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Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

 
Mikkel Andreasen
Occasional Contributor

Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

Hi,

We have a ML370G3 server with an Ultrium 460 external tapedrive. In tha last month it has rejected all tapes. It just ejects them right after insertion (it takes about a minute).
I include til Tape Tools report and hopefully someone can tell me what might be causing this.

Sincerely
Mikkel
5 REPLIES 5
avik
Valued Contributor

Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

I hope your not inserting medias upside down.
Richard Bickers
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

The support ticket shows the drive having trouble reading the servo tracks on the tape. Since this is happening on multiple tapes it must be the drive that's at fault here.

It also looks like it happened suddenly so we could be talking about some trapped dirt in the heads or even a component failure - thought that's very rare.

Try cleaning the drive with a cleaning tape. That will clean all the heads, not just with the tape but also an internal mechanical brush that is used as part of the cleaning cycle.

It's worth cleaning it a couple of times if it still doesn't work.

Also, there is a more uptodate version of LTT out now (4.2) which will give us a little more info - and the tickets save in a better format (*.lzt).

My advice is to clean the drive a couple of times and try again. If it doesn't work re-post a ticket with 4.2 and we'll take another look. I see it's already been cleaned 25 times but it's worth a try for this one.

Also, check your environment to make sure it's clean. No printers around, no construction, not too close to a vent etc, etc.

Good luck, Richard.
It's more interesting when it's gone wrong
Mikkel Andreasen
Occasional Contributor

Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

1. I'm quite sure the tapes are turning the correct way
2. Regarding the updatet Tape Tools - I'll give that a try and report back.
Thanks
Mikkel
Mikkel Andreasen
Occasional Contributor

Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

Just completed the TapeTools 4.2 analysis. Haven't yet done the extra cleaning, but I will get that done tomorrow.

If anything can be deducted from the log file please advise.

Sincerely
Mikkel
Richard Bickers
Trusted Contributor

Re: Ultrium 460 keeps ejecting tapes

Just looked through the ticket. It confirms the drive is having real problems reading anything from its servo head. It's not seeing any servo data and it's doing its best to retry and find anything it can use. That's why it takes a minute before it gives up.

I also see in the ticket (this bit is buried in factory data) that you are mainly using Imation media. 553 uses to be exact. Although we support Imation, it's not at the top of our list of recommendations as extended use can lead to head clogging and/or poor error rate. My guess is this is what's happened here on the servo heads.

It seems very unlikely this is a drive fault - more likley that the heads are clogged. I don't see enough history in the ticket to see how the last few writes and reads went so we could see if it's more than just the servo heads. The logs are full of servoing retries and failed loads.

I'll stick with recommending a clean or two or three... That's about all you can do. Fingers crossed you can shift what's lodged in there.

The heads are atually self cleaning so if you use reasonably new media reasonably often (and reduce the usage of certain brands....) then you should be fine. If only you could get one to load!

Failing that you really are talking about a replacement. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Good luck. Richard.
It's more interesting when it's gone wrong