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Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

 
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

> Took a while since it looked like the tape ran all the way to the end and I had to rewind by hand. Now that I got the tape out and drive put back in, it still thinks that there is a tape in the drive!

If the drive had a tape half spooled down the tape, and would not retention and rewind the tape after being power-cycled, it most likely indicates that it is having hard servo problems (or it's possible that the tape had packing problems, and the drive could not maintain correct tension).

Can you run HP L&TT and generate a support ticket? I'd like to see what it is returning for SCSI Test Unit Ready status, and also what the drive event/error logs contain. You can just post the support ticket here (.ltt file).
The journey IS the reward.
Jason Booms
Occasional Advisor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

>If the drive had a tape half spooled down the tape, and would not retention and rewind the tape after being power-cycled, it most likely indicates that it is having hard servo problems (or it's possible that the tape had packing problems, and the drive could not maintain correct tension).

>Can you run HP L&TT and generate a support ticket? I'd like to see what it is returning for SCSI Test Unit Ready status, and also what the drive event/error logs contain. You can just post the support ticket here (.ltt file).

If you can tell me how I would gladly do it.
Just an ME in a CE world
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

> If you can tell me how I would gladly do it.

1) install LTT from www.hp.com/support/tapetools

2) Run the program, and select the drive from the "by product" tab

3) Click on the support tool

4) Click on save support ticket to file

5) Post the resultant .ltt file
The journey IS the reward.
Jason Booms
Occasional Advisor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

>Can you run HP L&TT and generate a support ticket? I'd like to see what it is returning for SCSI Test Unit Ready status, and also what the drive event/error logs contain. You can just post the support ticket here (.ltt file).

Here it is.
Just an ME in a CE world
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

Here's the diagnoses on Jason's drive. From the support ticket:

---
Vendor ID : COMPAQ, Product ID : DLT8000
Firmware Revision : V080
Controller Serial # : PKB14P0188
Drive Personality : CPQ2 (0x0C02) [Compaq branded]

SCSI Test Unit Ready returns a check condition
- SCSI Info : 0x02 0x0403 (Logical Device: device does not report ready)
---

This says "Unit not ready, manual intervention required. No tape present or mechanical failure has occurred."

And in the drive error log we see:

---
Event # 12 - Packet # 12 - BugCheck Error: A209 [V80-0 12-SEP-2001]
PC= 000741E2 SR= 3000 Cntxt= SCSI 000:18:48.990 POH/PC= 10060/8

Event # 13 - Packet # 13 - BugCheck Error: A209 [V80-0 12-SEP-2001]
PC= 000741E2 SR= 3000 Cntxt= SCSI 000:18:48.980 POH/PC= 10075/10
---

These happened 44 and 69 hours back. An A209 bugcheck is a servo timeout on an operation. It is usually either a dropped leader or a whir (where the gears don't mesh with the tape hub).

Here's a doc on checking for a dropped leader:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=lpg50027

You can look into the mouth of the drive and should see the drive leader portion attached to a little arm. If you don't, the leader is most likely wound up in the drive.

If your drive is out of warranty, here's how to reattach it:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=lpg50338

If it doesn't have a dropped leader, it most likely has other mechanical/electical problems.
The journey IS the reward.
Jason Booms
Occasional Advisor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

>If it doesn't have a dropped leader, it most likely has other mechanical/electical problems.

Looks like it does. I reset the leader, it was not on very well from my last reset. The drive looked good, then I put in my cleaning cartdrige (so I would not risk any backup data) and the same error resulted. I took the drive out and looks like it is partially on the take up spool. Here is the error file from this.
Just an ME in a CE world
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

The drive has 2 A402 (Drive Error Log) entries, and the sub error is 84H (Servo under speed error).

I've not seen that particular sub error code before, so I can't offer any advice.

If you are getting repeat dropped leaders or tape unspooling (e.g. all the tape ends up in the drive), one common cause is a clogged BOT/EOT sensor. This is an optical sensor in the middle of the tape path that watches for the BOT/EOT holes in the tape. The receiver part of the sensor looks through a little hole in the plastic leader guide that can get clogged up with debris (e.g. shed oxide from the tape) over time.

If your drive is out of warranty, and you're having that problem, you can try cleaning it out with some compressed air (before reattaching the leader).
The journey IS the reward.
Leon Rosier
Respected Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

I've seen exactly the same behaviour: all leds are flashing at the right side. The leader is not dropped. You see the reel spin and then slow down, at this point you see that the tape slacks. When this happens, all leds start blinking at the right side.
After removing the tape, removed the power and checking the drive I noticed that when you manually turn the reel there is too much resistance. Only replacing the drive resolved the problem. In my opinion this error can occur when: the drive firmware is below V86 and the backup software is set that it has to do a eject after backup.
There is an issue that if you do an eject after backup, you have to remove the tape as soon as possible. If you don't do this, like most customers, there is a possibility to damage the drive. V86 prevents this, after an eject you have a short periode of time to remove the tape. If not the drive will remount the tape.

Leon
Jerry Loyola
New Member

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

I have heard the 'grinding' noise' described by other users. I think with the last 6 months have had problems with this particular drive of ours and have had them replaced at least 3 or 4 times. One time I had a backup blow up somewhere in the beginning and tried to do it again on a different drive. Same results. I ended up using an entirely different tape and decided to have a look at the bad DLT cartridge. Near the beginning the tape had excessive slack and you can physically see where the tape wasn't aligned and practically almost wrapped up and almost binded the inside of the tape cartridge. We had similar errors with the drive servo going bad in the units. In my case the tape was all the way in, during the rewind of tape, since we do not dismount/unload after our backups. We physically have to unload the tapes and at the begininng of the backups the cartridges are rewinded to beginning by the system. We outsource our backups offsite. Maybe there is an issue with transportation. Just wanted to give a little input with this problem. If it helps anyone.
David Ruska
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT8000 Flashing LEDs

Jerry,
I wouldn't mind looking at the drive error logs. Can you generate an HP LTT support ticket and post it here?
The journey IS the reward.