Recalibration problems with Dat24...

[Jason Krause]

Hi all!

Library and tape tools reported that I should recalibrate my tape drive, so I ran the recal script. Here is a copy of my log:

________________________
HW-CONF = 0x00040001
Checking firmware file ../Firmware/C1537A_L005.frm correct ...
Storing values from drive calibration table
Write Current values DDS3: 0x28
Write Current values DDS2: 0x23
Reading tape usage from serial EEprom
Tape usage is dds2 = 404 dds3 = 183
Prompt user to load NEW DDS2 media cartridge
No NEW media, use cleaning tape instead
Entering cleaning loop: 1 of 4
Waiting for the cleaning tape to unload ..
Entering cleaning loop: 2 of 4
Waiting for the cleaning tape to unload ..
Entering cleaning loop: 3 of 4
Waiting for the cleaning tape to unload ..
Entering cleaning loop: 4 of 4
Waiting for the cleaning tape to unload ..
Cleaning Cycle complete.
Starting Write Current Recalibration ...
Checking for correct cartridge type ...
Waiting for 'DDS2' tape to load ...
Checking for correct cartridge type ...
Set Buffered Mode: OFF ...
Setting write current to 0x23 ..
Loop: 1 ERT value too high .. skip this write!
Setting write current to 0x1e ..
Loop: 4 ERT value too high .. skip this write!
Setting write current to 0x19 ..
Loop: 5 ERT value too high .. skip this write!
Setting write current to 0x14 ..
Time taken to write loop(s) 5 too long .. skip this write!
Setting write current to 0xf ..
Time taken to write loop(s) 5 too long .. skip this write!
Setting write current to 0xa ..
Loop: 5 ERT value too high .. skip this write!
No valid ERT values have been stored ..
________________________

For some reason, the recalibration script never completes successfully. I have tried 2 different DDS-2 tapes with the same results. The firmware was up-to-date, but I noticed that running the script downgraded it. Any ideas???

Thanks,
Jason Krause

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Jason,
did this drive work before you started doing recalibration? I see script asks for NEW tape. So please make sure you tried NEW (just unpacked) HP tapes.
Which SCSI controller do you use? Is its driver up-to-date?
Eugeny

[Jason Krause]

Yes, the tape drive had been working for quite a while now, but it failed with a bad CRC error and the Clean led was blinking slowly. I tried cleaning the device many times, but it did not help. I tried to recalibrate the device because L&TT recommended that I do so.

The SCSI drivers are up to date...

Jason

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

Did you try to use a new cleaning tape?

HTH,
Vince

[Marino Meloni_1]

hi Jason,
the recalibration is required when you are shure that eveything is working well on your system, if you have communiction problems or heads with dust,,etc... then the recalibration script will not solve the problem. \try first to run the L&TT tests like communiction test, device test,...
Also be sure to use new tapes for calibration.If I remember well, you can avoid to recalibrate the unit for DDS2 tapes and recalibrate it only for DDS3 (not sure), this could be a workaround if you use only DDS3 tapes.
marino