power calibration error

[billz015]

Alright I usually use Ashamppo buring studio 5 for burning, but I've tried nero, and quite a few other programs and none have fixed the problem.

I'm using a brand-new liteon dvdrw sohw 1693s, and imitation media, I've also tried fujifilm

No matter what I do the dvds refuse to burn, I opened up the burner and blew the minimal dust out, but that was to no avail.

I tried a CD lens cleaner, but that seemed to make the problem worse, so what can I do? Every time I try to burn I get a power calibration error and the program says, "can't write to disc"

I've looked over google, updated my firmware, and still nothing works.

Is there any way to fix this? And how?

Somebody please help.

[koinhelgo]

This is a tricky problem to rectify......so you may have to just give up with it like I did.
I have an Artec single layer burner which had problems burning CDs, nearly always gave a power calibration error. It had no problems burning DVDs though. This was intermittent from the very start I got it and got progressively worse- within 3 months would not burn any at all.
This is normally blamed on media so perhaps try different media- get a few decent DVDRs and try them- see the media section for good ones to get- note different burners "like" different media.
My Artec would always stick at 7% of the burn process and then after 5 minutes give the power calibration error. If I then told NERO to burn the disc again (the same disc that originally failed) it would burn fine.
Upon power calibration error nothing would be written to the disc so they were still useable. Note the discs were always addressed and "seen" as empty and useable even before the error.
I tried all sorts of things but never got to the root of the problem. I eventually bought a new NEC 3540 and installed it into my pc, along with the Artec which I now rarely use- mainly if I want to burn two discs at once. I never have any problems with the NEC burner- so it was probably just the Artec burner not working properly.
So, by all means try experimenting (for instance do you have trouble burning CDs as well- bear in mind though it is a different laser for CD burning than for DVDs- but it would perhaps prove that your system doesn't have a problem burning per se, just with burning DVDs and/or media)
But with burners costing so little these days (I bought mine online for less than £30) it is perhaps easier just to buy a new burner and put it down to experience.
However it may be worthwhile checking DMA settings and that your ASPI layer is not screwed up and also that your power supply can cope- do you have a lot of hardware connected?
Regards

[TBoneit]

Well if you didn't break any security seals and it is really new just return it. You got a bad unit, not a bad make or model just a bbad drive. It wioll only get worse so return if possible or warranty the drive to liteon. BTW you made the problem worse with the lens cleaner by scrtaching the laser lens most likely.

Good Luck

[redwudz]

This one explanation of power calibration error:

DVD-R and DVD-RW disks themselves have information written on them, within this Media ID code there is information that the drive uses to calibrate itself to the disk, when a drive first starts to write to a disk it will burn a small amount of data to a calibration area on the disc, using the calibration information in the Media ID code, and then try to read back the data that it has written. If it cannot be read, then disk will be ejected and fail with a power calibration error.

It is either the disc or the burner. The above from Pioneer: http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/computer/faqs/faq_22.html

I would try different media first.

[billz015]

Used a different media and it worked, but the other media had worked before, it just stopped. The media has good reviews here(I used DVD identifier to get the exact specifications).

But it may also have burned because I cleaned the lens with rubbing alcohol.

[ZippyP.]

But it may also have burned because I cleaned the lens with rubbing alcohol.

Pure (99.9%) alcohol is best, the rubbing stuff should only be used for rubbing.

[NoFace]

Is media the only source of this error? I have a Sony DRU-500A that never once threw an error in my Micron 933Mhz XP pro SP1 at home. I then removed it and installed it on a Dell 1.6Ghz XP pro SP2 at work, (taking with me from home about 12 Memorex DVD blanks from a 50 pk. spindle that had NO duds, so far) tried a burn, and immediately got this error.

I then opened up the case, blew out the dust, cleaned the lens with lab-grade IPA and a Q-tip, and re-installed it. Tried another burn. Another error. Tried another burn with a different disc. Another error. Said screw it, tried the burn again with the same disc, and it burned fine. Since then it's been hit-and-miss. I've tried updating the firmware, moving the burner from slave to master, nothing solves it.

To me, it seems like the fact that it'll throw an error on a particular disc on the first try, and then write OK the next try (same disc), says (at least in my case) that it's not media-related.

Any thoughts?

[Bjs]

Just a report :

Dont recall the model of liteon I was fixing , but it dosent like p4 system's , work's well on any other pc , so long as it's not a p4 system using those 4 extra wire hookup .

I spent 24 hour's with it going between 6 different pc's , upgarded the power supply in the system having the problem , no go .

Installed my pioneer , lg , and sony unit's into this system , and all worked .

The liteon in question worked in every other pc except this p4 system .

Unit returned under rma .

Will find out the model involved today .

[billz015]

alright my DVD burner usually has power calibration errors with the blank DVDs I bought and so when I was burning a DVd yesterday I decided to keep on switching DVDs, it burned the file but it doesn't work on my DVD player, add to that the fact that it doesn't work on the computer or is even read, as well as the fact that the files that I burned don't work on my software anymore, I did the same thing with a KVCD and it didn't burn as well as said the file couldn't be read

did doing what I did mess up the burner? or perhaps I did it wrong?

[billz015]

I bought Sony DVD-Rs today, so I tried burning a DVD, the program said it worked fine, I opted not to verify it. I tried it in my DVD players, didn't work. Then I put it back in the computer, seems the burning process didn't work despite what the program said...so what went wrong? I mean was it power calibration error? perhaps my burner is done? maybe I did something wrong?

[Guy_Fawkes]

I had the exact error you had with the same burner with TDA and Nero using sony +r media. I switched to Imation -r and the error disappeared.

I then used the same +r dvd in a firewired liteon 401 flashed up to 811 and the programs burned the project with no problems.

I tried switching ide cables, power cables all of which failed to correct the problem. I openned a pack of new SOny +rs and had problems.

I eneded up pulling the burner and replacing it with a new 1693s and the problem went away.

I put the old one in a different machine and it seems to functioned properly. I did not retuned it becaused i had already flashed with fimware uning a non factory program.

i was never able to find out why this happened.
ps while the old one had problems with nero and TDA it still burned fine with dvd clone 2 and many other dvd burning programs.

[billz015]

I have a 1693s, I'm going to try changing the firmware, and if worst comes to worst I'll go out and buy a new one, my main concern is getting my brother's wedding to DVD as I promised to do it for him

[srenaud]

I have two different drives that will throw the error on certain media at certain speeds.

One will throw at 4x, but burn fine a 2x.
The other will burn + media, but not -.

It's hit or miss. Mine started acting up long after the warranty was up tho.

I'd try to return the drive.

[billz015]

that's funny, my problem is exactly the same. If I have a disc that can burn at 2x it works 100% perfect and then 4x it just don't work even though the program says it does.

I would return it, but I've actually had it since christmas and I didn't think anything like this would happen so I tossed the box, which was dumb on my part.

[billz015]

Alright, I changed the cable and power config inside the comp, it reads DVDs again(dunno if I mentioned this before, problem is powerdvd which won't play dvds...), the problem is it doesn't read blank DVD-/+R

I plan to clean the lens again to see if it improves it, I do believe that it not reading blank DVDs is probably because of the KS0B firmware so I'm updating it to the recognized firmware..