From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Aug 12 20:13:11 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id UAA29142 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Wed, 12 Aug 1998 20:13:11 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id UAA29101 for ; Wed, 12 Aug 1998 20:12:59 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from grog@freebie.lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) with ESMTP id MAA00704; Thu, 13 Aug 1998 12:42:00 +0930 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) id MAA01581; Thu, 13 Aug 1998 12:41:41 +0930 (CST) Message-ID: <19980813124140.B1147@freebie.lemis.com> Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 12:41:40 +0930 From: Greg Lehey To: "Robert D. Keys" Cc: chuckr@Glue.umd.edu, FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: WangDat 3100 SCSI tape (cleaning always good) References: <19980811145147.S20188@freebie.lemis.com> <199808121409.KAA02853@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.91.1i In-Reply-To: <199808121409.KAA02853@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu>; from Robert D. Keys on Wed, Aug 12, 1998 at 10:09:51AM -0400 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Wednesday, 12 August 1998 at 10:09:51 -0400, Robert D. Keys wrote: >> On Tuesday, 11 August 1998 at 0:13:30 -0400, Chuck Robey wrote: >>> Here's the log message: >>> >>> Aug 11 00:18:09 moon st0: MEDIUM ERROR info:0x5f000 asc:c,0 Write error >>> sks:80,1 >>> Aug 11 00:18:09 moon st0: MEDIUM ERROR info:0x1 asc:c,0 Write error >>> >>> The same error seems to occur every time, even though the tape was >>> changed out (twice). >> >> This can also happen as the result of dirty heads or faulty >> electronics--in my experience, at least as often as with bad tapes. >> Is the drive new? If not, have you cleaned the head? > > In my experiences that probably points to a dirty tape drive head. > > I run a lot of different tape drives on my old junque, all ancient things, > and there are two problems that seem to surface that folks might pay > attention to. (speaking about older DC600, DC5160 type cartridge drives). > > 1. Clean the tape heads with a q-tip and some isopropyl alcohol, about > every 10 tape runs on tapes that are used. I find that errors start > to magically appear about that time, with regularity. I've tried this on DDS tapes, with very limited success. But you should run a cleaning tape about this often. More modern drives will remind you by blinking an LED if you forget. Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message