Tape drive no longer recognizes media

[Kold]

I have an HP DAT40 Tape drive and using Windows native backup utility.
Everything was working fine, then one day it asks for media with a - 1
on the end of it, I had labeled each tape as the weekday, so for
Wednesday it says where is Wednesday - 1.

So now for everyday it doesn’t do the backup. Upon checking the media
label, from computer management > storage > removable media > HP
drive> , I see nothing, as if I never put in a tape. It sees no tapes
at all now.

I’m wondering, is there a better way to prepare tapes and why can I no
longer see my media? The tape drive seems to be working normally, its
fine in the device manager, and it whines as you put in the tape.

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

This sounds like a specific hardware problem - I had a (non-HP) tape
drive die with symptoms like these. I don't know whether there is a Ng
for HP Tape hardware, but you can try the HP Technical support area on
their website.

I have an HP DAT40 Tape drive and using Windows native backup utility.
Everything was working fine, then one day it asks for media with a - 1
on the end of it, I had labeled each tape as the weekday, so for
Wednesday it says where is Wednesday - 1.

So now for everyday it doesn’t do the backup. Upon checking the media
label, from computer management > storage > removable media > HP
drive> , I see nothing, as if I never put in a tape. It sees no tapes
at all now.

I’m wondering, is there a better way to prepare tapes and why can I no
longer see my media? The tape drive seems to be working normally, its
fine in the device manager, and it whines as you put in the tape.

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

 

[Kold]

This sounds like a specific hardware problem - I had a
(non-HP) tape
drive die with symptoms like these. I don't know whether there
is a Ng
for HP Tape hardware, but you can try the HP Technical support
area on
their website.


tape.


Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit
from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

I ran the diagnostic software and everything came back ok. But
Computer Management still won’t show any media inserted? Am I looking
in the right spot to find the media label and prepare the tape?

Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Removable
Storage > Libraries > (My installed Tape Drive) >

?? Thanks

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

I ran the diagnostic software and everything came back ok. But
Computer Management still won’t show any media inserted? Am I looking
in the right spot to find the media label and prepare the tape?

Did the diagnostic software manage to recognise and read and write to
a tape, or did it simply talk to the drive? If the former, I would try
uninstalling the Windows Backup sofware and any HP tape drivers, then
reboot and reinstall them (drivers first). If the diagnostic software
didn't actually read and write a tape, then it hasn't excluded a
hardware problem at that level.

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

Could this (from alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus) conceivably be your
problem?

I installed updated nVidia nForce motherboard drivers (to cope with an
ATI graphics problem) and accidentally installed their new ATA drivers
(I should know better). Today I went to run NTBackup, and it couldn't
find any of my media -- actually it's XPs RSM which couldn't see any of
the media -- in my antique TR4 Travan tape drive (attached to one of the
aforementioned ATA channels).

Luckily I figured out the culprit (although I could not figure out a
fix), so I just rolled the driver back to previous version .. problem
solved. I can't see any way of reporting the issue to Asus/nVidia, so I
thought I just document it here, for benefit of any fellow sufferers.

nVidia STILL can't write ATA drivers!

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

 

[Kold]

 > > This sounds like a specific hardware problem - I had
a
 > > (non-HP) tape
 > > drive die with symptoms like these. I don't know
whether there
 > > is a Ng
 > > for HP Tape hardware, but you can try the HP
Technical support
 > > area on
 > > their website.
 > >
 > > On 10 Dec 2004 15:58:06 -0500, Kold
 > > <[email protected]>
 > > wrote:
 > >
  > > >I have an HP DAT40 Tape drive and using
Windows native backup
 > > utility.
  > > >Everything was working fine, then one day it
asks for media
 > > with a - 1
  > > >on the end of it, I had labeled each tape as
the weekday, so
 > > for
  > > >Wednesday it says where is Wednesday - 1.
  > > >
  > > >So now for everyday it doesn’t do the backup.
Upon checking
 > > the media
  > > >label, from computer management > storage
> removable
 > > media > HP
  > > >drive> , I see nothing, as if I never put
in a tape. It
 > > sees no tapes
  > > >at all now.
  > > >
  > > >I’m wondering, is there a better way to
prepare tapes and why
 > > can I no
  > > >longer see my media? The tape drive seems to
be working
 > > normally, its
  > > >fine in the device manager, and it whines as
you put in the
 > > tape.
 > >
 > >
 > > Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may
benefit
 > > from the exchange.
 > > Peter R. Fletcher

Did the diagnostic software manage to recognise and read and
write to
a tape, or did it simply talk to the drive? If the former, I
would try
uninstalling the Windows Backup sofware and any HP tape
drivers, then
reboot and reinstall them (drivers first). If the diagnostic
software
didn't actually read and write a tape, then it hasn't excluded
a
hardware problem at that level.

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit
from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

Well, this is odd but the problem is solved. All I did was reseat the
cable and power and reboot. Of course, the server needs to stay up for
the day, so I hadn’t been able to do that.

The diagnostic software recognized the drive, asked for a test tape,
then asked for a cleaning tape several times, finally asking for the
test tape again. Then it completed, reported that the drive was fine,
but it didn’t say if it wrote to the tape or not. Reseat, reboot, then
in Computer Management it showed my drive with a red x over it. As
soon as I inserted a tape, it refreshed, removed the x and showed the
media label.

I just found this counter-intuitive to standard drives where if the PC
can see it, it works fine. Thanks for the help, seems like the
diagnostic software isn’t worth much either.