HP C1537A Won't recognize/eject media

[John Grover]

I just had a failed tape drive replaced in our HP900 K250. I've run two backups successfully with no errors. This morning When I inseted new media the tape light on the font panel did not come on, furthermore, pressing the eject button does not eject the media, and mt reports:
/dev/rmt/0mnb: No such device or address

ioscan sees the drive and driver, but it is not claimed.
# ioscan -fnC tape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
======================================================================
tape 0 10/12/5.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP C1537A
/dev/rmt/0m /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/0mb /dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTnb
/dev/rmt/0mn /dev/rmt/c2t0d0DDS
/dev/rmt/0mnb /dev/rmt/c2t0d0DDSb
/dev/rmt/c2t0d0BEST /dev/rmt/c2t0d0DDSn
/dev/rmt/c2t0d0BESTb /dev/rmt/c2t0d0DDSnb


Another topic lead me to beleive that this is because the drive does not think it has media loaded which seems consistent with the tape light being off.

It there a secret to ejecting a "stuck" tape without downing the server?

TIA

JG

[Joshua Scott]

Have you tried the emergency eject procedure?

Hold down the eject button for more than 5 seconds and the tape should eject, regardless of I/O or other operations pending. It may take up to 35 seconds for the tape to eject.

If this doesn't work, the only real alternative is to down the server, as it is next to impossible to remove the tape drive from a K-class with the system still up.

-Josh

[John Grover]

Thanks, I tried that but no dice. I've scheduled a down time for Wed afternoon to replace the drive (second in 4 days)...

[Joshua Scott]

something else you could try (risky):

if you have an esd protection strap handy, and not too many hard drives (1 or 2) installed, you can try this:

remove the metal grate in front of the hard drives.

reach behind and up and unplug the power cord to the tape drive, and replug it in. this may cause the tape to eject, or you may be able to eject it after doing this.

Be very careful not to unplug or damage the hard drives if you try this.

-Josh

[John Grover]

Alas, all the drive bays are full... sounds like fun, tho, if it weren't my production database server :)

Thanks again
JG

[Joshua Scott]

Ah but the danger makes it all the more fun ;)

-Josh