How to force eject tape

[helen hu]

Device: 1/8 ultrium 460 autoloader
Problem: Error A0, tape in driver can't be unloaded

How to force eject the tape in driver ? any advice ?

Thanks,

[Santhosh D · Accepted solution]

To force the tape to eject:
1. From the Home screen, press Previous or Next until the screen displays Support. Press Enter to select.
2. Press Previous or Next until the screen displays Force Drive to Eject Tape. Press Enter to select.
3. Press Previous or Next until the screen displays Drive. The second line on the display shows the bar
code number of the tape or state Full. Press Enter to select the desired drive to eject the tape.
4. If the tape is successfully ejected from the drive, the screen displays the slot location where the
tape was moved to.

[Santhosh D]

Error A0 means "Sled5 range of motion out of specification".

To resolve or isolate the issue, we need to Run the wellness test.

To run the wellness test:
1. From the Home screen, press Previous or Next until the screen displays Support. Press Enter to select.
2. Press Previous or Next until the screen displays Run Wellness Test. Press Enter to select.
3. Enter the administrator password, if prompted.
4. Press Previous or Next until the screen displays Select Cycles. Use Previous or Next to select a
number. Press Enter.
5. While the test is running, the screen displays progress as shown: Wellness test. The second line on
the display shows the number of loops completed.
6. When the test is complete, the screen displays either Test Passed or an error code.

[helen hu]

I tried the steps according to your advice, but I got another error code 90. I ALWAYS got error code 90 if I try to operate the device. why? Support ticket file is attached.
thanks,

[helen hu]

That is, I got error code "A0" when the device is turned on, and I got error code "90" when I try to operate this device.
I'm crazying...

[helen hu]

The following is result of test:


- Test '1/8 Autoloader Assessment Test' started on device 'HP ThinStor AutoLdr' at address
'0.0.0[0-2/10/0/15/0.0.0]'
- Analysis Results
- Executing 1/8 Autoloader Assessment Test...
- Unable to complete Test Unit Ready command, check for connectivity issues and applcation or OS
conflicts.
- Unable to get good status from autoloader. Test aborted.
- Operations Log
- Initializing...
- Test failed

[Santhosh D]

Error 90 relates to "Ends of elevator3 movement not in expected range".

I think the issue is with the Movement of the Robotics inside the Autoloader.

I would suggest you to remove the Magazines and reseat them properly and also do check if there is any obstacle which is causing issue.

[Santhosh D]

If the above steps doesnt help, then contact HP Support and they may help you with Hardware replacement options.

[helen hu]

Thanks for your help, but the problem is very strange. Today when I turned on the device, self-test passed successfully, there is no error code A0.But when I tried to load tape into the drive, the attention/media led is on with warning message 'Invalid tape', and then the tape was been pulled out of the drive and back into one slot. The media is C7971A 200GB tape cartridge, I tried other different fresh C7971A tape, the problem is still. I tried sevral times with reset > power off > power on > load one tape, but no effect. From LTT software, I knew that the firmware of the dirve is out of date, the current version is F7BP, the latest is F80P. It's same for the library, the current version is N12r, the latest is N14r. I confused, I'm not sure if I should update the firmware to latest vesion.
Any advices ? Thanks a lot,

[Santhosh D]

My suggestion would be always the Firmware should be upto date.

In many instances, we can see issues getting resolved and also you can upgrade the Firmware via Library and tape tools.

[helen hu]

Thank you,Santhosh,your advice is helpful, I've upgrade the firmware of library & drive,and now it's ok. But why firmware ? I've used this device for more than 3 years, it's OK until the problem appeared.

[Santhosh D]

FYI, Firmware updates includes Hotfixes for the Bugs when the product was released. so we have to make sure we are always running on latest firmware.

I have seen many issues resolved with Tape Libraries and Autoloaders where the issue gets resolved after a firmware update.

Anyway we are good to go as the issue is fixed!!