SUMMARY (Interim) HP C1533A on Sparc 5 4.1.3_U1

From: Mr T. Crummey (tom@sos.bangor.ac.uk)
Date: Sat Aug 26 1995 - 12:18:45 CDT


Hello,

First the original query:

>Hello,
>
>I have a HP C1533A DAT drive on a Sparc 5 running 4.1.3_U1. Sometimes, dump
>will complain of a write error and there will be a few messages on the console:
>
>Aug 10 15:14:34 picard vmunix: esp0: Disconnected command timeout for Target 4
>Lun 0
>st0: transport completed with timeout
>st0: attempting a device reset
>st0: SCSI transport failed: reason 'timeout': giving up
>Aug 10 15:32:08 picard vmunix: esp0: Disconnected command timeout for Target 4
>Lun 0
>st0: Error for command 'write file mark', Error Level: 'Fatal'
> Block: 1233
> Sense Key: Unit Attention
> Vendor (HP C1533A 4mm DDS DAT) Unique Error Code: 0x29
>st0: transport completed with timeout
>st0: attempting a device reset
>Aug 10 16:33:13 picard vmunix: esp0: Disconnected command timeout for Target 4
>Lun 0
>
>After this the tape drive appears hung for an hour or two. Even if I power cycle
>the drive, remove the tape, clean the drive, it will not respond for a very
>long time.
>
>Usually I can repeat the afflicted dump and it will work fine. I have tried a
>number of different active terminators and have 9" cables between all the
>devices on this system.
>
>Has anyone come across this sort of thing before?
>
>I've modified st_conf.c so that the drive is recognised, but I would be
>grateful for anyone elses st_conf.c lines to compare.
>
>I will summarize.

Well this query raised alot of issues, most of which have not yet been resolved.
Alot of people have the same problem, but they are just living with it.
Abdi M. Oday finds that if the amount of data to go onto the drive is
more than 4GB then the dump fails. Two people sent their stconf.c
files which were for a HP C1553A drive, a 6 stacker version. Another
recommended to upgrade to the latest firmware which I have done. It is
apparently not possible to check the firmware revision using a SUN, but
an Adaptec controller on a PC will let you view it. The new version I
put on was 9503. Upgrading is easy, just put the upgrade tape in the
drive...

The stconf.c files I got were:

>From Philip.Kao@artecon.com:
Insert the following into the stdef.h after the Exabyte 8500 entry:

#define ST_TYPE_HP1553 0x29

Insert this into stconf.c

/* HP C1553 3.81mm 8GB cartridge */
{
   "HP C1553 4 mm DDS/DAT", 14, "HP C1553A",
   ST_TYPE_HP1553, 10240,
   (ST_VARIABLE | ST_BSF | ST_BSR | ST_LONG_ERASE ),
   6000, 6000,
   { 0x00, 0x13, 0x18, 0x7F },
   { 0, 0, 0, 0 }
},

>From Manjeet_Singh <manjeet@cadence.com>:

/* HP C1553A DDS-2 6 Cartridge Autoloader */
{
  "HP C1553A 4mm DDS-2 Helical Scan with 6 Cartridge Autoloader",
  14, "HP C1553A",
  ST_TYPE_HPC1553A, 1024,
  ( ST_VARIABLE | ST_BSF | ST_BSR | ST_LONG_ERASE ),
  5000, 5000,
  { 0x00, 0x13, 0x24, 0x7f },
  { 0, 0, 0, 0 },
},

So I'm trying with the latest firmware though I've had a problem already. The new
firware seems to let the drive recover more quickly though so it is worth having.
I will repost if I solve the problem properly. I haven't yet tried the new stconf
suggestions.

Thanks to:

Manjeet_Singh <manjeet@cadence.com>
oday@hercules.calspan.com (Abdi M. Oday)
"Scott McClung" <mcclung@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us>
Dave Mitchell <D.Mitchell@dcs.shef.ac.uk>
Philip.Kao@artecon.com (Philip Kao
root@sparky.Franz.COM (Operator)
Subhash C Rehan <scr1@starlink.ukc.ac.uk>

Tom.

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