OnStream's Technical Support 5

[ChrisTyrrell]

Has anybody been able to get technical support from OmStream lately? I've been trying for the last several days. Their on-line technical support form takes me back to their home page as soon as I click on any language and their London telephone number seems to be constantly busy. I've even tried calling one of their overseas numbers and that seems to be busy as well. What's happening to OnStream?

 

[7wins]

Looks like they have closed the doors. I have been unable to get sales or support folks on the line and the support form is gone. I am working thru a major reseller now to find out what happened. I will let you know if I hear any more. Hope you will do the same.

 

[7wins]

CDW Sources have this message psoted on internal systems,
"Onstream has filed for bankruptcy. Operations have shut down until the proceedings are completed"

 

[ChrisTyrrell]

Up to about 2 years ago, OnStream's head office and intellectual property centre were in the States. About then, OnStream filed for bankruptcy and all of the intellectual property, development centre and the head office were transfered to the Netherlands (I think). Are you sure not refering to that occasion? I haven't seen anything about OnStream going bankcrupt a second time. If they have gone bankcrupt a second time, I wonder when they'll go public about it.

 

[7wins]

Yes, I am sure. I have checked with my VARs and this is what they have been told. I am aware of the previous financial issues. If a company is up and healthy, then they do not cut-off ties to their resellers. When I spoke with CDW about OnStream storage solutions, the quote above is what he provided.

 

[midntsurfr]

Can't get through to tech support or the sales line. Did a quick search for "Onstream Bankruptcy" and turned up this article:

http://www.smalltimes.com/print_doc.cfm?doc_id=6040

Looks like Onstream filed for Bankruptcy sometime on or before May 23, 2003 according to this article. It also addresses Onstream's previous Bankruptcy filed back in 2001.

 

[gwootton]

Here's the deal with onstream. I know b/c I used to work for them as the head tech support supervisor. Onstream MST, which is onstream data's sister company, was not turning a profit and pulled onstream data down with it, as there was no way to seperate the two companies. Bankrupcy was filed on Apr. 29th 2003. We shut down the phones after we were notified. Any further questions, don't hesitate to email me. If you need any support, I'll help you out to the best of my abilities.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[ChrisTyrrell]

O.K., the website

http://www.onstream.com

(and

http://www.onstreamdata.com)

now seems to have finally been swithced off. Why did it take so long? Has the distributorship been told yet? If the data side of the whole bussiness was brought down by the MST side, perhaps the data side can rise again from the ashes. Any chance of that happening?

 

[gwootton]

Yeah, the website finally shut down, it took a while though. the distributors were notified even before I was about onstream's bankrupcy. As far as data rising from the ashes, there is already several investors looking at purchasing the data side of the company, and reorganizing, but that's about all the info i have. the court in the netherlands has assigned someone to reorganize the company, but who knows how long that'll take.

Let me know if there's anything else i can help you with. Like I said, i used to work for onstream, so if you're having problems, let me know. I've got a bunch of knowledge that's worthless unless i can find ppl with problems .

--Greg

 

[Homerz]

Hi Greg.

I don't have a technical problem (sorry to disappoint) but I am shocked at OnStream biting the dust ... again.

So much for the warranty!

What worries me, is that eventually this thing is going to develop a problem (it happens to all hardware sooner or later) and I won't be able to do a thing about it. Meanwhile, I only have 2 ADR50 tapes, and I always planned on buying more. Guess I left it too late

Where can I get ADR50 media from in the UK?

I've searched every UK eTailer I know (dabs, simply, watford, micro warehouse et al) to no avail.

If OnStream Data don't rise from the ashes, what product would you recommend as a (similar) replacement, in ultimate inevitability of hardware failure?

Oh, wait a minute, I *do* have a technical question ... whoopee! I'll start a new topic.

[H]omer

 

[gwootton]

Hi homerz,

I know that verbatim made media for this unit, so you may still be able to find the media from CDW or someone of that nature. Other than that, I dunno. As far as a similar replacement, Onstream Data pretty much had a niche as an inexpensive backup solution, everyone else's tape drives seem to have a higher cost per media and for the drives themselves. Also, I have very little information about anything that isn't onstream, so I can't be of much help there.

--Greg.

 

[Creech]

We just upgraded our NT server to Win 2000 SBS. However the echo software version 3.1 which shipped with the unit doesn't work with 2000. Given that Onstream doesn't exist any longer, does anybody know where I might get a 2000 version of the software?

TIA,
Matthew in CO--not far from Longmont.

 

[bchdm]

Mr Wooton,
I use the french version of echo1safe 3.7
I have a problem with the letters wiht accent in the files.
Everything goes right with the files with accent in Dos and Windows XP french, but the soft echo 3.7 does not recognise these letters. The soft echo 3.7 does not save the files with an accent then.

Thank you in advance.

HDM

 

[gotztofly]

Does anyone know why the adr2 60gb tapes keep spititng out at me?

Two of them started doing it to me the other day.

It will take all others just fine? I am running win2k sbs

 

[gwootton]

Alright.
Creech, the echo software that was available for free of onstream's website was not compatible with server operating systems (NT, 2000) but was compatible with workstation o/ss. However, 1vision's 1safe v/ 3.7 is compatible with server, you may want to try that.

bchdm, I have never heard of 1Vision having problems with accents in files, but you may want to switch to another sw and see if it works ok. Try reinstalling maybe, but I was under the impression that that wouldn't be a problem.

gotztofly, if it's just those 2 tapes, check and make sure they haven't despooled, first of all. Just lift that little door up and make sure the tape is still in there. When they get kicked out like that it's usually for that reason, basically it can't read any header information on the tape.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Homerz]

Hi all,

In case anyone missed it, the "technical" question I had is at:
thread532-627096 someone (Greg?) can help me out.

TIA.

[H]omer

 

[gwootton]

Just a little FYI. I put a bunch of FAQs in the FAQ section on here, just some stuff from the files. You guys should check it out.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[kutmans]

Hi there!

Mark here, from the netherlands.

I live near Eindhoven, where onstream used to be located. I have heared from many people that they have closed their doors. Rumors are that Onstream is going to 'restart' in the US of A....
I have a problem with a di-30 fast. When I boot the system where it has worked for a couple of weeks now, just after booting the list of ide devices shows all devices correctly except for the onstream di-30... instead in displays "sssssssssssssssssss" or other 'mumbo jumbo"

can anyone help me out with this one?!
I have tried to flash the drive but this won't work because the software can not find a drive...

please shout out anything that comes to mind...
cheers

for the people who are looking for content of the former onstream support site:

http://www.hastec.nl/drivers/onstream/support.htm

This is the site of a dutch VAR who seems to be interested in getting onstream up and running again...?!

 

[Creech]

Gwooton, I assume that you've had good luck with 1safe. Any pitfalls or problems I should be aware of before loading it onto our server?

Thanks,
Matthew.

 

[MachineGreen]

I looked both in the FAQ, and the online copy of OnStream's site, to no avail, The problem is simple: The unit (ADR50 Internal) has been istalled and working for over a year. Now, when I put in a tape, it does a brief retensioning, then quiets down. The LED indicator continues to blink (continuous, short flashes) and Windows reports that the drive is empty. I have tried different OSs, but no luck. Also tried brand spanking new tapes. The only way it will not blink is if the unit is disconnected from the SCSI card (I'm afraid this may slow down the data transfer rate too much ...). I think it is one of two things: 1) Unit/Head failure. 2) SCSI Card problem (though the CD and scanner on the same card have no problems). So Mr. gwooton, any ideas? (I'm sure having an expert on the board is appreciatted by more than myself) If not, perhaps I'll have to see if Homerz in interested in some tapes: I have 8, including 3 new ones.