HP Colorado 8GB won't recognize tapes

[Jenny Webb]

How do I get help on my HP Colorado 8GB
tape drive? It says the media isn't
right and I'm using HP C4425 tapes that
have worked in the past. I have 10
tapes and it says they're all wrong. I
don't believe all 10 tapes can go bad
at once. I uninstalled and reinstalled
the software with no results. The tape
drive diagnostic tool passes the self
test and the connection test but says
no compatible media is present on the
Write and Read Test. No FAQs on this problem that I can find. Can anyone out there help me?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hello Jenny,

Have you cleaned the drive recently? If so, it may have messed up the read/write optics in the drive. There are a few drives that should not be cleaned using traditional tape drive cleaning media, etc. You may want to check your user manual for this.

Otherwise, it sounds as if you may have a hardware problem. Have you contacted phone support to see if the drive is still under warranty?

[Jenny Webb]

Jeff: Thanks for your reply. Yes I did contact phone support and found that my drive is under warranty. They suggested that I run a retensioning 3-5 times to clean the heads and this has (at least once) seemed to work. I'm cautiously optimistic that this has fixed the problem. If this doesn't work, they feel that the heads have worn out and the unit could need to be replaced.

[CA756262]

Interesting. I have three 8GB travan drives. My original stopped working (no tape detected) so I borrowed another that works all of the time. I was sent another by one of my associates and it too had tape problems. In the midst of testing, my original worked once! The borrowed one always works and the one just sent me never has.
I'll try the retensioning "cleaning" method and blow off the tape detect window. I'll report back later.
Scott

[Jenny Webb]

Scott: Good luck on retensioning. I back up daily and it's worked several days in a row. So I'm hoping my problems have been solved. Hope this helps you, too!

[CA756262]

It's most frustrating.
I've had trouble with unit 1 in the past. Either it would not be recognized or the tape would not register.
Today it worked. I retensioned it (5) times, erased the tape, retensioned it again.
Then I tried unit 3. It still shows a hardware error.
Back to unit 1 and now it shows a hardware error!
I have the advantage of being able to swap cables too. Nothing helps.
I can't retension again as the system shows a hardware error.
Rebooting has not changed anything either.
Scott

[Jenny Webb]

Sorry to hear you're still having problems. Do you have any under warranty? At least(knock on wood) my tape drive is behaving properly for now. Retensioning 5 times did the trick for me!

[CA756694]

I may be late with this but ...

You cannot clean these types of colorado drives. As is mentioned you can clear the sensor and retension the tape.

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/information_storage/support_doc/lpg12020.html

For heaven's sake don't use the cleaning tape from another travan manaufacturer or an earlier HP travan drive ... !!!

The other thing to do with 5/8Gb drives is to make sure that you have 2.08 firmware as that can resolve _alot_ of media recognition/bad tape problems.

In addition, don't leave your tape permanently in the drive. Especially one that is powered up all the time! These tapes aren't cheap.

cheers,

John

[Jenny Webb]

John: Thanks for the info. I've never cleaned the drive (and didn't know you were supposed to). I upgraded my firmware last year in response to another problem I had with the drive and have 10 tapes that I rotate every day. Retensioning the tape seems to have solved my problem. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me!

[CA756262]

Thanks. My firmware is all 2.06. All of my drives were manufactured very close (they were part of a large distribution to our salesmen).
Like Jenny, I have not tried to clean the units, only blow them out with air. I'll get the firmware update and try that. Thanks again for the help.