Error -203 on all travan tapes

[lunchtime]

Hi - I am receiving error -203 after my travan tape drive has written about a gig of data - this is consistent on at least three tapes so far.

 

 

 

I have often received this error before, but a cold reboot - and sometimes a tape erase - would fix it. However, neither of these options is working.

 

 

 

Any ideas?

 

 

 

G3, OS 8.6, retrospect 4.3, Seagate Travan NS20 tape drive

[AmyJ]

Error 203 (hardware failure) indicates that the backup device is having problems because of a bad medium, a communication problem or a mechanical error.

 

 

 

1. If the error occurs only when you use a particular medium that medium is probably damaged. Try using a new medium.

 

 

 

2. If the error occurs when you use any medium you may have a problem with your USB cable or device. Try turning off the backup device and computer for two minutes and then turning them back on again.

 

 

 

USB Troublshooting:

 

The following steps may assist you in isolating the cause of a USB problem:

 

 

 

1. Check to make sure you have the latest firmware update for your computer. Apple may has released firmware updates that may help to resolve USB problems. Search the Apple Software Updates Web site at http://www.apple.com/swupdates for relevant updates.

 

 

 

2. Try unplugging and replugging the USB cable on problem device. If you have another USB cable, try it also. Verify that the third-party device is plugged into power if it is self-powered.

 

 

 

3. Use Apple System Profiler to verify the device is seen by the Macintosh. If it is, the problem is usually software in nature because the Macintosh hardware can see the device. Continue on to step 4. If the device is not seen by Apple System Profiler, it may require service and the service representative for the device should be contacted for further information.

 

 

 

4. Restart the computer holding down the Shift key to disable any non-Apple extensions. Once the computer has started up, try the device again. If it works, you may not need the software supplied with the device, use the Extensions Manager control panel to enable all the extensions except for the USB device in question and restart. If the device fails, continue to Step 5.

 

 

 

5. Verify that the USB device driver software is installed and active. If the software is active and the device shows up in ASP but is not working, reinstall the software. First check the Web site for the device to see if there is an updated version of the driver.

 

 

 

If you've ruled out all the variables, then you may have a faulty drive.