On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 12:55 PM, Paul Groves <paul.groves.787@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I have 4 tape drives in my server and I am lately experiencing a few problems.
One night a backup failed with rmtio failed: Input output Error. I ran it again and it worked.
This has happened more and more frequently and now the drive fails writing every time with this error. I put the drive (Hp storageworks Ultrium 920) in another server. It works fine.
I have just received a storageworks ultrium 1760 drive today. Same problem is occuring.
The easiest way to make the error come up is to try mt -f /dev/st3 erase
The drive sounds like it erases the tape, then the tape is unloaded and goes back in again automatically. Then it erases it again, then does it again then again and again then eventually it gives up with the message mt: /dev/st3: rmtioctl failed: Input/output error
Can anyone enlighten me, what exactly is an mt: rmtio: Input/output error and how can I diagnose where exactly this error is occuring.
I have tried disconnecting all other drives on the SCSI bus and only connecting the one scsi drive. I have also tried a different scsi connector on the same cable (which is where another drive that works fine is usually connected).
I thought could this be a fault with the cable or the controller? But why would the other 3 drives work fine? Then I thought but if the problem is with my two drives why do they both work in another server?
I have also tried connecting one of my working drives to each SCSI connector on the cable in turn and it works fine on every one of them, so surely it is not the SCSI controller or cable?
Answers to the obvious:
The drive jumper pins are correct I do have a terminator on the end of the SCSI cable I have tried more than one tape I have ran several cleaning cartridges in each drive. There are no error LEDs on the drives I have already tried turning it off and on again :)
Please can anyone assist with this? I am completely stumped.
Paul, I've had lots of SCSI issues with tape drives over the years.
From what you describe, I don't think it is the tape drive has failed or needs cleaning because those wouldn't fix themselves by moving from one server to another.
1) Have you tried the drive as the only device on the SCSI bus? I've seen lots of problems go away once the other drives are pulled from the bus. Not always a great solution, but it helps with troubleshooting. 2) I gather you have a physical terminator at the far end of the bus. You haven't talked about the terminator at the other end of the SCSI bus. ie. SCSI requires 2 terminators, one at each end of the bus. Your SCSI controller should have a setting that enables/disables the terminator built into the controller. 3) You've moved the tape drive to another computer and it worked. Have you moved the cable and the drive as a pair? 4) Have you tried a different addresses? Have you reset the address pins and/or swapped them between drives. I've seen address failures in the past. The address pins are binary. You said you have 0, 1, 2, 3. That's 4 bits, so you can pick any address from 0 to 15 if you have 4 jumper pins to work with. Just make sure you don't have an address collision between the controller and the various drives. Good Luck Greg -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org