tape backup is hung!!

[Guest_imported]

My tape back is hung today when trying to take a listing of a tape with tar tvf /dev/rmt0.1

Both amber and green lights are flashing now. Is there a way to remove the tape drive and recreate it with out giving cfgmgr.

Thanks in advance

 

[gheist]

Wait some hours for scsi command to finish - lights will go away immediatly after (you cannot kill the command nor remove device, only lose your tape by rebooting system)

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks for the reply

ps –ef | grep tar showed me no tar process was running.

So I rebooted the machine. The machine booted up but still the amber and green are blinking.

Any thoughts ?

 

[KenCunningham]

Have you tried cleaning the drive?

 

[Yegolev]

You can hold the eject button down for, like, 45 seconds. That will put the tape drive through internal diags. I'm assuming you have a non-Mammoth 8mm. If you have a Mammoth (20GB with LED display) you should make sure you are using the correct type of tapes.

Oh yeah and you need to clean those things pretty regularly. They (5/10GB 8mm) also break a lot with little to no recourse but replacement. Call IBM and ask to be transfered to a live tech, then give the live tech a hard time until he agrees to dispatch a CE to replace your drive. Easy.

 

[avadh]

Hello Yegolev,
You are real Pain.

AS ex IBMer there are lots of wonderful people work at IBM. They take care of IBM customer. IBM support does on the phone diagnostics and if the diag -> advance diag -> problem determination shows a SRN ( service request number)

then IF the system is under warrenty or service contract then IBM WILL SEND CE OUT.

If you car breaks down and you take it to dealer - does dealer fix it for free?

If it is cover under warrenty then they will(it depends on what is broken and if that is covered or not) it will get fixed.

GET real life.

 

[Yegolev]

I used to do hardware support at IBM, so I know. True, I am a pain, but when you need it fixed.... I have my reasons, though, not just being mean-spirited.

There was not a whole lot I could do to fix the drive permanently. I could almost always get the warning light to go away, and there was even a whole bureaucratic procedure to follow when dealing with a bad 5/10GB 8mm, due to the sheer volume of 8mm calls we got. My suggestions do not apply to any other tape drive model, just the 5/10GB 8mm. The PE in Austin worked with us (the hardware call centers) about this whole thing, but I would get repeat calls and felt bad because I knew they customer was going to call me back sooner or later. Might as well give them a new drive, if of course they have a service contract. The drives usually survived the warranty period. If not, well I did what I could.

From memory: always use IBM tapes. Customer often complained about the cost. I could only say what I had been told to say, which is do not use anyone else's tapes, even Exabyte's oddly enough. Always clean the drives with an IBM cleaning tape. Keep them away from dust. If the drive heads are damaged, well no recourse but to replace.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk but sometimes you have to push it to get what you want, particularly with the IBM dispatchers. Sorry if I offended any IBM'ers, I'm just on the other side of the fence now and I know how to work the system. There are/were lots of fantastic people in the call center (Hasan, Tina, Blake, etc). But you never know who will pick up the phone, and that's a fact.

 

[Yegolev]

Forgot to mention, for a while there, ALL replaced 5/10GB 8mm were being sent to Austin for the PE to look over. There were a lot of them.

 

[KenCunningham]

As ex-IBM'ers you will no doubt be interested to hear that the roof of the IBM call centre at Spango Valley, Greenock, Scotland, blew off the other week (as well as my back garden fence, unfortunately). Wonder what that did for response times!