempting to burn a DVD? I have your same burner, and it's maximum capability is 4x. I bought 8x write speed dual layer DVDs. That is why it cannot burn, and I get the same exact error. It's common sense now that think about it.

I've been getting this message, and realized it was because when you open disk utility after putting in a blank DVD and then choose to burn an image (iso or dmg), it tells you the maximum write speed. Mine says 4x. The DVDs I bought say they can only burn 8x (memorex DVD+RDL). This seemed like common sense after I realized it, but I felt pretty dumb. I'll just have to use an external hard drive to boot.

incredible
 

Thanks for this solution. I was already on the way to install a new DVD, and I ordered a lens cleaner DVD. The application of the procedure above did the job, no need to waste money.

Again thank you!:)

Failed to calibrate....
 

I got this error. I've read many forums to try and help but my problem seems to be slightly different... I had this error happen about 3 weeks ago. The first forum I checked stated I should reboot the computer and punch in a short code which rebooted it again. It also said I had to keep the battery unplugged while I did this. Alas! It worked...but it's happened again and I can't for the life of me remember that magic code. Does anyone know it?!?! Please help!

despite the skepticism...
 

The fix containing switching default languages under the International preference pane was enough to drive me to register on this forum. The magic "voodoo" that you do here has saved me a bargain hunting adventure alá NewEgg or Amazon for a lens cleaning DVD. Thanks very much for that.

On a side note, why rebuke what may work for some? I can confirm that this did indeed work for me on the first try/restart, and I'm on a not so new 2008-late-ish MacBookPro4,1 with all original hardware. If that fix doesn't work for you, just try something else, no need to harsh someone else's mellow...