StorageWorks DAT 40x6 Firmware Upgrade FAILED!

[CA1120211]

Trying to upgrade a brand new drive from H307 to latest H312 using L&TT. Program says upgrade is ready, but as soon as I say "OK" I get a message stating "Firmware Upgrade FAILED!" This message comes up immediately.

This is the second drive (first one didn't even get this far, it said no upgrade available), 3 different computers (1 Netware 6, 1 Win2K, 1 Win98), 2 different SCSI cables. Connected to an Adaptec AHA2940U2W, SCSI Bios is MultiLun enabled. Also, when L&TT loads, I get a message that says it was unable to identify all drives...there is only 1 drive in the autoloader library. Scan details shows "I/O Exception; Sense Key 5; Sense Code 0x2400; Invalid Field in CDB". Both drives have given this scan error.

Attached is a support ticket.

Please help!

[CA628575]

Todd,

I'm interested in this. Could you also send a Tool Status Report and the EventLog*.ltt files from the logs folder of LTT to ltt_team@hp.com, please? We will analyze them.

Regards,
Jan

[CA1120211]

Requested files are on the way via e-mail.

Thanks for your help!
Todd

[CA1127120]

I would be grateful to know if this was resolved as i have exactly the same problem. I am on to my second unit also.

A support case has been raised 1203993247 but no resolution has been found yet.

Thank you

[CA1120211]

Graham,

A representative of the HP L&TT Team contacted me regarding this issue after seeing this thread. She has a request in to engineering in hopes of getting an answer. Unfortunately we don't have one yet.

The issue seems to be with the newer revisions of the firmware (in my case H307). Here's a clip of information that I've received from HP...

"What has changed in the firmware is that your device responds with two SCSI addresses. Target + Lun 0 responds as the drive, and Target + Lun 1 responds as the robotics. Traditionally the firmware allowed numerous commands to be received on Lun 1. This is no longer the case."

I'm getting errors from both L&TT and BackupExec. It is known to HP that L&TT no longer works properly with these drives because of this and we're assuming that the same issue is causing the BKUPEXEC problems as well. So far, I've not received any further info or help. We discussed backreving the firmware but, like I said. we are waiting on a response from HP engineering as to how we need to proceed.

I will post any further info as I receive it.

[CA1127120]

Thankyou for your reply. I will keep you informed if we get a resolution.

Graham

[meloni]

Hi,
I had a similar problem, the autoloader and the tape do not communicate each other, and with L&TT I got the same erro, no way to upgrade or downgrade FW.
I'm using Backp exec and was able to configure anyway the unit as an autoloader, I can put toghether the autoloader and the tape drive, and they work as usual.
the only actual problem is with the diagnostic tool (L&TT) hope this can help someone

[CA1120211]

I too have Backup Exec (v9.0) but I cannot get it to work with this drive. Upon loading BKUPEXEC, I get a message stating the Multi-LUN support is not fully enabled. My current tape device is a 24x6 Autoloader and it's working fine so all my multi-LUN stuff is configured properly. So for now, I'm stuck with a new autoloader that I can't use.

Ugh!

[CA1127120]

I have now been informed that this is a firmware problem and my case has been elevated to the level 2 response team.

[CA1127120]

I have installed Veritas Backup Exec ver 9.1 rev 4691 this morning using the "keep drivers provided with tape unit" ie the HP drivers

This gave an error

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Removable Storage Service
Event Category: None
Event ID: 152
Date: 11/05/2004
Time: 08:42:45
User: N/A
Computer: GATEWAYSERVER
Description:
Error encountered when attempting to execute Media Label Library "BE". The DLL could not be loaded. Make sure the file exists and the path is correctly noted in the registry.
Data:
0000: 7e 00 00 00 ~...


I found an answer to this on the Veritas forum and cured it by putting ML_BE.DLL in the system 32 directory

Both Veritas & Removable Storage can now see the loader & library and a backup has been executed correctly.

The HP software still provides an error response - so i assume the problem is with HP's own software.

[meloni]

I can confirm you that I have the 9.01 rev 4691 version too, and backups are runnig fine. the problem is at the moment just with L&TT
marino

[CA1127942]

Does that mean that the error is totally related to the firmware upgrade procedure used from L&TT?

The functionality of the device is given and backups are working as expected?

[CA1120211]

Glad you all are getting help. I still have heard nothing back. My Backup Exec is v9.0 Build 4202 for Netware. Backup software will not load with the 40x6 autoloader installed.

[CA1120211]

OK, LT&T version 3.5 is now available and works correctly with the 40x6 Autoloader. The firmware upgrade to U312 was successful.

Now, hopefully my Veritas Bakup Exec 9.0 will load and run. That's my next step.

[CA1141039]

Todd,

I am using the same Version of Backup Exec and tape autoloader as you. I could not get the autoloader to work until I downgraded the firmware to H107. I am curious to know if you ever get yours to work with Firmware Version H312. Thanks! Steve

[CA1145677]

I received a tape unit with H307 loaded, this did not work, I upgraded to H312 which still did not work, I then downgraded to H107 and BackupExec loaded.

[CA1120211]

Steve & Angela,

It looks like I'm going to have to downgrade the firmware to H107 as well. How did you do this? Did you have to get specific help from HP techs?

Please help!
Thanks

[CA843380 · Accepted solution]

Hi Todd,

You can use LTT to downgrade your firmware to H107.

Use the "get firmware from web" option in LTT and select "show all firmware for all supported devices option" Scroll down the list and select H107 for product C5713A for download.

To downgrade this firmware to your device you will need to phone up HP support for a temporary LTT password. This will activate the options button on the update firmware part of LTT and in there is a tickbox to allow firmware downgrade.

Then select your device in the firmware update part of LTT and select H107 as the firmware and click on start to complete process.

Apologies that the downgrade process is so long winded. Downgrading is something we try to discourage as more recent versions of firmware will have fixes that we want to ensure our customers have. Unfortunately, on rare occasions we have the odd issue like this that appears to only work with older firmware at present.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar

[CA1141039]

Dave is absolutely correct in his response to getting a Firmware downgrade. There is a good reason for Firmware updates and that is to fix a problem with how hardware functions. I just feel software vendors need to be more proactive in keeping up with these firmware updates instead of telling us there is nothing wrong with their software. In my situation, I found Veritas to be very unresponsive to what I found from hours of troubleshooting for them. I wanted Firmware Revision H312 to work with BackupExec, but instead had to settle for H107 because my findings fell upon deaf ears.

Steve

[CA1120211]

Ok, got the password, downloaded the H107 firmware, and tried the downgrade procedure. Everything looked great until the very end of the progress bar when it displayed a message stating "Upgrade failed!". Upon exiting and reloading L&TT, everything appears normal and the formware version is reported as H107. Is the "Failed" message normal on a downgrade process? I hope I didn't royally toast it now.

Thanks for the help!!!
Todd

[CA1120211]

UPDATE: Ok, I went ahead and simply tried the downgrade again. This time, using H107 => H107 and the process finished with a "sucessful" message. Whew!!! Next step is to reconnect to my production Netware box and get BKUPEXEC running. This project will never end!!!

Thanks again!
Todd

[CA1120211]

FINAL UPDATE: Backup Exec for Netware 9.0 is now running using the 40x6 Autoloader with H107 firmware. I was never able to get things going with either the H307 or H312 firmware. The downgrade to H107 is the only way I could get my BKUPEXEC to recognize and use the drive.

Thanks to everyone here for the help on this issue!!!

Todd

[CA843380]

Hi,

Thanks for the update Todd, pleased to see you you got things working at last. I have raised this issue with the HP support Escalation folks. Watch this space.

Cheers,

Dave Dewar

[Ercan Eriş]

Dear Todd

i have hp 40x6 external and veritas 9.1

server is : hp dl380 g2

using smartarray 5i

i can see hp 40x6 as standalone not library.

what should i do? i cant download h107 firmware from web site.

help please..

[CA1120211]

Ercan,

Use the HP support web site to get "HP Storageworks Library & Tape Tools v3.5". Any version older than 3.5 will not work with the 40x6 autoloader. Using L&TT, you should be able to get the H107 firmware by following instructions earlier in this thread. If your drive already has H307 or H312 firmware installed, you will have to contact HP support for a temporary password that will enable L&TT to perform a firmware downgrade. Again, follow instructions found earlier in this thread. Dave Dewar (and others) were a huge help in solving my problem.

Good luck!