While using DAT USB drive-the tape ejects on reboot

[murthy_3]

Hi All,

We are seeing few instances of the above. We tested this with USB DAT 40 and 72. We have tested with 2000 and XP and same results. Has anyone seen similar problems?

This is a major problem if it is a remote site. The customer wouldnt want the tape to eject each time they reboot the server.

Regds,
Murthy

[Vincent Fleming]

Make sure that the SCSI card in the server is set NOT to bus reset on start-up. That can cause such behavior. There is usually a setting in the BIOS for this.

Note that most tape drives will rewind or rewind and eject on bus reset.

Good luck,

Vince

[murthy_3]

Hi Vince,

Thanks for the info.

But the device here is USB and not SCSI.

Regds,
Murthy

[Vincent Fleming]

Ah... true. Missed that part. I don't see to many USB tape drives in the external storage business.

However, I would expect a tape drive to act like a tape drive - both SCSI and FC drives react badly to bus resets.

However, I did find this:

Microsoft supplies a USB Mass Storage driver called USBSTOR.sys, this has some limitations for tape device use, so it is recommended that an HP replacement driver is used called HPUSBMSC.sys.

The HP USB Mass Storage driver is installed by running a driver installer supplied on CD with StorageWorks drives and is also available on the Support Web site.

I would start with that, if you haven't done so already.

Personally, I would not suggest the use of a USB DAT drive for backup in a remote site. A 1/16 Autoloader is much more easily remotely administered and reliable. The fact that it has multiple tapes in it and the software changes them for you removes the problem of the Secretary or whoever you've got changing the tapes not changing the tapes or cleaning the drive, etc.

I've seen many remote sites lose all their data because their backups were on tapes that had been written to hundreds of times. They wear out... in less than a year if you don't change it. You might be surprised how often this happens and how few people think about tape wear.

Regardless, good luck with the drive. Try the support line if the driver changes (if any) don't solve your problem or nobody else here suggests something.

-Vince

[Jacob Zeeman]

Hi Murthy,

Vincent is correct. You must use the USB drivers that come with the tape drive. If they are not used Windows will not be able to communicate with the tape drive.

Once you have the right drivers loaded you can then look at the firmware of the drive using Library and Tape Tools.

You can download Library and Tape Tools from http://www.hp.com/support/lttdownload

Thanks,
Jake Zeeman
HP Server Storage

[David Ruska]

Jacob wrote:
> You must use the USB drivers that come with the tape drive. If they are not used Windows will not be able to communicate with the tape drive.

That is not correct. From the users guide:

"hp_usbstor: This is a USB Storage device used by hpdat and it replaces the Microsoft usbstor driver for HP USB tape drives. The HP StorageWorks USB DAT drives will work with the Microsoft usbstor driver, however, HP strongly recommends the use of the hp_usbstor driver as it offers improved functionality"

Murthy,

The HP product engineering team attempted to duplicate your tape eject problem. They reported: "We power cycled with the drum spinning, with the drum stopped etc, and the power cycle itself is not able to cause the tape to eject. We can therefore only suggest that it is something in the specific boot up procedure that causes this to happen."

There testing was done with the HP drivers.

Can you confirm if the problem occurs even with the HP tape AND USB storage drivers installed?

Any additional details you can provide (such as backup application installed, RSM enabled, etc) may help. Also, collecting an L&TT support ticket immediately after the tape eject (once the server is running) may show something in the device logs. Have you also looked in the Windows system event log for any indications of a possible problem?

- HP engineering

[Jacob Zeeman]

My mistake David. I was just going with what we have on training material here on Frontline support for the USB DAT drives.

Thanks for the clarification on that. I will note that down in our USB info page.

[David Ruska]

Jacob,

It was a minor point, although important to note that just because the device is communicating to the OS doesn't mean that it has the HP USB and DAT drivers installed. HP's solutions testing is based on the HP drivers, so that is what we strongly encourage folks to use.

It will be interesting to find out of the eject behavior here is related to the use of the MS USB storage driver.

[David Ruska]

Murthy,

FYI, if you are using backup exec, it requires the latest HP DDS driver (1.5.3.1). From the Veritas website on the DAT 40/72 USB: "The Hewlett Packard HPDAT.SYS driver v1.5.3.1 (or higher) is required for use with Backup Exec for Windows Servers."

[murthy_3]

Hi David/team,

I tried with HP USB driver HPUSBMSC.SYS and this is when the problem occurs. I replaced this driver with USBstor.sys and we did not see the problem (this is in my test environment)

With the HP driver, I did not have problem backing up or restoring (but the eject problem was there).

With the USBSTOR.SYS, the Eject problem was not seen (though I had problem while trying to restore after a successful backup. But this could be some silly configuration problem which I will try to isolate)

One more strange problem I noticed when the USB DAT 72 external drive was connected to a DL380G3 Windows 2000 Advanced server was that the OS did not load. Received error "Attempting to boot from CD rom" and just hung for ever. This happend each time after reboot whether the USB drive was on or off.
I had to change the boot order to HDD->CD rom->FDD....(there is no USB option)

Regds,
Murthy

[David Ruska]

Murthy,

> tried with HP USB driver HPUSBMSC.SYS and this is when the problem occurs. I replaced this driver with USBstor.sys and we did not see the problem.

Thanks for the clarifacation. This certainly warrants some investigation.

To help us potentially duplicate this issue, could you provide the follow (for each unique configuration that has this issue):

Specific OS type/version and Service Pack.
System Hardware Model
ISV (backup application)
Windows RSM state (enabled/disabled)
Any HP Insight Management Agents installed?
HP USB Mass Storage Device driver version
HP DAT driver version
Specific HP Dat product
HP DAT product firmware revision

Sorry, that's a long list, but it will make it more likely for us to duplicate & isoloate your problem.

> One more strange problem I noticed when the USB DAT 72 external drive was connected to a DL380G3 Windows 2000 Advanced server was that the OS did not load...

Sounds like a separate problem. I'd like to focus on the eject issue first. Perhaps you could start a new thread for the boot problem.

- HP Engineering -

[murthy_3]

Hi David,

Thanks for following up on this and apologise for the delay in replying back with all the info as I was away yesterday.

Specific OS type/version and Service Pack.
Windows 2000 advanced server Service pack 4

System Hardware Model
DL380G3 (System ROM: 9.15.2004)

ISV (backup application)
Windows NT Backup

Windows RSM state (enabled/disabled)
Tried both (enabled, started & disabled)

Any HP Insight Management Agents installed?
7.30.0.0

HP USB Mass Storage Device driver version
6.4.1010.0
(USBSTOR.SYS version 5.00.2195.6655)

HP DAT driver version
HPDAT.sys 1.5.2.2

Specific HP Dat product
HP DAT 72 USB (External) - C7438A

HP DAT product firmware revision
ZU55

Regds,
Murthy

[David Ruska]

Thanks Murthy, that should help engineering take a look at this first of next week.

Are there any messages of interest in the system event log around the time of the reboot?

[David Ruska]

Murthy,

The engineering team asked if we could raise an elevation to them to work on this. Do you have an open support call with HP on this issue? If so, could you provide the case number and I could request support to elevate a case to (tier 3) engineering? If not, could you contact HP support and open a case?

[murthy_3]

Hi David,

Thanks for following up on this.

Yes I have a WFM case for this (2206580314).

I also have elevated this WFM case via CPR process and waiting to hear from someone.

Regds,
Murthy

[David Ruska]

Murthy,

Engineering took a look at the configration details you provided.

> HP USB Mass Storage Device driver version
> 6.4.1010.0 (USBSTOR.SYS version 5.00.2195.6655)

> HP DAT driver version
> HPDAT.sys 1.5.2.2

These are both out of date, and the USB driver in particular has a known issue that can exhibit the symptom you mention. You need version "07/18/2005, 6.05.2000.0"

Both of these drivers are bundled together in the DrvInstaller.exe bundle labeled "Windows Driver for HP DAT Tape Drives" and listed as version 1.5.3.1 (the DAT tape driver version).

You can find this in the DAT 72 USB external downloads under "Microsoft Windows 2000". For some reason, the driver download is not listed under most of the sub categories of win2000 (like Advanced Server).

This link might work to get you there:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=501423&prodNameId=501426&swEnvOID=181&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-34118-1

So upgrade the DAT/USB drivers and let us know if that does not resolve this problem.