Yes, Nero is a pain. I also thought I had problem with hardware. Then I downloaded Burn4Free and it burns everything and is at least twice as easy as Nero to use. Nero kept putting on the cd just enough to ruin the disk and then bailing out.

Sorry so late getting back to you, but I had to register and the reply mails went into my trash.

Okay, my Toshiba M30 notebook is running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1 (Yes, still SP1!), Ahead Nero 6.3.1.20, and a BRAND NEW (JUST out of the box; no dust, no hardware problems) Toshiba Slim Select Bay DVD SuperMulti Drive www.toshibadirect.com (Matsh.ita DVD-RAM UJ-820S) with fully updated drivers straight from Toshiba.com.

I tried burning an MP3 CD-R onto an HP 52x while running the computer from battery power (the CPU was not burdened with extra running processes) and got a Power Calibration Error three times.

Here are the solutions that have been mentioned already (not necessarily in the correct order):

1. Burn at a slower speed
2. Clean the drive laser lens
3. Turn off power saving
4. Update asci drivers
5. Try different software
6. Disable the IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
7. Switch to from DMA to PIO mode

Here's a new one that might help (it worked for me):
Use compatible speed CD-R's, or, perhaps, slower-speed CD-R's; for example, if your drive's maximum speed is 16x, use a blank CD-R that specifically supports 16x, or one that doesn't go as high as, say, 52x.

I tried burning an MP3 CD-R via the configuration mentioned earlier onto an HP 52x and got a Power Calibration Error three times, so I switched back to an ancient Primaris 16x CD-R, and presto, it worked flawlessly. I don't think this is the comprehensive solution, but it still might be worth a try if you have slower-speed CD-R's laying around at home.

After successfully burning my MP3 CD-R onto the 16x Primaris disc, I tried to burn the same CD compilation to the HP 52x CD-R after switching to outlet power (i.e. no more power saving). Power Calibration Error.

Then I tried burning the same compilation to the same HP CD-R at 4x instead of 16x. NO Power Calibration Error!

My guess, based on everything we've read in these eleven pages, is that it's BOTH a software and media problem, brought about by a hardware incompatibility.

I don't think cleaning your CD-R laser lens is a good idea unless you know what you're doing. Your best bet, in my opinion, is to first try to solve the problem via your existing software (Ahead Nero) -- perhaps by burning the disc at a slower speed; then try different software (B's Recorder, etc); different/updated hardware drivers; different media (different company, different write speed, broader speed support, etc); and lastly (ABSOLUTELY last), different hardware.

In all cases, don't forget the basic, common sense precautions for CD authoring: don't run other programs/processes at the same time you are burning a compilation (certain running programs like Skype or LimeWire can use up a lot of resources even if you're not actively "using" them, even without a network connection); make sure you have plenty (2 GB at least) of free space on your Windows hard drive; etc.

Hope this helps,

- RFX

Of course it couldn't be Nero's fault because they are a sponsor of this fourm. Yet, Nero Ahead would not work, quit working completely after a period of 50% success. Now I use Burn4free and it works EVERYTIME. But if you don't want to hear it and don't want to try it, after all it must be more complicated than that, well never mind. Have a nice day.

well i have been following this thread for a long time.
i am the victim of the plextor 716a.

i exchanged it once and now they wont again because i dont have a receipt, (was a b-day gift) so i told them what i thought of their product and how i would go out of my way to NEVER buy plextor again.


tonight i went and bought an LG 18x dvd burner.


i plant to use the plextor for target practice, one shot for each "power calibration error" it gave me over the last year. i should be done in about 6 months.

off to go make a perfect first disc with lightscribe.....

I had the same problem. Here's how I fixed it:
I changed my burn speed (4x) to match that of the media I'm now using (8x). Works fine now.

Here is how I solved the problem. Nero is a jerk application. Has been nothing but trouble for a long time. Instead of putting up with their crap, I just got Burn4 Free which is a small application that does everything I want to do and easily. ISO, DVD, whatever you want and it is about 10% of the difficulty level and all the click click click of Nero which then doesn't work. B4free works every time and doesn't give me trouble. It puts some stuff on my computer but it does'nt bother me so much either. Don't have to try it and then change your speed. It chooses the best speed for you first time. I really hate Ahead Nero.

This is my solution for Matshita CD-RW CW-8121:

"http://perso.wanadoo.es/angelfran/index.htm"

Best regards,

Angel Franganillo

Okay, Nero does this alot because it tries to eletronically determine the power to your device prior to a burn. Which makes this more of a problem with Nero Burning ROM.

However it will happen with a lot of Burning Software, and the reason 90% of the time is your using low quality media (Cheap cds etc).

Now with nero this will be worse, but you should do 2 things, try to maintain high grade media to write data to as well as, keep your device clean.

If your in a situation where your drive is clean and the media is cheap but you need to get the burn done, use a burning software such as ImgBurn, it requires a lower result when calibrating then software such as Nero.
Also ImgBurn will repeatidly try to calibrate 20 times in a row when it gets a error such as this prior to ejecting CD, unlike Nero, popping the cd everytime it recieves a calubration error.
And 8 out of 10, unless the media is pure garbage it will inventually burn the content for ya.

I know this sucks for a response, but its the bottom line truth.

This error rarely is a case when your hardware is damaged, although the error is designed just for that situation.

Recommendations:


*Buy quality Media.
*Keep Your Burners & Players clean, they sale a kit under 9 bucks to handle that for ya.
*Dont use Nero Burning Rom if you have this problem on a regular basis.

-Legend
Visit www.AlabamaTechSupport.com
Based in Alabama "The Beautiful" Serving the World!

Let me start by saying that if I only burn 100 dvd's in a month it's a slow month so, when I starting experiencing this error it really slowed things down. now i will explain, I have 2 plextor burners in the same PC one 716A & one 740A and I only get the error on the 716. I have tried everything in this forum (I am an IT professional and have access to quite a bit of hardware) take apart and clean lens, clean and relub the rails, bigger power supply, turn IMAPI off, update ASPI and nothing worked.
Now the fix is this, I have 2 spindles of media sitting in front of me 1 is memorex ($10 for 50) and 1 is taiyo yuden ($46 for 100)
memorex 1 out of 10 burns without an error
taiyo yuden 10 out of 10 burns without error

bad media is the cause
check out this link to find out how the media your using rates.
www.digitalfaq.com

I use mainly dvd decrypter and nero 6
now let me finish by saying obviously some burners are more sensitive to bad media because my plex 740 burns anything (knock on wood) everytime without error!!!

I just spent the last few hours trying all these suggestions. Everything from blowing into the drive, to installing aspi, reinstalling nero, flashing the firmware. Nothing worked then I just happened to notice that my supposed TDK 4.7gb 16x dvd-r were really some crap ritek. I had bought and used this exact label before and it worked fine, burning at 16x and everything. Turns out this ritek brand will only burn at 4x max. What a scam.