Exabyte 8mm tape drive weirdness

2007-12-25 8:15:00

First of all, thanks to all those who sent responses:

Most of the responses suggested that I clean the tape drive. This is

always a good idea, but no help here because I clean the drives

regularly, and had just cleaned them that morning. Other responses

included don't use Sony tapes (I don't); use data grade tapes (I do);

check the cables (I already had); drive worn out (drives are fairly

new); storage location too extreme (it's not).

The one suggestion that I think is pretty close to being the answer

came from Mike Andrews of Videocart, Inc. He suggested "that a bad

tape puts the drive into a condition where it won't read any tape

after it chokes on a bad one." I think this is close to the truth.

Although I can not guarantee it, I believe that the device driver

for the 8mm drive chokes on a bad tape and remains in "blue funk"

mode until: a) the machine is rebooted or b) some time limit has

passed and a good tape is used in the drive.

We have call Sun to see if there is a patch that exists for the

device driver, but have not heard back from them. I will post a

message if one exists.

Again, thanks to all that responded.

Jerry Holt

UNC-Charlotte

Actived: 0 answers; - size: 5255 bytes; - view related info - Similar thread

Got something to say?

You must be logged in to post a comment.

thatsjava.com