DLT 80 Drive Fails After Being Used Successfully for Approx. 1 Month

[Cassie_3]

I have a Netware 5.0 server with this HP Surestore DLT 80 tape backup drive. The drive worked perfectly for approx. 1 year, and then it started failing sporadically and indicating that it needed to be cleaned constantly (it didn't matter if the tape was one that I knew was good or if it was a brand new tape). I called HP, and they sent me a replacement drive. The replacement drive ran perfectly for approximately one month, and then it started with the exact same problems. I called HP, and again, they sent me a replacement drive. This second replacement drive has been working perfectly for approximately one month, and now it is doing the same thing again.

Has anyone experienced this problem? It doesn't seem to be a specific tape that starts causing the problems because it started happening on Fridays and I have been using the same tape on Fridays for the whole month.

[harry d brown jr]

Cassie,

How often do you use a cleaning tape?

Also, could you be experiencing power issues, like spikes that could be frying your tape drive(s)?

live free or die
harry

[Cassie_3]

I only clean the drive when it prompts me to.

Our whole computer room is on a UPS system, so we are protected from power spikes.

Do you think it is possible that the SCSI card has problems? I have a spare that I could try, but I just don't know if this is something that a SCSI card could be responsible for.

[David Ruska]

If you could attach the drive (temporarily) to a Windows system, you could run HP Library & Tape Tools (www.hp.com/support/tapetools), and generate a support ticket. The device logs would show us the specific errors causing the cleaning lights.

Your cleaning method is fine - you should clean only when the drive requests it. One possibility is that your cleaning tape picked up some contamination, so it might be doing more damage then good when you use it. You might want to try a new cleaning tape. (Also, the cleaning tapes are only good for 20 uses).

If possible, you might want to experiment using only new tapes for backups for a while. If that works fine, then try rotating in some of your old tapes. If the cleaning light starts coming on, it could be an issue with your tapes.

[Basheer_1]

I am also experiencing the exact problem. I have this windows system with Surestore vs80. when I purchased it, it was faulty. From the beginning it gave me headache. I called HP and they told to send back, after two weeks I got a brand new(?) piece of the drive. Worked fine for 2 months. after two months it again went wrong. Called again HP People. as usual I got another piece of Drive as replacement. it is now 1 week. and some of my old Tapes do not work. I dont know whats the problem. I am using best SCSI card also.

rgds

[David Ruska]

A DLT 80 drive should not fail in one month or two(even if you used it 24 hours a day).

Can you run Library & Tape Tools, click on the support tool, and then save the support ticket to a file?

Then either attach the support ticket to this thread, or email it to ltt_team@hp.com, and we should be able to indentify why the drive was having errors.

[Basheer_1]

Hello David,

Thanks for your response. Please find the attached Support ticket.
Wish to hear from you soon.

rgds

[David Ruska]

Thanks for posting the support ticket. Just for clarification, this is a Benchmark VS80 drive, not a Quantum DLT 80 drive, which I believe was the original poster's device (You did say vs80 in your message, but I had missed it). For others, the VS80 drive is a half-high version of the Benchmark DLT1 drive.

We will review the support ticket, and let you know what we find.

[Richard Seepaul]

Hello Cassie:
I am experiencing a similar problem with the DLT 80i in an LH3000R Netserver after approximately 1 year of no issues service.
We do not have the problem with DLT 40 Drives in the same model servers with all the same hardware and OS versions etc.
We are running NW 5.1 SP4 with ARCSERVE 7 patched.
The tape drive is attached to its own 2940UW controller.
The drive has suddenly started asking to be cleaned ( blinking cleaning light ) BUT only when a NEW tape is inserted on Friday Nights for the "offsite" backup.
The other nights of the week when the normal two week cycle tapes are used it never asks to be cleaned.
If a NEW tape is used for the backup on any night it also prompts to be cleaned.
We have tried different batches of "new" tapes and different "new" cleaning tapes.
If you find a solution I would be interested.

[David Ruska]

Richard,

I replied to your question in your new thread:
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x0d10543254bfd611abdb0090277a778c,00.html

If you're running Windows (not netware), the you can install HP L&TT (www.hp.com/support/tapetools).

With L&TT, you can view the support ticket for the drive, to find information such as power-on hours, tape motion hours, and the partcular errors in the drive error log. The Quantum drive generates error codes like (A401, A402, etc) related to the problems it encounters. You could generate an HTML report of the support ticket, post it to the forum, and then I could interpret it.

[greg cobb]

I have had exact same issue with Surestore DLT80 drive.
Have replaced once, purchased new cleaning (HP) brand tape, used some new tapes to test, and checked SCSI settings, none has worked as of yet. My last ditch effort is to set on own SCSI chain, with new SCSI cable...
I would appreciate any feedback anyone comes across on solving this issue.
GC

[Nicolas Florange]

We experienced also the same problems with a BENCHMARK DLT1 VS80 on an HP NetServer LC3. After one year, backup jobs failed with ID 9 and 11 in the Windows 2000 Event logs. Therefore, we replaced the tape engine and after two months, it stopped to work. We changed SCSI cable and it ran during several months. But now, we've replaced the Adaptec 29160LP SCSI adapter and we still have troubles during backups' jobs. We replaced everything (except the engineer). What can we do now?

[Nicolas Florange]

We experienced also the same problems with a BENCHMARK DLT1 VS80 on an HP NetServer LC3. After one year, backup jobs failed with ID 9 and 11 in the Windows 2000 Event logs. Therefore, we replaced the tape engine and after two months, it stopped to work. We changed SCSI cable and it ran during several months. But now, we've replaced the Adaptec 29160LP SCSI adapter and we still have troubles during backups' jobs. We replaced everything (except the engineer). What can we do now?

[Nicolas Florange]

We experienced also the same problems with a BENCHMARK DLT1 VS80 on an HP NetServer LC3. After one year, backup jobs failed with ID 9 and 11 in the Windows 2000 Event logs. Therefore, we replaced the tape engine and after two months, it stopped to work. We changed SCSI cable and it ran during several months. But now, we've replaced the Adaptec 29160LP SCSI adapter and we still have troubles during backups' jobs. We replaced everything (except the engineer). What can we do now?

[Nicolas Florange]

We experienced also the same problems with a BENCHMARK DLT1 VS80 on an HP NetServer LC3. After one year, backup jobs failed with ID 9 and 11 in the Windows 2000 Event logs. Therefore, we replaced the tape engine and after two months, it stopped to work. We changed SCSI cable and it ran during several months. But now, we've replaced the Adaptec 29160LP SCSI adapter and we still have troubles during backups' jobs. We replaced everything (except the engineer). What can we do now?

[Nicolas Florange]

We experienced also the same problems with a BENCHMARK DLT1 VS80 on an HP NetServer LC3. After one year, backup jobs failed with ID 9 and 11 in the Windows 2000 Event logs. Therefore, we replaced the tape engine and after two months, it stopped to work. We changed SCSI cable and it ran during several months. But now, we've replaced the Adaptec 29160LP SCSI adapter and we still have troubles during backups' jobs. We replaced everything (except the engineer). What can we do now?

[Dave Dewar]

Hi Nicloas,

Maybe, you should try replacing the engineer, as we have five messages from you all the same :-) only joking :-)

I find it interesting that all of those who have posted issues seem to be having most problems with the Friday tape. Are you all using the same backup strategy? and if so which one?

My guess is the Friday tape sees more use than some of the others if it is one of the backup strategy I am familar with and will see more wear.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar

[Jon Swift]

We have a fair number of these drives and we're getting the same problems. 6-9 months after putting many in they're failing with exactly these problems. We're waiting for a call back from HP Technical Support - but these days it's possible that may never come.

I've raised the issue to the Account Manager because we now want them swapped out for one that don't fail, or an alternative product.

To an organisation like ours, with many of these being in remote offices, eg. Guernsey, they aren't easy to keep swapping out !

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Just a guess... could it be an environmental problem? High temperature or excessive dust? Please check if your drive is not overheating. The best is to get LTT support ticket http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ltt/index.html and look into it - as I remember DLT80 drives log temperature
Eugeny

[Jon Swift]

All drives are in purpose-built Computer/Comms rooms with air conditioning and minimal dust, so it's unlikely it's environmental. Other ideas ?

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Please generate support tickets for some failing drives and attach to your next reply zipped
Eugeny

[zak1974]

We have errors A402 on COMPAQ DLT8000 internal drive and the tape gets stuck inside (not rewinding). I did the firmware upgrade to the latest and it did not help. From what I see with the cover off - the bob that takes in the tape ribbon from the cartridge just cannot stop soon enough when the tape was forwarding, then it makes some slack of the ribbon, andthe drive starts blinking all LEDs on the right. Press the EJECT button - more ribbon are rolled onto the bob, then when it tries to stop - some slack again - LEDs on right are blinking - repeat to taste.

[Peter Godron]

zak,
can you please open a new thread for this?
Can provide pointers to your problem!
Thanks

[Jeffrey Willemsen]

to zak:

A402 sounds like mechanical problems with the drive, as you describe it it looks like the supply reel motor is malfunctioning.

Regards,
Jeffrey

[useddlt.com]

You need to know, all DLT 8000 drives are built from Quantum, even all HP and Compaq ones. As we found out, the DLT 8000 was the absolutely maximum boost up of that DLT technology. (followed up by S-DLT).
That means, the motors grow hot on non streaming mode and the heads are very sensitive for dirt, for all kind of dirt.

So these DLT 8000 drives are "a little bit of pregnant", even as new ones. We did remove all shields, blocking the airflow and we did exchange a lot of motors, all the front ones.
Have a look at this web "www.useddlt.com". May be use the google translator, its all German, but thousands of pictures for explanation are there and a lot of help too.