- Strange Tape Drive Problem
- Posted by kbass on December 2nd, 2003
I can access my tape drive and write files to it. But ... if I log off of
the server and log back onto the server and attempt to use the 'mt' command
to get a status of the tape drive, I get a device not found message. If I
reboot the server then attempt to use the 'mt' command to get a status of
the tape drive again, it works correctly. What is causing this problem?
Kevin
- Posted by Robert Heller on December 2nd, 2003
"kbass" <kbass@midsouth.rr.com>,
In a message on Tue, 02 Dec 2003 01:04:57 GMT, wrote :
"> I can access my tape drive and write files to it. But ... if I log off of
"> the server and log back onto the server and attempt to use the 'mt' command
"> to get a status of the tape drive, I get a device not found message. If I
"> reboot the server then attempt to use the 'mt' command to get a status of
"> the tape drive again, it works correctly. What is causing this problem?
What does /sbin/lsmod tell you when mt fails to work?
Does '/sbin/modprobe st' fix it?
It sounds like something is unloading the st module and/or mt is not
re-loading it.
I'm assuming it is a SCSI tape drive. I know nothing about IDE tape drives.
">
"> Kevin
">
">
">
\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: heller@cs.umass.edu
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || heller@deepsoft.com
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153
- Posted by kbass on December 2nd, 2003
"Robert Heller" <heller@deepsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5555d$3fcbed40$d0c7e1fd$9042@nf2.news-service.com...
I have just logged in and performed a 'mt -f /dev/st0 status' and received a
message of
/dev/st0: No such device or address
When performing a 'lsmod', I received a message of
Module Size Used by
autofs 11808 1 (autoclean)
3c59x 26048 1 (autoclean)
ipchains 41632 0 (unused)
ide-scsi 8544 0
ide-cd 26944 0
cdrom 27392 0 [ide-cd]
st 26720 0
scsi_mod 98656 2 [ide-scsi st]
usb-uhci 22096 0 (unused)
usbcore 52416 1 [usb-uhci]
When performing a 'modprobe st', it returns to the command line without a
message then I do a
'mt -f /dev/st0 status' again and get a message of '/dev/st0: No such device
or address'.
Now, I reboot the server, perform a 'mt -f /dev/st0 status' again and I get
SCSI 2 tape drive:
File number=0, block number=0, partition=0.
Tape block size 512 bytes. Density code 0x26 (unknown to this mt).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (41010000):
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN
The 'lsmod' gives a message of
bash-2.04# lsmod
Module Size Used by
autofs 11808 1 (autoclean)
3c59x 26048 1 (autoclean)
ipchains 41632 0 (unused)
ide-scsi 8544 0
ide-cd 26944 0
cdrom 27392 0 [ide-cd]
aic7xxx 136368 0 (autoclean)
st 26720 0
scsi_mod 98656 3 [ide-scsi aic7xxx st]
usb-uhci 22096 0 (unused)
usbcore 52416 1 [usb-uhci]
Everything looks okay but if I use the tape drive, logoff then attempt to
access the tape drive again, I will not be able to access it and I will
receive the message(s) that I received in my first posting. Hope this
helps!
Kevin
- Posted by Steve Wampler on December 2nd, 2003
On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 12:40:05 +0000, kbass wrote:
Try the following command, both before and after the
scsi tape drive disappears:
cat /proc/scsi/scsi
my guess is that the tape drive will have disappeared
from the list of valid scsi devices.
What kernel?
Is this an old tape drive? Internal or external? Model?
Cleaned recently, or never?
Does 'dmesg' show anything after it disappears?
- Posted by John-Paul Stewart on December 2nd, 2003
kbass wrote:
[snip]
I notice aic7xxx is loaded here but not in the other listing. When you
get the error message, try 'modprobe aic7xxx', then retry the 'mt'
command. You may need to edit /etc/modules.conf to get aic7xxx to load
automatically. (This assumes the tape is connected to an Adaptec SCSI
card. If not, the aic7xxx is probably irrelevant.)
