Tape Drive Failures

[Ayman Altounji]

I also have a variant on this theme and need to be able to backup my data. ML 530 with HP autoloader, Nt4 and Arcserve. As soon as backup is attempted get CPQ32SF2 error on SCSI Port 2. An identical server next to it is working fine. Help?!!

[Ayman Altounji]

Novell 5.0 - Same problems, SBCON, BackupExec & Arcserve 6.6 - Nothing works..

[Ayman Altounji]

Hi there - this looks to be the same problem I was having, which I have now managed to solve with some help from Compaq support and our Hardware support engineer who works for Synstar

Symptons were as follows

Proliant ML330
Internal Compaq DDS4 20/40 DAT drive running from internal SCSI controller
Arcserve 6.61 for Windows NT Worgroup edition with SP2A installed
NT4.0 Server with SP6

I could read a tape in the DAT drive, but when I attempted to do a backup (write to tape) the following would occur.

The tape drive would start to attempt backing up and Arcserve would display disconnecting from media and then the backup would fail. In the Arcseve actvity log the following errors were displayed :-

E6300 - Windows NT SCSI Port Error

In the NT event viewer, either of the following errors :-

Event ID5
Source CPQ32FS2
Description - a parity error was detected on \Device\ScsiPort1

or

Event ID 11
Source CPQ32FS2
Description - The drive detected a controller error on \Device\ScsiPort1

I first of all upgraded all the fimware and SSD components
and made sure I had the latest Arcseve Service Pack i.e SP2A

This made no difference

After searching the web, Compaq's own support site, customer advisaries and this forum I could find no solution, it appears that many people are having the same problem - (try searching for CPQ32FS2 - and look at the postings)

After speaking to our hardware support engineer from Sysnstar - he suggested that we tried Compaq direct on the Technical support number

He spoke to a Compaq representative and she was aware of the problem and suggested the following.

The Proliant ML330 is shipped with two SCSI cables - a light grey and a light blue cable.

They both have the same SCSI connectors, however the blue cable has multiple connectors as used with a drive array.

The light grey cable is an end-end SCSI cable as used with a tape drive.

The lady from Compaq said we required another blue cable and this wouldl solve the problem. She said the light grey cable was wrong and will not work with the DAT drive.

I now have a perfectly working server configured with two identical cables, one used for the RAID array on it's own SCSI controller and the other cable used for the DAT drive using the internal SCSI controller.

The cable you require is as follows

Part no. 176607-001
Description - light blue in appearance
SPS -cable, Ultra2 SCSI LVD

I suggest you speak to Caroline at Compaq server tech support in the UK.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Phil White (CNE) - ITnet plc

[Ayman Altounji]

I work for a number of k-12 school Districts and have recently migrated two Netware 5.1 (SP4) DL 380 G2 servers for one of them. I am now trying to install a 20/40 DAT 8 autoloader as well. I have it connected to the VHDCI connector which is part of the internal Smart arry 5i which also runs the drive cage as well. The autoloader has SCSI ID 6. I've installed Arcserve 7.0 (after many patches and experimenting) finally was able to successfully install Arcserve without an abend. The problem now is that Arcserve does not see the device as a tape changer. I've done everything that Arcserve tech support suggested and am ready to call compaq support. I can't seem to find a firmware upgrade to try, or is there a firmware upgrade for this tape device. Is it compatable with the smart array 5i /DL 380 G2?
I'm ready to switch everything.

[Ayman Altounji]

Hello,

Your problem is that you can't run another device on a raid controller. A RAID controller by default handles all the scsi addresses, this is so that you can hot swap your drives.

I would suggest using the Onboard SCSI Controller or purchasing a separate Adaptec card.

Regards

Jason (CNE) Servatech Ltd, Wakefield