# [SOLVED] Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690



## Jacdeb6009 (May 6, 2008)

Hi, the problem is as follows, recently I cannot write CD's. The machine reports a "power calibration error". The machine is about 3 years old and has burnt a large number of discs successfully. I do not as a rule burn DVD's since most of the office machines around here have only CD drives.

The machine will burn 700MB re-writables without a problem but refuses to burn CD-ROMS. I have tried running at a reduced speed, but this does not seem to help.

I am using the same media as before (Maxell MQ 700MB 52X and SONY 700 MB 52X CDR's). The software I use to burn discs is CDBurnerXP and this I have used for the two years without any problems.

Can anyone help since I need to back up a whole lot of digital photographs and other data files.

BTW, Windows Media Player causes the same error when trying to copy a music disc.

Has the drive died or is this something else? Nothing else has changed on the machine, so I cannot understand the sudden problem

Thanks!


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690*

Welcome to TSF. :wave:

Try *DeepBurner*.


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## Jacdeb6009 (May 6, 2008)

*Re: Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690*

Thanks Eneles, I will download it and give it a shot and post feedback in a day or two.

Jac.


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## Jacdeb6009 (May 6, 2008)

*Re: Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690*

Hi, me again.

I've downloaded and installed Deepburner Pro and still have the same problem. Deepburner reports the following error:

WRITER ERROR [MEDIUM ERROR (POWER CALIBRATION AREA ERROR)]

This is the same problem that CDBurnerXP reports.

Feedback from some acquaintances that have similar machines (Acer) with the same DVD rewriter (Matshita) indicate that their drives also have problems burning discs.

Any further ideas?? It really doesn't look too good from where I sit... I seem to have no problem burning CD-RW discs, but this is at quite low speed (4X) compared to the drive's rated speed for CD-R's (24X) Also, Deepburner does not appear to allow me to set the speed at which the drive operates. It detects that drive as being capable of 24X speed and the media to be the same or better and runs the drive at 24X.

With the CD-RW's this is 4X and seems to work (it does not appear to be a buffer under-run problem). I guess it has to do with how CD-R and CD-RW's work.

Thanks,

Jac


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## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690*

Unfortunately, it sounds like the drive should be replaced.
The laser is most likely on it's way out.


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## Jacdeb6009 (May 6, 2008)

*Re: Problem with Matshita UJ-845D on Acer Aspire 1690*

Seems that the only remaining option is to replace the drive, or the machine... :sigh:

Thanks again. Jac.


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## hugofontes (Jun 5, 2008)

Hi!
Was the solution to buy a new drive then?
I have the same laptop, same problem after 3 years 
Any drive that you recommend if that was the solution?
Cheers,

Hugo Fontes


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## Jacdeb6009 (May 6, 2008)

Hi there Hugo,

Where I live at present (Vietnam), finding a replacement drive has proven to be impossible. Acer VN claim that this drive is no longer used (I cannot confirm this) and they carry no spares. They have offered to try and get me a drive that will fit the machine, but for this they want about $ 200 US and claim it will take about 10 weeks (what is this, gold plated, hand made??). It was all a bit too frustrating.

I have decided to live with the situation as is for the time being since the machine will at least still read CD ROM's and RW's (I can burn discs on another machine). Watching DVD's was never the reason for buying it so from that point of view it is only a nuisance with respect to capacity.

Longer term I will have to buy a new machine since this one cannot boot from a USB (this is a BIOS restriction I didn't realise when I bought the darn thing). If it would boot from a USB the solution (despite the speed penalty) would simply be to buy an external unit. Portability of the CD/DVD is not that big an issue to me.

So to cut a long story short, I will eventually be forced to replace the machine, but I am not crying about is since I got 3 years of more or less trouble free service out of it (which is more than I can say for its HP predecessor which survived 18 months during which the m/board was replaced 3 times!!)

Will have to find a laptop that will run Linux well, this will be an interesting challenge.

Hope this helps, sorry if it disappoints.

Jac


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