Hp DLT VS80 Tapes Drive Problem

[GWatson]

Hi,

Hope you can help.

I am having problems with an internal HP DLT VS80 tape drive. It's not working in Veritas Netbackup, it detects the drive but won't read the tapes. The server is a HP Proliant ML350 G4

So I installed the Library and tape tools to see what's going on. It also detects the tape drive, the "Device analysis" test succeeds as does the "Device Self Test".

However the problems begin when I run the "Connectivity" test. This fails, as does the "Media analysis" & "Read\Write" Test.

The Device Analysis was completed and no problems were found. This does not guarantee a failure-free device, but rather indicates that no known problem was identified on the device.
Device Analysis - PASSED.
Device Self Test - PASSED.

Connectivity Test - FAILED.
Please check the configuration of your SCSI Bus, proper termination, proper installation of all required drivers. Then re-run the test.

I have checked the SCSI cable and reseated it.

Both Driver and Firmware are upto date.

HP have agreed to replace the drive, but I am not sure it's a hardware problem, although it is making strange noises and starts what sounds like loading the tape at random times.

 

[GWatson]

Here's more detail from the log, maybe it makes sense to someone.

|__ Test 'Connectivity Test' started on device 'HP DLT VS80' at address '2/0.6.0'
|__ Operations Log
| |__ Performing Device Self Test
| |__ Configuration connectivity test parameters
| |__ Verifying device data path via loop-back test
| |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| | |__ The test function encountered an unrecoverable error condition, the test failed.
| |__ Test failed
|__ Failed

 

[buyhptoday]

Sounds like this is really bad. You might want to check to see if your machine is still under warranty. If the machine is under warranty then I would call it in for replacement. If you are not sure how to do this contact me and I can do this for you. I also have this instock depending on the part numbers you are needing and I will also do a core exchange to help you on the cost of the unit.

Jay Simon
360 Technologies Inc.
888-883-0360
service@360tech.com
Authorized HP/Compaq Dealer

 

[fsherman]

Before you go replacing too much I would check a couple of items. I saw a very similar situation with one of my servers and what it ended up being was an incompatibility between the SCSI card and the server. Here are a couple of items:
First, verify that the SCSI card and the server are compatible (there is no compatibility reference table on HP's website but check the voltage of the slot where the card plugs into the server and the voltage of the SCSI card itself)
Second, check device manager and make sure that the driver loaded for the tape library is generic (device manager should say Unknown medium device, so something similar to that) the driver that Windows has loaded for the library may be conflicting with the drivers that Netbackup is using.
Third, if the the firmware was updated after Veritas was installed it may have detected the library as a different hardware type. Look on Veritas's website there should be a way to update this information in Veritas without reinstalling the application. I know there was with Backup Exec.

These problems are particularly tricky, it took me almost a month to resolve my issue.

Fred Sherman

 

[MikeBatters]

We have also had an issue with VS80 Drives. The DLTs you are using don't happen to have been used in a std 40/80GB DLT as opposed the the SFF VS80 unit do they.

Apparently once they have been used in a Std DLT80 they cannot be used in a VS80 drive without first being magnetically blanked (big eletro magnet) as i understand it.

I know it sounds completely preposterous but we had a drive that just didn;t work at all. We put a new tape in an away it went! All the old tapes ended up being replaced!

Mike

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