DI30 FAST Internal IDE keeps ejecting tape. I have tried everything! 1

[ewtwolf]

This is very frustrating. Obviously one because Onstream went bankrupt but also becuase nothing seems to work.

I have installed a new Onstream DI30 Fast internal IDE. When I insert a tape it immediately ejects it. I've followed the advice about removing the left screw, hell I removed all of the screws and it still happens.

I've disconnected the IDE cable, changed master/slave, different cables, different power cables and used three different tapes oh and ofcourse updateed the firmware and drivers...nothing gets this thing to stop ejecting the tapes. The only tape that will stay inside is the cleaning tape. It stays in for the 12 sec cycle. Windows XP recognizes the drive just fine.

So, I am praying that this can be fixed some way but remain doubtful. Has anyone else had a simular problem and been able to fix it?

I would greatly appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Edward Trevino

 

[gwootton]

ewtwolf, unfortunately, this means the tapes read head or the loading mechanism is broken. It cannot read the tape headers. The drive will need to be replaced.
Thanks,
Greg

 

[ewtwolf]

I figured it would be bad news.

Thanks for your reply,

Edward

 

[ovezica]

Hello,
It happened to me today. Everything working aparently.
DI30 IDE installed under Win2k Pro SP3 german edition.
Than I did 2 mistakes:
-I have updated the firmware to 3.14
-I have inserted once the cartridge upside down (I was tired)
After all the tape drive is OK, The Echo software says eveything is OK.
The tape ADR cartridge gets ejected everytime in seconds. Sometimes stays in and get rewinded till the tape goes off the reels. I managed in setting the tape back, but the issue remains.

Downgrade of the firmware I am afraid there isn't any...
I will check if something is damaged at the head...

Any other idea? Do not say buy another tape. I have to read this ADR30 mandatory!

Thank you dear new friends!

Question:

 

[peterdavis99]

22/6/2004

I am having this problem and from what I have read, others have too.

The tape is driven by a little wheel and if there is too much drag on this, (perhaps if the drive belt stretches??) the tape may eject.

So, I changed the motor and wheel and the effect is the same. I have cleaned the tape head but this has no effect.

I will try changing the head.

Spares are easily available and the tape drive can be serviced internally quite easily. Try it, you have nothing to lose.

However, at the moment,I have not found the cause of the fault. Please let me know if you have.

Also, please note that I am using the latest firm ware (4.13) and this is not a cause of the problem

 

[ovezica]

Hello again,
I have opened the unit and I have found a damaged switch on the guiding rails of the platform that loads and ejects the tape. I was happy and I have fixed it. This was explaining a premature eject: the firmware does not get a confirmation from an intermediary switch. I have fixed it!
Guess what: now it loads the tape, than the head tries to read and in a second it spits the cartridge out!
I simulate a load and i push with a finger only the switch that confirms the cartridge is 100% in. Head starts to move up and down, pinch roll tries it too... No eject.

I catched the cartridge inside and cut the power off. Power back on: 1 second reading, tape running, again 1 second reading, desperately lookin for something... and eject after 15 seconds.

I conclude that there is something wrong with the tape.
Funny is that with the old firmware everything was OK. Tape in, but I/O errors.

I will give up. This hardware reports as TAPE TEST, as in another thread here somebody have an issue, too.

It ejects the tape when asked from the ECHO... It reports well for Windows... It looks like an opened control loop somewhere, switch or missing data.

I forgot to say: everything happens without any IDE connector too! Do not suspect the O/S!

Is there any tracking lane on the tape? What is the head looking for? It should have feed back from the tape movement and it seems it hasn't. Who can explain me the data structure on the tape? What are the perforations for?

Regards, Adrian

 

[peterdavis99]

Thank you Adrian for this useful information. I think I can see the two little switches which indicate that a tape is in the drive.

Still, my pinch roller is moving anyway. I cannot tell if the tape is actually moving but the tape head does not move up and down. Is it supposed to?

I changed the head for another one but it is still the same result. Maybe they are both broken but it seems unlikely.

I read a reply from a former Onstream employee who said this eject problem was very rare so I am mystified.

The holes on the tape I suspect are to indicate the start and end?

If all else fails, Hastec offer a repair service.
Please let me know how you get on.

Peter

 

[ovezica]

Hi Peter,

I had no time to make any progress. The head can pitch. It can translate from one side to the other one of the tape. It has two cilinders on its back and rolls on them. A linear motor positions the head up or down, according to some alghoritm.

Now sit down:
The tape has 192 tracks!
The head writes and reads on 8 channels simultaneously!
Spatially Distributed Error Correction Code is used.
I thing that the directory structure is everywhere on the tape repeated between tho holes. Not sure about this.
The head should read information from the tape speed. If this is missing the unit assumes that the band is broken and ejects the tape. Most tape recorders do this.

If the tape is inside, when power comes on it has to stay in. Mine just does a self test 3 times. Rolls backwards, head up, head down.... rolls forwards... again head "reading & rolling". All is done with no PC connected. Only a power source used.

Normally the tape stays in everytime power comes on. What ejects the tape:
-tape stucked
-tape broken (some units use a ray of light from a LED - remember there is a transparent window on the cartridge front)
-cartridge mispositioned
-load sequence improperly done

The head has two flexible contact-strips that connect it to the board. They should be also checked. Everybody reported that the issue came suddenly and then persisted. So I assume a head connection can be broken. I did my mistake too! Inserted the tape upside down. There is always a reason.

OK. I'll keep you updated about my quest inside ADR world. I can tell 100% that a protection works. The bad news is we do not know wich one.

Adrian

 

[peterdavis99]

Hello again.

I have been going through all Onstream postings on this site and trying to piece together the jigsaw. This problem appears to re-appear in another thread but this time is identified as a tape problem.

Some people have opened the tapes, re-wound them and then found everything works normally. Changing the tape (as you and I and everyone else has tried) did not work as all the tapes were gradually being wound too far past the end (or start?) marker.

Maybe I'll try this next.

 

[precisiontape]

I have encountered the same problem with the tape being immediately kicked out with an ADR2 60Gig IDE drive. This is what I found after much head banging.
Never could get the drive to work in that particular machine (XP Pro), even after upgrading the firmware. Took the drive and put in another one of my machines (XP Pro). Drive worked the first time. Then, removed the drive from that machine and put it in another XP Pro machine which has identical hardware to the original machine which I had the problem with. Tape drive worked the first time. Ok, so what's going on here.... Not sure yet, but my only guess is: on the first machine I did not have TapeOnce utility when the drive was initially installed and the drive was installed by XP Pro. After I had problems I tried to use the TapeOnce utility to install the drivers, but couldn't get the drive to work. On the other machine (with identical hardware), I didn't let XP Pro install the driver and installed the driver from the TapeOnce utility. I have to think the windows registry is in a state where something in the driver(s) for the drive is slightly different and that's causing the problem. My next step is to clean the problematic box, reinstall XP Pro, use TapeOnce to install the driver(s) and see if it works after that.