V9 Tape Engine fails when erase from Library

[tdoc12]

very wierd stuff here.
I have an Overland Library Pro 19 slot library. I am running Brightstor V9.01 patch 5 with the v4 Device update. The past month, the tape engine would randomly fail and shut down. Until now I was not sure what caused it. If I were to inventory slot 8 and 9 for example, the last tape left in the drive would be 9. If I were to then erase slot 9, then the fail occurs and the tape engine shuts down. The error is:
"Tapeeng.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program." This is the only consistant behavior. This is the third time I have reinstalled the product and even to another server. Any ideas? I have the tape log turned on, but it does not seem to spit any errors back.

Thanks
Tim

 

[simoncox]

I had exactly the same problem after installing the latest device patch. In the end I just rebuilt the server with ARCserve 11.1.

 

[tdoc12]

I even had this problem before the device patch v4. It may have started with Cum.Patch 5. Did CAI have any suggestions or did you not contact them?

 

[vschumpy]

That's wierd - the error message sounds like you are running tapeeng as an application rather than a service.

Does the problem only affect slots 8 and 9 ?

Any errors recording in the tape library's log ?

This document, might help you out too :

http://supportconnect.ca.com/sc/redir.jsp?reqPage=search&searchID=TEC342813

 

[tdoc12]

Any slot has the problem as long as I inventory first, then try a erase of the same tape that is already in the drive. If for example I inventory slot 12 and 13, then ask it to erase 12. It will eject 13 (since it was the last one inventoried) and grab 12 and erase it. But if I ask it to erase 13 immediately after an inventory of 13, the tape engine will shut down. Today I totally uninstalled and reinstalled again and only brought it up to level 9.01. No patches 1,2,3,4, or 5. It works fine now. I will now slowly add patches in to see which one it bombs out on. I assume it will be patch 4a or 5. Either way, I have heard that CA does not have a fix but I cannot confirm that since I do not have a tech support contract. Does anyone know if this is still an issue with CAI? Their knowledgebase makes reference to a few tape engine problems that are still labeled "We are still working on this issue"

Thanks

 

[davidmichel]

If it keeps happening check the log directory for exception files, they are in the format of excptnxx.log. Check each one to see if the exception address is the same. If it is then the application is crashing each time at the same memory address and this points to a problem with the application.

In that case open an issue via e-mail that is still free. Explain the problem, detail clearly step by step how to reproduce the problem, send in all the exception logs, a tape engine debug log of it happening, and the Dr Watson log.

or pay the $95,

or live with it until you upgrade.