Why does CD or DVD burning fail?

By On August 3, 2010 · 2 Comments

CD's

Photo: mutenaranya on Flickr

Question: I have been trying to burn a CD/DVD recently with my Mac and it failed. I got a message such as “connection not stable” or “device failed to calibrate the laser power”. What is going on?

Answer: This may sound stupid at first, but just how old is your burner, whether internal or external? If “several years old” is the answer, the issue is most likely to be dust.

Yes, old fashioned dust. All devices have lenses which pick up anything dirty, which slowly invades them. They also pick up more if you make them read and play dirty discs.

The most obvious clue that dirt is your problem is that your software setup has not changed lately. If you did not mess with your software and that the burner suddenly stopped doing burning jobs, you know you have identified it.

You may just want to pick up a can of compressed air or one of those inexpensive “cleaner CDs” to clean things up.

On the other hand, a software update of your drivers and recording software can also help to eliminate failures.

 
  • LouCioccio

    I used to get failures especially creating a DVD from iDVD. What I do now is burn an image file then make a copy from that at lowest burning speed. It has virtually eliminated any failures.

    I know its an extra step but now I can burn them successfully.

  • Ted

    Yes, that’s the mystery behind that message. For slot load drives, the magic trick is to wrap a credit card in some thin cloth, spray very lightly with windex, make sure machine is OFF, then insert the credit card smoothly, slowly and straight into the CD Slot a couple times… then your discs will burn again. The lens is only about 2 inches in, so do insert too deeply.

    For tray load drives, you can usually take a LONG swab, spray lightly with windex, then insert and rub on where you see the lens.