Backup stops-Devices says ATAPI tape empty but not

[khylan]

I have installed a trial version of Professional 6.0 onto Win98SE. Hardware includes a single 9GB SCSI hard drive and an ATAPI HP Colorado 5GB Travan tape drive with the latest firmware. The HP tape drive is the master on the secondary IDE controller with no slave device. The IDE CD-ROM is the master on the primary IDE controller. The BIOS on the Supermicro P6DBS motherboard is up to date, which includes BIOS updates to the embedded Adaptec SCSI controller.

 

 

 

Retrospect stops during a backup. This happens running either EasyScript or manual Backup. It happens on either complete or selective Backup. It just merely stops running but the PC is not frozen and neither is Retrospect. If you stop/abort the Backup, go to Configure, Devices, it shows that the HP Travan is empty immediately after the abort. Pop out the tape, put it back in and it shows that it is busy reading the tape and can then retension and/or erase it.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance to all who assist on this.

 

 

 

Kirk Hylan

 

khylan@insitenet.net

[AmyJ]

An empty drive is reported by the hardware itself and can be an indication of many things. I've listed below some things to check for:

 

 

 

Have you tried other tapes? The tape drive may be hitting a bad spot and unloading the media. Clean the heads and try a different tape.

 

 

 

Was ASPI installed correctly? Run ASPICHK (in the Retrospect Program Files folder) to make sure ASPI is "green" and all components are at version 4.60. If not, try a reinstall (ASPIINST.exe). If you still have problems, consult the Retrospect User's Guide or Adaptec's website.

 

 

 

If you still don't have any luck, I'd recommend the following hardware troubleshooting steps.

 

 

 

Try straightening out the internal ribbon cabling.

 

 

 

Try new internal cabling.

 

 

 

Try updating the firmware on the device if possible (see the drive manufacturer's website).

 

 

 

Finally, try bringing this drive to another PC and trying the backup. If it works here, you could be having a problem with either the ATAPI bus on the original machine or with the PC itself.