Cannot write filemark

[Nancy Stout]

I have a new MSL6030 running dp 6.0 on a Unix 11.23. On one of the tape drives I am getting cannot write filemark when trying to format a tape. I can format this same tape on the second drive. If I try and do a backup with a tape formated on the other tape drive I get the same error message. I have had H.P. change this drive once, I have all the lastest patches installed. I was able to write some data to this tape with LTT and tar, however now if I try a write with LTT it aborts saying that I need to clean this drive. After a tar if I look at the slot it is showing red. Can anyone tell me what might be the problem.

Thank you,

[OldSchool]

several dumb questions:

drive has been replaced, so what was wrong w/ the original? same thing as this one?

are you sure the drives are now the same type? i've had drives replaced where they switched from dlt4 to dlt3, which caused issues. perhaps something similar has happened here.

ltt says drive is dirty. what happens if you clean drive and format a new tape?

its also possible that the replacement is failing.

[Nancy Stout]

Yes the first drive had this same problem.
It looks like there is a problem with either the cables or the board under drive 0. I have just had the hardware engineer come out and we tried swaping drives and the problem stayed with the drive 0. The hardware engineer is going to be doing more research and ordering parts to see if we can finally resolve this problem.

[Torsten.]

You should run an assessment test with LTT and get a support ticket (post this). This will contain the internal logs of the drive too.
Maybe this will give you a result.

[Nancy Stout]

This call it turns out was a problem in the cable length. When the HP engineer replaced one of the cables with a shorter cable all of my problems went away.