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Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

 
Eugeny Brychkov
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

Looking to ST I see drive has fw V097. I remember there's new firmware available from HP. Try using LTT to update firmware. Go to "File->get files from the web->firmware tab" (please note that if you have drive not from HP then LTT can refuse to update firmware... in worst case drive will die).
Indeed, there's no temperature indicated. New firmware may fix it. I checked with other drive models and found DLT8000 can report temp. If after fw upgrade your drive will not report temp then it may not be able to report it at all :o(
After update please make another support ticket and post it here
Eugeny
Jane_13
Occasional Advisor

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

I have checked Compaq drivers and we ahve the latest one.

Any other ideas?
Eugeny Brychkov
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

I see the latest available from HP is v106. Please use LTT to check for latest firmware. Do not worry... it will not update immediately. Go to the menu I mentioned above and try searching for fw files for 'devices on the system'. What LTT will tell you? Will it find v106?
Anyway, if we suspect environmental problems (excessive t) please manage to get drive out a server and run it in well conditioned environment to check if it will work.
Eugeny
Horacio Moglia
New Member

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

Jane:

I have 3 units DLT40i of Hewlett-Packard, installed in 3 HP Netserver.
I have 2 operating systems: windows NT and windows 2000.
All with the last service pack and the firmware of the DLT, and it happens me exactly the same thing that to you.
I have changed the units about of a dozen of times.
The last time was due to that after inserting the cartridge, it comes off the leader of the unit and it gets out of service with all the lights blinking.
I already have several reports facts to HP but apparently there is not solution to this.
According to my opinion this is due to flaws in the design of the units.
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

There is a post in this thread regarding the temperature reported by the tape drive.

Please note that the value reported by the tape drive should always be around 40 degrees C. Temperatures into the low 50's are not problems.

The temperature reported by the drive typically is 15 degrees above ambient and the drive should not have problems with temperature until the value reported by the drive is in the mid 50's. A value of 43 is not a problem.

I'm not familiar with the Compaq tape drive numbers but I believe this drive is a DLT7000. If that is the case then when the drive is replaced you should ONLY use new tapes. DLT7000 drives when worn will cause abrasive particles to build up in the tape cartridge and re-using that tape will deposit the particles in the new drive. Loading a tape for a single restore shouldn't be a problem but using an old tape multiple times is not a good idea. If you have a replacement drive and a new tape and still have problems then there is probably a problem with the quality of the replacement drive.

As mentioned several times the buzzing noise when a tape is loaded is perfectly normal but if it repeats multiple times it means the drive is having difficulty calibrating on this tape.

Also you should check your cleaning tape. I have seen a few cases where an expired cleaning tape was being used and once the calibration fails the drive is unable to report that the tape has expired.
Paul R. Dittrich
Esteemed Contributor

Re: DLT tape drive nightmare! Please help.

One more possibility:

I've seen these identical symptoms in an EXTERNAL tape drive (DLT) when the power supply was marginal, verging on failure.
We replaced several drives unnecessarily before the bad PS was diagnosed and replaced.

HTH,
Paul