Autoloader C1557A LCD-Message -drive comms error-

[CA896613]

Hello Barrie,

sorry, that i asked you about
to override the factory settings from this now called
C1537A, but i don??t have
the money to send the drive
to repair. In my case, all
the Hardware i have, was from
old Servers, Units, that came back, and so on. I am
a simple IT Technician that
don??t have the money to buy
or to give an autoloader to
be repaired.
So i have to take the drive
out of the loader and use it
as a standalone. So i have
still the capacity i need.
Thanks and greetings to
you and Eugeny !

Marco

[BR720221]

Marco,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for not having replied to your last message. I have been out of the office since the 7th January (my 8 month old baby boy was rushed into hospital, and has only just come out).

I may have a solution to the problem (thats if you still have the problem). Would you be willing to post your email address so that I can contact you off-line to discuss further.

cheers,
Barrie

[CA896613]

Hello Barrie,

there is no problem with
your message, i also have
a little boy, 19 month old
and he??s everything i have !

So i fully understand what
you??ve done !

Here is my eM@il - Addy:

marco@spearofdestiny.net

I still have the problem with
this Autoloader !

greetings

Marco

[Dan_152]

Hi Barrie, do you think you could contact me about a similar matter.

Thanks, Dan.

[Dan_152]

sorry, my e-mail address is...

d.mcgarry@talk21.com

Thanks

[Tom_167]

Barrie,

I have the same issue as Marco's, please email me with the work-around solution. Thanks.
My email is tvu@tsli.com

[CA963305]

This may sound like a stupid comment at first, however, are we sure we have power to BOTH connectors of the autoloader? Connecting only one power cable (internal drive) to the vertical power connector will produce the same "Drive Comms Error" when in fact all that happened is one portion of the drive can't talk to the other.

[Barrie_Evans]

Hi Ed,

Dan, Tom and Marco all have the same problem, where the drive is reporting a version of firmware that is not compatible with the autoloader. The reasons they have this are all very different, but in all cases, given that the firmware revisions are different, this excludes the possibility of a power problem (mainly because SCSI doesn't work without power to the drive).

[Paul Carrington]

I'm also having the exact same problem - I basically had a drive in the autoloader die, and have another dds3 drive (standalone) which i'd like to fit into the mechanism to retain the ability to autoload - hence I need a workaround to use a standalone drive mech in the autoloader.

My email : pmc2@soton.ac.uk

Thanks!

[Ken_117]

Has anyone had any luck repairing their drive that is showing a Drive comms error? I picked up a drive like this from Ebay for $10.00 and am hoping I can repair it. spam10@kenblair.com

[Barrie_Evans]

Ken,

Are you able to communicate with the drive through SCSI? If you are, can you get a support ticket out using Library and Tape Tools, and attach it to this forum. I can take a look, and maybe give you some pointers as to what is causing the problem.

cheers,
Barrie

[Ken_117]

As soon as I get the drive, I'll get it on a SCSI controller and see what I can do with it. I will post results here ASAP.

[Ken_117]

What do pins 1 and 2 on the 50 pin SCSI cable do? One of these pins has been broken off from the drive's 50 pin connector, and the drive will not be seen by the SCSI adapter card. I tried 3 different cards in 2 different servers. I also tried 2 different cables, 2 different terminators, and several different SCSI ID settings with no luck. I can't see the drive or the auto mechanism, and I suspect that this broken pin may be the problem.

Thanks

[Barrie_Evans]

Ken,

If I remember correctly, pin 1 is a GND pin, and pin 2 is bit 0 of the databus. If it is pin 2 that is snapped off, then you have a problem -- pin 1 should not make much of a difference.

You can determine which is pin 2 by looking at the rear of the drive (straight at the SCSI connector) -- pin 2 is on the bottom row of pins (I think it is the right hand side).

cheers,
Barrie

[Ken_117]

Yes, we're talking about pin2 - part of the data bus. I may be able to solder a wire onto the PCB at pin 2 and splice it into the ribbon cable. Either that or I solder on a whole new 50 pin connector!

Thanks for the info

[Werner Kuhnle]

Hallo Barrie,

I have a similar problem as Marco's.
(Defect drive C1537A in C1757A replaced with a new one, which seems to have a standalone-
Firmware installed; LTT does not allow to
install Firmware C1557A_U812.frm

Please email me with the work-around solution.
My email is wek@kuhnle.com

Thanks in advance ..

Werner

[David Murfitt]

Barrie

My problem is similar - I had a broken drive in a C1557A autochanger and changed the drive for one from a standalone unit (a 1537) - it all plugged together OK and I am certain I have no bad connections becuase I was very careful - however the drive does not believe its in an autochanger and wont communicate through to the robot. LTT wont let me flash it with the autochanger firmware. Can you help me without me having to return the drive for a factory personality change?

[Barrie_Evans]

David,

Please post an email address so that I can contact you off-line to discuss further.

regards,
Barrie

[David Murfitt]

Thanks Barrie - its dave@murfitt.com

Looking forward to your contact.

[CA1077310]

hi Barrie,

can you send me your solution?
i have Dirve Comms Error on:
SureStor Tape 12000e
C1553
C1533

best regards
*chris

[CA1077310]

hi Barrie,

can you send me your solution?
i have Dirve Comms Error on:
SureStor Tape 12000e
C1553
C1533

my e-mail-adress --> chrispeter@gmx.de

best regards
*chris

[Barrie_Evans]

Christian,

Could you please let me know a bit more about the problem that you are getting? I need to know the exact nature of the problem to know whether the fix will work for case.

cheers,
Barrie

[CA1077310]

hi,

ok - i try, but my english isn't very good, so don't laugh ;)

somebody of my friends give me a HP Surestore 12000e. But it's only the external frame & the Autoloader... there wasn't any drive in it. so i locked up, which drive there must be in. IT is the HP C1533A, and this dirve i have lready as standalone streamer ...
and i think that's the problem why i have an drive comms error. The drive "think" it's a standalone ...

I haven't changed the firmware, it's still 9608

greetings chris

[Niels Grahlmann_1]

hi Christian, hi Barrie,

I have a similar Problem like Christian.
I've get a SureStoreTape 12000e without the Tape Drive. So i took an "old" DDS2 Tape Drive, and put it in. But i get the same message as Christian: "Drive Comms Error"

greetings Niels

-->Sorry for my cruelly English ;)

[CA756694]

Before you replace your autoloader mechanism with something from EBAY or similar then READ THIS DOUCMENT:

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=c00035810