jethro Posted October 7, 2006 Report Share Posted October 7, 2006 Hi, we're running Retrospect 6.1.126 on a OSX 10.4.4 Server. We use a LaCie AIT2 firewire tape drive for backups. Recently, Retrospect has been freezing up occassionaly (spinning beachball). I am able to force-quit Retrospect. But upon trying to restart Retrospect (or possibly even when force-quitting) we get the big black error screen stating to hold the power down to shut off the server. Obviously, being our server, this is VERY unhealthy behavior. We've already lost a few documents (and many hours of work), even if they were saved before the crash, due to the server going down. I'm not sure, but it appears that sometimes the tape drive isn't able to correctly read the tapes (it keeps cycling through the initialization), and this may cause Retrospect to freeze. - Does this sound like a possible cause of Retrospect freezing, or could Retrospect be causing the drive to not read the tape properly? (the drive is probably 2-3 years old) - Is this typical behavior for the Retrospect crash (or subsequent restart) to cause such a catastrophic crash of the server? - I'm guessing our version of Retrospect (updated Feb, 2005) may be out of warranty period. Any suggestions for tech support? THANKS A LOT! This is a very scary situation with the problems it's causing to our server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 Quote: Any suggestions for tech support? Call EMCInsignia Customer Support and open a Support Incident with them. It will cost you around $75, and they will continue to work with you until the cause of your problem is identified. http://www.emcinsignia.com/supportupdates/service/faq/#support 866-362-1111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jethro Posted October 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Thanks. I'll keep tech support in mind if nothing else seems to help. Anyone else have insight on any of the other quesitons??? Thanks again for all help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Quote: we're running Retrospect 6.1.126 on a OSX 10.4.4 Server "OS X 10.4.4 Server" is software. - What is the make, model and configuration of the _computer_ you're using? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jethro Posted October 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Quote: "OS X 10.4.4 Server" is software. - What is the make, model and configuration of the _computer_ you're using? Our server runs on a G4 tower that has been upgraded to 1.2Ghz, 1GB RAM, HighPoint RAID card w/ 3 200GB SATA drives, LaCie d2 Firewire/USB AIT-2 Tape drive (that I believe Retrospect originally came with). I think that's it. Again, this configuration has run fine for at least a year or so until recently. And it seems that when the tape is recognized, it still functions OK (does not freeze). I just don't know if it's the tape drive that's causing Retrospect to freeze, or vice-versa. And I don't know why Retrospect would cause such a severe crash on our server. Those are my two main questions. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Quote: Our server runs on a G4 tower that has been upgraded to 1.2Ghz Retrospect is not supported on Macintosh machines with processor upgrades. I'd suggest replacing the original processor and testing again. If the kernel panics continue, you know that it's not the after-market CPU. That won't solve your problem, but it will add a necessary data point (especially if you call EMCInsignia for tech support). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jethro Posted October 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Thanks. I doubt we'll have the down-time to try replacing the processor. Apart from this Retrospect crash (which only started recently), this server has been rock-solid. It runs 24-7 for a year or two in this configuration without any problems. This issue is specific to Retrospect and/or our tape drive. Unfortunately, our tape drive is also out of warranty now (purchased from LaCie over 3 years ago). ** Today it crashed again, this time with an error message. It stated "Device trouble: [name of backup tape], error 102 (Trouble communicating). - Is this error pretty generic, or does it point definitely to a hardware problem with our tape drive? - If the tape drive is bad, anyone know where to get an innexpensive replacement drive (Sony AIT-2)? We can use the existing LaCie firewire case if necessary. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 Quote: Quote: Our server runs on a G4 tower that has been upgraded to 1.2Ghz Retrospect is not supported on Macintosh machines with processor upgrades. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server is also not supported on Macs with processor upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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