Tape back up

[Anukul]

Hi

I am trying to set up a Tape drive on my Red Hat 7.1 distro with 2.4.2 kernel.

The Tape Drive is a SureStore DAT 40.

Been having loads of problems with it.The basic modules aic7xxx,sg & st are installed(checked with an lsmod)

Now when I do a mt -f /dev/nst0 status with/without a DDS4 tape ,I get the following output:
SCSI 2 tape drive:
File number=-1, block number=-1, partition=0.
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x0 (default).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (10000):
IM_REP_EN

The "ONLINE" text doesnt appear when the tape is present in the drive.Also File Number/Block number shows -1.
A few other times ,the mt command just crashes after showing an output that goes:
st0:Block limits 5038:223892.

Dont understand why it shows st0 when the command I ran was mt -f /dev/nst0 status.

The rewinding drive st0 is not functional at all.Any mt command on st0 hangs.

I wonder if theres a compatibilty issue with RH 7.1 on DAT40.

Any help/suggestions

Here are some outputs that might be relevant
cat /proc/scsi/scsi
Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: PLEXTOR Model: CD-R PX-W1210A Rev: 1.08
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Host: scsi1 Channel: 00 Id: 03 Lun: 00
Vendor: HP Model: C5683A Rev: C005
Type: Sequential-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

When mt crashes /var/log/messages logs:
SCSI host1 abort (pid 0) times out resettung.
SCSI bus is being reset for host 1 channel 0

Any help!!

Anukul

[Stuart Browne]

Lets see..

Adaptec (I think) SCSI Controller..
Plextor CD-ROM at ID0..
DAT40 (internal or external?) tape at ID3..

Given the errors, and lack of consistancy, I'd start by checking the SCSI bus termination.

As you've not given us an indication of the server you are using, it's kind of hard to relate on a Hardware to Hardware basis. The OS however I've not had any issues with tapes on however.