Thanks for the quick responses from alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com and Dr. Tom
Blinn! The exact problem is still a mystery, but it has been resolved
by yet another new tape drive. Our next step was to be a new enclosure,
but that has been avoided (for now, at least). I'm still not convinced
that the problem won't reappear later, given that we're on our third
drive in five days. :-)
I received some helpful suggestions for things to check, including the
device firmware (both scsi controller and tape device) and the DDR
database. The enclosure was also mentioned as a possibility; it was
suggested that a certain number of correctable or uncorrectable errors
could trigger the cleaning light.
The enclosure is high on my suspect list due to the first new drive not
fixing the problem and the problem following the drive to whatever other
alphas we moved it (which had identical drives/enclosures that were
working properly and had identical hardware/software/firmware to the
original machine).
Thanks again!
Dawn Lovell
CenturyTel
dlovell_at_cte.net
Original question follows...
> We have a TZ88 drive (in an external BA350 rack mount) that stopped
> working once we upgraded its associated Alpha 1000 from DU 4.0b to DU
> 4.0d and firmware 5.0. The cleaning tape light comes on while the drive
> is loading any tape we give it. We've tried various cleaning tapes,
> including a new one, only to have the same result when we put in another
> data tape.
>
> Our local Compaq service person came over and replaced the drive,
> only to have the same results. New drive, same problem. :-) I should
> also mention that we have two other systems (identical models and
> configurations) that went through the same upgrade process without
> any problems. The tz88 drives on those work fine. We even swapped
> drives with one of the other alphas, only to have the problem follow
> the drive to the new machine.
>
> We'll be getting back in touch with Compaq about this, but I wanted
> to run it by the group, as well. Would a problem with the enclosure
> and/or the cable trigger the cleaning light? Just as another data point,
> we also moved the drive to another location within the enclosure, but
> had the same problem.
>
> Thank you for your time and assistance!
>
> Dawn Lovell
> CenturyTel
> dlovell_at_cte.net
Received on Mon Apr 19 1999 - 16:02:09 NZST