Compaq DLT 35/70 tape drive not detected

[Julian Ionescu]

We have an internal Compaq DLT drive (TH6AE-HJ, Compaq past 242853-B21) connected through an Adaptec 2940UW adapter. The drive is not detected by the adapter at all.
We tried different cables, different SCSI cards, different DLT drives, and different terminators. We have tried them with and without termination.
Is this a compatibility issue? I am unable to find much info at all on this drive...

[weik]

hello Julian

Following Infos about the tape found:

The 242853-B21 is 35/70 GB Internal Tape Drive, SCSI Single-Ended.

Internal - Fast,Wide, Single-Ended (SE), SCSI-2, 68 pin "D"

DLTtape III - 10 GB native capacity
DLTtape IIIXT - 15 GB native capacity
DLTtape IV - 20, 35 and 40 GB native capacities

Typical Transfer Rate: 4 MB/sec

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You have checked the power and the SCSI ID settings?

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I have also found a User Guide from the 35/70 and a Ref Guide for the 40/80 in my Library, and the following about the 35/70:
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Compaq 40/80 DLT Drive Reference Guide
*** PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE FOLLOWING MANUAL IS NOT WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY FOR THE PRODUCT YOU ARE SEEKING. NO SPECIFIC MANUAL WAS EVER CREATED FOR THIS PRODUCT. THIS MANUAL IS BEING PROVIDED FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES AND MAY MATCH SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEVICE IN QUESTION ***
=============================

I attach the ref guide in the next reply, its to large...

hope you can use this
greeting,
kurt

[weik]

here the ref guide

[Jaclyn Rothe]

Is your drive recognized on POST? or just not in the OS?

If you see your drive on POST then you might have a driver issue or require a firmware flash on the device for the OS to see it.
What kind if server are you connected with ?(dell, proilant...?) and what Operating System?

[Jaclyn Rothe]

For compatibility Questions you can visit:
http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/tapebackup/index.html
And select your server, or software compatibilty.

This is a good document for troubleshooting communications issues:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50207

This is a DLT 70i front panel document:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50546&locale=en_US

Also the recommended SCSI card for the DLT drive is an Adaptec 29160. However, the card you are using should not cause this issue, and might work woth the DLT as the burst rate is 20 mb/s and the 2940 card is capable of this speed.

[Julian Ionescu]

Thank you all for the pointers, it does give me more insight, although not exactly on that particular model.

The drive is not being detected in POST, tried various SCSI ID settings, with active terminator on cable and with drive terminator jumper, nothing, it just won't appear.
I realize that if the adapter BIOS won't detect it, the OS will not see it either.
Tried with a different drive (DAT24), works okay, so cable and adapter are good.

When under power, the amber drive lights on the front left side are all blinking, while the right side ones seem to act normally.
There are also a number of LEDs at the back, under the 68pin connector, that light up when connected.

I was hoping to get some detail on the blinking error codes to determine if it's SCSI interface is faulty.
I am also trying to borrow another drive to try, but no luck so far...

The server is a Dell, but for now I am trying on a test box, a P4 clone, whith no known problems, all else works on it, including the DAT24 drive.

[Julian Ionescu]

Further reading through Jaclyn's reply, it does describe flashing lights as indicating a drive fault (in the troubleshooting guide).
Not sure if that would cause the drive not to register with the adapter, but it isn't good either.

Thanks again to both Jaclyn and Kurt, you were very helpful!