Compaq 20/40 (DLT4000)

[nuvs]

Hello!

 

I am trying to use a Compaq 20/40 DLT drive with Retropsect 5.0.238 on OS 9.2.2 (Blue & White tower).

 

I am getting odd errors/problems with backups:

 

• error 204 (device busy) frequently crops up — Retrospect then asks for a new backup set member
• error 212 (media erased) occurs occasionaly
• Inserting a second tape (second member) will cause Retrospect to frequently "hang" — it will sit for hours, with "Locating…" or "Reading…" as the status, but nothing else happens

 

Could these problems be the drive? I cleaned the head several times and even used brand-new tapes, but the problems still crop up.

 

Or could the problem be with Retropsect?

 

I started this backup process just a few weeks ago, and I haven't had a single day yet where the backup completed successfully.

 

BTW, Retrospect's 'Device Status' reveals that the drive is a DLT4000 using a D887 verion of the "Compaq DLT 20.0 DC (5.02) driver.

 

nuvs

[AmyJ]

These errors can be caused by one or more of the following:

 

1) A dirty tape drive or bad tape. Clean the drive using a cleaning cartridge. Try another tape.

 

2) Another device on your SCSI bus is interfering with the tape drive's communication. Make sure your SCSI ID numbers are set correctly. Turn off your computer and the devices. Disconnect all SCSI devices except for the tape drive.

 

3) You have a bad cable. Replace the SCSI cable that connects the tape drive to the computer after removing other devices and cables from the SCSI chain.

 

4) You are missing a terminator or have a bad terminator. The last device and ONLY the last device in your SCSI chain needs to be terminated. Try replacing the terminator if you already have one on the chain.

 

5) The computer may be having a problem. Install Retrospect on another computer and try the tape drive there as the lone device on the SCSI chain.

 

6) The drive may be defective. If you have implemented all of the preceding steps and get failures on multiple tapes after changing cables terminators and computers then the drive (being the only factor that has not changed) is the culprit--send it back to your vendor for repairs.

 

The steps above are essentially the outline of our device troubleshooting here at Dantz. Hands on testing of device issues is really still the best method and even getting device logging information is usually only to confirm empirical testing. Note that concluding something is a bad device is the LAST thing we assume after all other components and variables have been ruled out. "SCSI voodoo" as they call the nebulous symptoms that can plague a SCSI bus can often lead one to false assumptions of the cause of problems. It's important that once a variable is tested that it be tested more than once for consistency's sake to rule out dumb luck. For example SCSI voodoo accounts for why a tape drive may work fine for many months without proper termination but then suddenly fail in some way later. Although customers will often cite that nothing has changed with their SCSI bus configuration in months and that it was all working before this is really indicative of the inconsistency of SCSI voodoo. The quickest and most conclusive test for most devices is to test it on more than one computer as the only device on the bus and with a different SCSI cable. If the problems can be reproduced on multiple computers it's more than likely a hardware problem with the device itself. Of course there a myriad of other specific issues having to do with a device's own hardware settings like with internal jumper cables dip switches or internal termination that has to be sorted out with the device's manual and/or vendor or manufacturer of the drive, but the kernel of SCSI troubleshooting above is a good general guideline.