Arcserve error: E6084 Drive hardware error - servo or sensor

[Ana Fernández Garrido]

I??m having problems with arcserve2000 and HP DAT40i.

I have two identical machines: Netsever LC 2000r with HP DAT40i, Windows 2000 Server (SP2) and arcserve 2000.

Since I installed them I had the same arcserver error: "E6084 Drive hardware error - servo or sensor". I have tried several things but I always have the same problem in both machines:

- I have asked for support in Computer Associates, sent all kind of logs and they told me it was a hardware error.
- I have asked for support in HP and they changed my DAT40i for two times
- I have upgraded my DAT??s firmware (C104 and C111) and it was the same
- I have tested the devices with HP Library & Tape Tools and it seems to be ok
- I have applied arcserve2000 sp2 and the same
- I have applied arcserve2000 sp3 and it was worse

Someone can help me?

Thanks.

[Greg Carlson]

Anna,

Do you have the U2 or U3 Model of the LC2000r and are you connected to SCSI B or do you have a PCI Adaptec SCSI Card?

If you are on the embedded SCSI try setting the sync rate to 40mb or try a PCI Adaptec Card HP PN# D5025A

Also--> is your cable to the DAT terminated?

Ciao,
Greg

[Marino Meloni_1]

hi
one more think, try to check the data cable for his integrity, with the LC2000 some time the data cable could be damaged by the Fan assy, in fact if the cable is not well routed, it is easy to made it bad

bye

marino

[Jan Willems]

We are encountering the same problem with and HP DAT40i installed in a HP E60 Netserver with NT4.0 SP6a and Arcserve 6.5 latest SR. We also did the Tape Tools test, installed another SCSI card and even reinstalled Arcserve.
Who has some additional suggestions ?

[Terri Harris]

Recommendations:

1. Check to see if RSM (Removable Storage Manager) is running as a service under Windows 2000. It does run by default. When using any other backup software, STOP the RSM service & set it to Manual to prevent if restarting on a reboot.

2. If stopping RSM does not help, uninstall Arcserve and try another backup software program. Free trial versions are available for most backup software programs.

Testing another backup program (other than the native 2000 RSM backup) will determine if this is a backup software issue or not.

[Bob Kinney_1]

I'm seeing this error also. I'm using a DAT40i, NT4, Arcserve 6.5 with all the updates.

When a job is submitted manually (as in "run now"), it finishes with no problems. But the daily backup that is scheduled seems to always finish with this error. Even more peculiar is that the job log that is emailed upon completion doesn't show that error, and tells me that the job finished successfully.

My hunch is that a code is being misinterpreted by Arcserve as an error. Can anyone confirm this? Is it safe to ignore this error?

[Terri Harris]

What computer do you have your DAT40 installed in? What type of SCSI controller is this tape drive connected to?
Can you try another backup software so we can determine if this is Arcserve-specific or not? There are trial (free) versions of backup software, such as Tapeware at their web site (www.tapeware.com).

[Matej_2]

Going through ARCserve logs I found same error.
E6084 Drive hardware error - servo or sensor [ABSL:2030 CMD:1Bh]

Details:
ARCserve 9 for Windows, no Service packs
Windows 2000 SP2, English
Tape: HP C5683A C111 20/40 DAT

Error appears with every backup job (before it was not so regular)

How can I be sure that it is a hardware error?

[Stephen A Walker]

I have a similar situation but it only happens occasionaly:

Windows 2000 SP3
Brightstor v9 Build 2020

Using:
STK 9730 Tape library - firmware ver 2003.
4 x Quantum DLT 7000 tape drive 35/70 - firmware ver 296B.
All four drive were replaced by the vendor recently.
Adaptec 3940UWD SCSI adapter - firmware ver ?
Software driver is old the the most recent supplied by Adaptec 03/15/2000.
STK is on Channal A
Drives are on Channal B

Typical symptoms are listed below in the example. Actual times vary from incedent to incedent and example below is while accessing two of the four drives.

Example:
1:42AM E6084 Drive Hardware error - servo or sensor [ABSL:3010 CMD:Ah]
1:43AM E3719 Unable to write to media (MEDIA= [S/N:UTC031] EC=CONTROLLER FAILURE OR HARDWARE ERROR)

2:49AM E6084 repeats for second drive
2:49AM E3719 repeats for second drive

6:43AM System Event Log - Event ID 9: aic78xx
The device, \Device\Scsi\aic78xx2, did not respond within the timeout period

This messages repeats about every 30 minutes until Event ID 15 occurs.

10:45AM System Event Log - Event ID 15: aic78xx
The device, \Device\Scsi\aic78xx2, is not ready for access yet.

If I try any action on the tape drive (i.e. eject tape) I get an error and more Event ID 15 are written to the System Event Log.

If I reboot the server the issue persists. If I reset the STK the problem clears up (for a while anyway).

Cable and termination including TRMPWR have been varfied.

The SCSI adapter for the tape devices are set to 40MB/s but was tested at a slower throughput by lowering the speed to 20 (min setting for thie adapter) recommended was 5MB/s but no improvement.

Rarely when this happens and the STK is reset and the server is rebooted because of the hardware mentioned above the TAPE engine failes to start and the only way I have been able to fix this is to use Device Configuration and reconfigure the drives to the STK because the two drives in question show up as available devices. Meaning they are not assigned to the STK.

[Paul_320]

I am getting these E6084 errors on a new HP DLT8000.
I don't have the full answer yet, but I noticed that in the System > Hardware > Device Manager > Tape Drives > QauntumDLT8000 is shown here 'is working properley'.
However, in Admin Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Removeable Storage > Physical Locations > QuantumDLT8000 has a 'Red X'over it and 'Not Present' message.
Right click on 'QuantumDLT8000' and check the box 'Enable Library'. The same goes for 'Media' and 'Drives' - check boxes for 'Enable' - The Devices now show up as 'enabled' without any error messages.
After I did this I thought I had it made. I got 20% into a backup and the dreaded E6084 came back......