Nero says "Power Calibration Error"

[cantckaja]

about half the time i try to burn a dvd with nero it said fails and says "power calibration error". why?

[cantckaja]

oh, and its nero5

[Dv8ted2]

It could be either bad discs or your laser is going bad.

Try a different batch of disc to narrow down the cause.

[cantckaja]

i use maxell dvd-r, are those bad?

[Dv8ted2]

Maxell just puts their name on the discs. They do not actually manufacture them. Use a program like dvdinfopro to find out the manufacturer.

The discs could be bad, but I have no way of knowing.

That is the reason that I suggested trying a different batch of discs.

[cantckaja]

ok, i will try that. suppose though the problem is the burner. how do i clean the lens?

[Dv8ted2]

ok, i will try that. suppose though the problem is the burner. how do i clean the lens?

You could either take the drive apart or you could buy a laser lens leaner that uses little brushes to clean the lens.

The lens cleaners can be found in any electronics store or grocery store.

Here is an example

[garryheather]

I have never had to clean a lens - unless you blow smoke into your drive or eat your dinner off the discs, then I doubt the lens is dirty. Have you checked to see if there is any later firmware for your drive ? If the firmware doesn't recognise the disc it's probably using a default write strategy and it might not be suitable.

[guns1inger]

Actually, if you smoke in the same room as your PC, you will cover you lens with a foggy film. Just look at the windows or windscreen of a smoker. Similarly, a dusty drive environment isn't conducive to long lens life.

[garryheather]

I used to work with optical media and the biggest problem was rough handling knocking allignment out. Or people using lens cleaners and knocking the allignment out... or using cotton buds and scratching the lens... my point is you can do more damage than good if you don't know what you're doing by attempting to clean a lens that doesn't need cleaning. Most drives these days have a "dust free" (or should that be dust resistant ?) design meaning unless you leave the tray open for any period of time dust shouldn't get into it.

I have seen dust get into drives when:

1. The burning application ejects the disc at the end of a write and the user admits to not attending to the drive for some time on a regular basis (eg over night), and / or

2. Poor design or implementation of forced air cooling sucking air from outside the computer's enclosure through the drive.

Only on one occasion have I seen an optical drive that had been smoked to death, but the yellow stain on the front bezel and smell of tobacco gave that one away long before we ever opened it up.

If you're going to try cleaning a lens - remembering that any remaining warranty will go out the window if you open it up and some manufacturers specifically DO NOT advocate the use of cleaning discs - you need to take care in what you use to clean it and be gentle and patient. I made a post a little while ago detailing how to clean an optical assembly as per my employer's recommendation at the time if the original poster cares to search.

Plus with the cost of writers being less than £20 these days I'm not sure it's worth the time if the warranty has expired. Personally I'd still check for latest firmware before whipping out a screwdriver or "investing" in a lens cleaner.

[Dv8ted2]

Using a lens cleaner will not void your warranty. I have had to use a lens cleaner many times. The directions for any dvd player will even tell you to clean the lens after so many uses.

The manufacturers would not tell you to do so if it was not necessary.

[Bjs]

First place to head to is drive bios update ... I had a liteon do this before ... everything else fine , but burning alway's brought up this error , bios update for unit fixed problem .

Problem can also be caused by subtle power fluctuation's within psu , there are utitlities available to monitor power supply which will indicate any problem's ... gigabyte and msi both supply a mother board utility for such monitoring ... should issue appear , consider replacing psu .

Cleaning the drive with lense cleaner's dose nothing but push the dust about the place ... and most are ineffective at cleaning ... The best method to cleaning is to actually remove the cover to get better access to the lense and use an appropriate cleaner ... it's the method we use with topset dvd player's ... just like the vcr's .

How old is the drive ... if it's done alot of work , it may simply be almost worn out .

How is drive connected ... best to install on second ide cable , all by itself , and see how it gose ... multiple drive's configured incorrectly can also bring up such error's .

If this fail's , consider drive for replacement .

[Dv8ted2]

Caution -

Doing anything while updating the firmware can ruin the drive

[cantckaja]

well, where do i find new firmware? i burn with tmpgenc dvd author (i had nero 5 but it doesnt work at all anymore). i think it might be my burner, its built into my computer. whats a good external dvd burner to get?

[cantckaja]

or would it be cheaper for best buy to replace the one i have?

[cantckaja]

this caught my eye: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7790287&productCategoryId=cat01041&type=...=1142291022785

[Dv8ted2]

well, where do i find new firmware?

here

[redwudz]

I would go for trying a different media before all else. And you will find Nero 5 won't work with many newer burners. If you plan to use it, you will likely need an upgrade. But if you get a new burner, they often come with a Nero OEM copy.

Just for general info, Power calibration is done each time you burn a DVD. A test section is burned towards the center of the DVD to test the laser power for the media. If it fails the test, you get a power calibration error. This is a hardware failure, either with the media or the burner. After trying different media, a firmware update is one option. If that fails, you have little to lose in attempting to clean the lens. If that fails, probably time to replace the burner.

I, myself would stick with a replacement internal burner if possible. Some people have no problems with externals, some do. But replacing the internal is pretty much a 'plug in and go' operation, depending on your computer case. 4 screws on the drive, power and IDE and possibly a audio cable. The new drive may come with instructions, but you usually need only a Phillips screwdriver and about 15 minutes. Make sure the jumpers are set the same as the old unit. Your computer manufacturer may have guides for taking the case off and replacing a drive, or you may find one on the net.