Thanks to everybody who helped me with the above
briefly
-------
the problem turned out to be an incorrect cable - a differential
SCSI cable had been used instead of a non-differential cable
details
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After I posted, further inspection revealed lines like
Aug 24 11:32:15 vmunix: scsi0: SCSI Error for target 10 sist0 = 0x4
Aug 24 11:32:33 vmunix: scsi0: SCSI Error for target 10 sist0 = 0x4
in /var/adm/messages
(target 10 = the tape device) , and using the scu utility :
scu> verify media starting 100 records 100
Verifying 51200 bytes on /dev/ntape/tape2 (DLT7000), please be patient...
scu: 'verify tape' failed on device 'DLT7000' at nexus [0/10/0]
scu: Sense Key = 0x8 = BLANK CHECK - No-data condition occured,
Sense Code/Qualifier = (0, 0x5) = End-of-data detected
scu: Error number 1 occurred on Mon Aug 28 12:26:58 2000
and finally somebody realised the cable could be incorrect.
(Didn't think of cable initially as communication with device
did work up to a point)
Several people suggested using DLTTape IV rather than IIIXT with this
drive and I have followed up on this, it seems to work well now that the
correct cable is installed.
Thanks again to all those who helped out.
Cheers
Alan McCulloch
Received on Tue Aug 29 2000 - 21:32:18 NZST