Date: Wed, 3 Apr 96 11:15:59 MET DST From: Greg Lehey <lehey.pad@sni.de> To: knarf@camelot.de (Frank Bartels) Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG, knarf@camelot.de, freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: DAT problems Message-ID: <199604030800.KAA24860@nixpbe.pdb.sni.de> In-Reply-To: <m0u4OWX-00036sC@robin.camelot.de>; from "Frank Bartels" at Apr 3, 96 11:06 am
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> > Heya! > > Greg Lehey wrote: > >>> After that the machine sometimes crashes a couple of minutes later. >>> The tape seems to wind forward and then backward and then panics. >> >> How long does it do this for? More or less than a minute? > > Much more than one minute. Sounds like the syndrome I know. >>> I tried another tape in another SP3G with NCR. >>> >>> (ncr0:4:0): "HP HP35470A 9 09" type 1 removable SCSI 2 >>> >>> Same error. :/ >>> >>> So I bought a new machine: >> >> A new computer or a new DAT drive? Judging by the report, I'm >> assuming a new computer. > > A new computer. :) > >> There are a couple of things you should check: >> >> 1. You don't have a 120m cartridge, do you? The 34580A can't read >> them (but it should report the fact, and not go into deep >> meditation mode). > > No, I have just 90m tapes. > >> 2. Have you cleaned the drive with a cleaning cartridge in the last >> 25 hours of operation? > > No, I did not. Now I got a cleaning tape and used it, but it did not help. > (Should I use cleaning cartridges or not? If, how often?) Yes. According to the handbook (or my memory of it), every 25 hours of tape run time. >> 3. Does it work with a new cartridge? It looks as if you're trying >> to read an existing cartridge, and if that's not in good >> condition, it could cause these problems. > > This seems really possible. But _writing_ to an "old" tape (written > on it once) should work as good as writing to a new tape, yes? You'd think so, wouldn't you. But the symptoms I had with my first dead 35480A were identical to what you describe, including the strange fact that I could write new tapes and then read them, but that the old tapes weren't readable. After I changed the drive, I could read the old tapes again, but not the tapes I had written since the error occurred. In fact, I couldn't even *write* the tapes with the new drive. Presumably a bulk eraser would solve that problem. If you want, give me a phone call (06637/919123, but not today, or 0171/3524364), and we'll discuss what we should do with this. I'd really like to get HP involved and see what they have to say about the problem. Greg
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