Hello guys, I've signed up to these forums because my Google research has led me here numerous times helping me out of CD/DVD problems - thanks a lot, you rock! Now I've encountered something I couldn't possibly find a solution for through the search engine. Yes, another Power Calibration Error, still none of the many many suggestions all over the net seems to fit my case. Ok, let's get it straight: - The thing started occuring when I first had problems with a certain file that would make NVE crash to desktop without any error when starting transcoding - I figured out it was because I missed the right audio codec, WMP would play the file but NVE obviously had problems with it. Whatever. I tried some stuff in NVE (well not really many options here) and in my Codec-library until I found out about the codec but I didn't touch the DVDRW (firmware, drivers etc.) or anything else. The transcoding works now, the burning process however will always crash with a Power Calibration Error now no matter what kind of video files I'm trying to burn (even different ones without any problematic codecs that is). - The driver is a Liteon DVDRW RW-3S167, about 3-4 months old, so not really likely to be dying. - I'm trying to burn DVD+Rs using Nero Vision Express (tried several versions including the latest? 3.1.0.7.). - I've done the exact same kind of burning dozens of times on the same kind of media, the same kind of firmware etc. and the same kind of files (codecs etc.) - I really doubt any of these factors could be causing the errors, the .log file shows that the media is getting recognized by NVE. - I also doubt it could be due to dust in the drive or some other HW issue since all DVDs I've wasted up to now seem to have the same kind of size: 648 MB! and crashed after approx. the same amount of time (see below)! I have tried various projects up to (different movie-files with different codecs and sizes) and they all crash after about 2-3 minutes of burning. To be exact it seems the burning is crashing after approx. the same amount of time with different projects!! I'm gonna paste some logs now: = 2:27 minutes = 2:23 minutes Something that confuses me as well is that the log is still going on for some minutes before finally exiting! In fact that first Power calibration error doesn't seem to bother NVE too much. Following the 2nd quote from above there is lots of more usual nero-logging-stuff before it finally comes to the well-known part: Notice that this second Power Calibration Error is occuring 2:41 after the first one! Why is that? Seems unusual to me. Well, I hope you could see that my PCE-case is something special At least I couldn't find anything like this through the search engine, ppl usually seemed to be using new, untested media, a very old drive or it was just a dust-problem... Especially the thing that different projects crash after more or less the same time and produce more or less same-sized DVDs is confusing me a lot. Could it be some kind of software error? Something that interrupts the burning process (I've tried burning without any antivirus or other extra-tools). Thanks a lot for any help!
dastur , I'll try and answer this as simply as possible. The burner when you first insert the disk does a Power Calibration of the DVD. Now as you continue to burn the DVD it continually does the Power Calibration check and if it is not answered properly then you get a Power Calibration Error. What can cause this: Blank media the burner does not like; DVD burning Lens is dirty ( with that lens dirty or bad you can still write CD's and read DVD's); or the drive is going bad. As far a NVE crashing have you cleaned the inside of the computer to make sure there is no lint; all cables are seated firmly; Ram is seated properly; Fans are operating on the Power Supply, Graphics Card;CPU. Your system cuts off at approx the samt time in the encoding would indicate Heat and that is why I suugest to check the fans. Try it w/ the side off and see if that helps. Slow the burn down to 4X as 8X might also cause the problem
hi just to add to car mike if your have had alot of erors now you may be in PIO mode instead of DMA ??? something to watch out for....
interesting you're mentioning DMA... because up to now I actually had to deactivate DMA to burn DVDs properly! they used to end up burned but with several lines just "missed out", the whole surface was full of circles of burned / not burned areas which you could see with even your bare eyes. maybe now that i updated to NVE 3.1.0.7. something changed and I actually HAVE to have DMA activated now. gonna try it, thanks! i also tried to clean the drive ... unfortunately all I have here is a hairdryer.
512 mb. As I said above I doubt it could be anything of that kind, like the drive dying or any other hardware issue. Everything worked fine for months, I'm doing exactly the same procedure regularly and never had any problems of that kind, the drive is only 3 months old etc.
hi... Here's a v good start re Power Calibration errors - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/93406 also, quote from "http://www.nero.com/en/FAQs_Error_Messages.html#9 - " "9. I get a 'Power calibration error' or 'Calibration area (almost) full' error message. Why? Power Calibration is controlled by the recorder. Before any write operation, all recorders must do a 15 step power test to determine the optimum power for writing to the CD; this is called "Optimum Power Calibration"(OPC). During the write, it continues to do this test to get the best write throughout the whole CD; this is called "Running Optimum Power Calibration" (ROPC). This whole process is controlled by the recorder, though initiated by programs such as Nero. There is an area on the inner part of the CD for the test and test data info to be stored. You can use this area up to 999 times. If you receive the "Power calibration error" or "Power calibration area is (amost) full" error message, the cause will be either poor media, poor power, or a defective recorder. Please try the following solutions: Update the firmware of your recorder. Please check the manufacturer's website for the latest version. [bold]Try another brand of CD-R or CD-RW media.[/bold] Try different power connectors, and for recorders, do not share power with other devices. It needs its own power connector. If the error occurs with an external recorder, the power source in the chassis could be the cause. As a test, try to take the recorder out of the external chassis and connect it internal. Try different configurations, such as taking the CD-ROM to the primary IDE bus as slave and have only the recorder connected to the secondary IDE bus as master. Send the recorder in for service."
thanks creaky, I had read that posting before. As I said it can't really be any of these "default" reasons. Everything worked fine, the combination of hardware, firmware and media has been the same over months.
I tried burning using the NVE option "burn at once" now, which after some hopeless attempts by my DVDRW drive crashed giving the message "unable to create disc structure". I'm surprised the new error-logfile does not contain any power calibration error anymore! ] Any new info hidden in there? edit: haha it seems all info i can get on this new error message is "uncheck burn-at-once and it will work!". that isn't really much help for me. :|
dastur It does not like the blank media now [01:51:42] DVDENGINE 01:51:41 #14 SCSI -1106 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 1182 [01:51:42] DVDENGINE SCSI Exec, HA 0, TA 1, LUN 0 [01:51:42] DVDENGINE Status: 0x04 (0x01, SCSI_ERR) [01:51:42] DVDENGINE HA-Status 0x00 (0x00, OK) [01:51:42] DVDENGINE TA-Status 0x02 (0x01, SCSI_TASTATUS_CHKCOND) [01:51:42] DVDENGINE Sense Key: 0x03 (KEY_MEDIUM_ERROR) You might borrow a friends burner and replace your w/ that one and see what happens. If you had to disable DMA and force it to go to PIO Mode then you have computer problems. D/L a free registry cleaner and clean the registry as registry conflicts will cause a computer to go from DMA to PIO.
hi just for good measure update yourt motherboard drivers re: ide devices AND instal a ASPI layer... i had a power calibration the other day i just rebooted pc and it went away...
thanks for all your suggestions. I have cleaned / repaird my Registry, tried DMA on / off, updated firmware and drivers, still - nothing changed. However I am now sure there must be something generally wrong with either the drive or the media (which I both doubted first). Not just NVE but also the info tools CD/DVD Speed and DriveSpeed are giving errors for these media. My DVD-ROM drive can't read them. The DVD-RW reads them but Windows shows them to be CDs, not DVDs (I'm not sure if this isn't normal, never checked the display for empty DVDs before). I can still burn CDs, is the laser for CDs and DVDs the same one? The only thing I have left to do before sending in the drive is trying sorts of different media ... although I can't quite get it, they've worked perfectly for more than a year. Maybe I just picked 1 package of damaged ones?
thanks creaky. I am now sure the problem is caused by the media I was trying to use; I found an old package of exactly the same DVDs (I used to buy them for months) and these old ones are working as always. I guess the company changed their manufacturer to CBC without letting anyone know and my drive just won't accept these new ones. Too bad, it seems CBC really deserve their reputation. Thanks to everyone for your advice
if uve fixed the problem then fine but if not then mabey this will help ..... http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/93406
To confirm what Rotary said, I also had Power Calibration Errors today in Nero for the 1st time ever and they went away after rebooting.
