Error E6300 in ARCserve 2000 with LTO drive

[Vermaut Xavier]

Hi,

We have been using our Dell PowerVault 110T (Manufactured by HP) with ARCserve 2000 on our Dell Server Poweredge 6400 for months now without experiencing any problems but today something weird happened.

Our ARCserve 2000 log is now filled with the following error message :

E6300 Windows NT SCSI PORT Error [ABSL:2060 CMD:Oh] SCSI COMMAND RETRY

Any idea?

Many Thanks

Xavier

[Eric de Lange_2]

Hello,

Investigate your NT System Eventlog for SCSI related issues. make sure your SCSI HBA/cables/Termination are checked.

- Is the SCSI bus on the system Low voltage Diff or Single Ended ? (check the LED on the terminators)

greets,

-Eric

[Robert Bean]

Depending on what Ultrium drive you have determines the compatability with the Dell 6400 series server, you can check the compatability information at the following URL:

http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/compatibility/hardware/ultrium-dell/index.html

If you have a drive that is supprted with the additional scsi controller in the system, then I would recommend that you run L&TT. This is what we use to determine hardware or software issues with the unit. Stop all the services for your backup software & run L&TT. You can download the latest version of L&TT at the following URL:

http://www.hp.com/support/tapetools

[Dave Pearson]

Xavier,

Did you ever get this resolved? I am running into the same issue?

Many thanks!

Dave

[Vermaut Xavier]

Dave,

This problem still occurs. I searched a lot but never found a solution.

I don't think this could lead to problems as it only happens a few hours after each of my backups completes successfully.

I also had to mention that, up to now, I never had to restore a backup... Let's hope it will run without any problems then...

Let me know if you find the answer.

Xavier

[Bart Joris]

Hello there,

I'm experiencing the same issue as described here, but just recently, things got worse. Before last week, I received this error once a day, but all jobs kept running.

But now, I'm receiving this message almost everytime when I schedule a job by hand. And a lot of overnight scheduled jobs won't fire up anymore because of repeated E6300 errors.

The server is a Compaq DL380. Backupdevice is a SSL2020TL with 2 AIT 50 devices inside. Server is 2 years old. Backupdevice a bit more than 1 year old. Software used Arcserve 2000. Firmware of all hardware have been upgraded to last version last month, but it seems like it doesn't make any difference.

The only thing I can come up with is that the device is worn out only after one year of service... Or if somebody has other ideas, please let me/us know?

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart Joris]

Strange,

Did a manual inventory of all slots in Arcserve 2000. Restarted backup-job, and this worked without any hickup. Co??ncidence?

Bart

[Dave Pearson]

I ended up having the entire, scsi card, external tape autoloader, and cable replaced. This seems to have done the trick for me. It was all on warranty. I also bought some new tapes as I heard the DDS's go bad in about 6 months. Is that true?

[Vermaut Xavier]

Hello again,

I finally solved the problem. Here's what I did.

At first, I read the Arcserve 2000 online FAQ and found out that the firmware my Dell PowerVault 110T was currently using, was outdated (before:E16V - after:E21V). So, I browsed the Dell website for it and, after lots of searches, found it!

So, I upgraded the firmware thinking this could easily solve this annoying E6300 but no way! I got more E6300 errors than before!

before firmware upgrade : 1 E6300 every week
after firmware upgrade : 1 E6300 every second

I was getting more and more upset...

I then found out that a new Arcserve 2000 Service Pack (4) was available and installed it. To my surprise, those E6300 errors dissapeared. I am not yet able to say if this problem is totally solved but I am now able to work with Arcserve 2000 as before...

Let's see within a few weeks...

Xavier

PS: I also found a new driver (released on October 30th 2002) for my SCSI Card (AIC-7899 = Adaptec 39160 SCSI) which should also solve this time-out problem. This driver is WHQL!

http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R51504&sid=LAT_PNT_MOB_CPi_A〈=EN&lib=0&os=WNT5&searchtype=filter&devid=774&type=DRVR