Conference stkhlm::magtape

3684.0. "EXABYTE 8500 "timeout" errors in AVMS V7.1" by CSC32::S_WAHL () Fri Feb 28 1997 23:01

I am working with a customer that has just upgraded to AVMS V7.1.  He has an
ALPHAserver 2100 with a KZPSA connecting an EXABYTE 8500 tape drive.  Since 
the upgrade from V7.0 the customer is unable to INIT any tapes on this device.
The tape then hangs until the customer sees a "timeout" message on the console.
If the tape has already been written on, the customer is able to write to it
again as well as read from it, but is unable to INIT and write to new tapes.
Prior to the upgrade when running V7.0 the customer had no trouble using this
tape device for any operation. 

Customer has upgraded the console firmware from the V3.8 cd which mentions 
firmware updates for the KZPSA, but it not sure how to know what the rev level
is on the controller nor what it is upgraded to.

Does anyone know anything about this behavior or has anyone had this happen 
to them?  Questions and comments are welcome.

Thanks,


Susan M. Wahl
CSC/VMS/INTDRV

    You mentioned that the customer upgraded the firmware;  was that in an 
    attempt to resolve the problem, or is it possible that the firmware
    upgrade itself is a factor?  Also, I'm assuming that the 8500 drive was
    attached to the same ALPHAserver 2100 both before and after the
    failure?
    
    If the only single factor that changed was the upgrade to V7.1, then
    it would be a good idea to IPMT this;  this symptom has not yet been
    seen or reported to OpenVMS engineering.
    
    Sue

    Upgrading the firmware was in an attempt to resolve the problem.  Yes
    the 8500 was being accessed by the same ALPHAserver both before and
    after the upgrade to V7.1.
    
    I will look into the IPMT process,
    
    Thanks,
    
    Susan