dropping leader

[Salvador Calabria]

I've got a brand new "HP surestore DLT vs80e" tape drive. I am using HP dlt IV data cartridges C5141F. The matter is that I launched a backup process of 2 280 Mb files, but it crashed. I was to stop the tar process, eject the tape and reboot the system to kill the tar, because after killing it, it remainded running.
After that, the tape doesn't accept any cartridge, and I found that the situation matches the 'dropped leader' symptoms.
That is, whe, I try to load the cartridge, the tape makes a flapping inside the drive as the take-up reel rotates. The drive will reset, causing the flapping sound again for a short time. The drive will then fail, all tape motion will stop, the Ready LED will be on solid (solid light), and the Drive Error LED will be flashing (flashing light), but only untili the tape is ejected.
I think that my tape drive is in a 'dropped leader' status and I was wondering whether there is a way of recovering it to a OK status and I am able to use it again.
Thank you

[CA713937]

From what you describe, it sounds like a dropped leader. With the tape out, you can open the tape door and look to see if the drive leader is properly positioned. The leader, with mushroom end visable, should be held on an arm at the rear, where it would engage with a tape when loaded. If the leader is dropped, it will be wound up in the drive, and you will not see it at all.

I do not believe a dropped leader is customer repairable. It is typically caused by a tape with a bent or broken loop, which the drive leader misses when loading the tape. You should inspect the tape leader end on the tape that first failed.

You will need to call HP support on this one.

[CA756694]

There is a document that will be available on our website shortly on how to re-attach a leader.

I'll attach it here.

[Doug Campbell_1]

Is the document for fixing the leader the same for the DLT30 drive? If not can one be posted?