Code for OSX Leopard is shoddy!

[punkybadhip]

Among all the minor bugs, and issues that are in Leopard, there is just no excuse for this shoddy piece of coding!

I needed to burn a DVD. No problem!
I entered my blank disk, selected the file and clicked burn.

But then it happened!

"The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media."

Is it a hardware problem? Nope!! It turns out to be trashy code.
To fix the problem, you go to system preferences > international
and have to select US English, and restart your computer to burn a bleeping DVD!!!! 😡

That is just rubbish!!
Apple's quality is getting worse and worse with every new product.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Among all the minor bugs, and issues that are in Leopard, there is just no excuse for this shoddy piece of coding!

I needed to burn a DVD. No problem!
I entered my blank disk, selected the file and clicked burn.

But then it happened!

"The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media."

Is it a hardware problem? Nope!! It turns out to be trashy code.
To fix the problem, you go to system preferences > international
and have to select US English, and restart your computer to burn a bleeping DVD!!!! 😡

That is just rubbish!!
Apple's quality is getting worse and worse with every new product.

I agree, that's bad code. Thing is, if you need the OS to be in English for it to work, why can't you just relaunch Finder from the Force Quit menu?

But be thankful we OS X users CAN actually change language unlike XP 😉

 

[kolax]

Can't say I've ever had that issue, and I've varied between US English and "British" English and burned media fine.

I can't see how changing the language would affect the DVD drive - it isn't as if it is changing regions. Sure it isn't just a coincidence because you are restarting your Mac?

 

[punkybadhip]

Can't say I've ever had that issue, and I've varied between US English and "British" English and burned media fine.

I can't see how changing the language would affect the DVD drive - it isn't as if it is changing regions. Sure it isn't just a coincidence because you are restarting your Mac?

No it wasn't. Apple told me it was a faulty superdrive, so I had to send my iMac to them to get it fixed. When I received it back, same problem.
I phoned Apple again, they told me it was the blank media I am using. I felt that was nonsense, since I use Yudan masters. However, I tried with some different disks. Same problem.

I found a forum, where that solution was suggested, sounded utterly ridiculous, but I gave it a chance. Worked first time!
I have had many minor problems with OSX, such as Japanese in Mail. That is just annoying. This actually cost me lots of money. 😡

 

[darkcurse]

With a million lines of code you can't squash every bug out there. However, that is the first I've ever heard of it. I've never had any problems with burning CD's or DVD's in OSX. Then again, I've always stuck to English. If you feel so strongly about it, take it to a Genius and repeat the whole process in front of them or email Steve himself. Seems to work 🙂

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I've never had problems, are you sure you're just not doing it right? And it's hard to make a perfect OS, theres bound to be a bug somewhere. Stop complaining you don't burn DVDs for a living do you? For me, I hardly use my super drive, I download them from the itunes or watch them online.

 

[portent]

Sounds like you had some questionable DVD media, and restarting the computer (and hence the DVD drive) allowed it to work.

I think the explanation the software gave you ("The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media.") is 100% spot on accurate.

I think your voodoo about changing the language has nothing to do with it. Restarting your computer (which has nothing to do with changing the language) is what did it.

 

[Mattjeff]

I'm not saying I don't believe you but I have never had that problem. It must be your blank media. hope your day gets better 😱

 

[Attonine]

I have had this same message, solution was to replace the drive.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

Are you kidding?

 

[Cadium]

There is no way that the International preferences would affect the ability to burn an optical disc using your computer's SuperDrive. It does not change the region for the media, therefore it comes down to one of three things:

1. Dust or dirt on the lens
2. Faulty media
3. Faulty SuperDrive

 

[gnasher729]

There is no way that the International preferences would affect the ability to burn an optical disc using your computer's SuperDrive. It does not change the region for the media, therefore it comes down to one of three things:

1. Dust or dirt on the lens
2. Faulty media
3. Faulty SuperDrive

I would just say that _if_ there is a bug in some code, and the bug is not so obvious that the developer would notice it, then such a bug can be triggered by the most unlikely circumstances.

For example: The programmer forgot to set a variable to zero. Instead of using a value of zero, the program will use whatever happens to be stored there. Lets say in this case zero means: Write to built-in DVD writer, and non-zero means: Write to an external DVD writer.

Now lets say one microsecond before calling this code, the programmer used a buffer of 100 bytes, cleared it all to zeroes, then copied a message into that buffer, depending on the system language, then threw the buffer away. And the storage for the variable that is used a bit later happens to be in the same location as the last four bytes of that buffer. So if in one language the text of the message is less than 96 bytes, the last four bytes of that buffer will be zero. If the text is more than 96 bytes, the last four bytes of that buffer will be non-zero. In the first case, the variable that should have been set to zero is zero even though the programmer forgot to set it, in the second case it isn't. So something as harmless as changing the system language _can_ in rare situations uncover a bug.