[SunRescue] Re: Rescue digest, Vol 1 #111 - 4 msgs

[BSD Bob]

> I got another tape drive from a friend, (Wangtek) which is in  much better
> condition then the drive I have. Both drives actually move the tape from
> real to real, and the heads move up and down along the tape. But I still
> cannot boot my SunOs 4.1.1 tape. Im starting to thing that maybee my tapes
> are bad.

If the tapes are spinning, the mechanisms are probably fine.

> All SCSI connections look like the are ok, I have also tried using a 511
> External case instead of the internal drive.

That sounds reasonable.

> When I type b st() the tape drive moves the tape back and forth a few
> times, and moves the head across the tape a few times, and then evrything
> just stops, and I don't get any error messages on the console, or a prompt
> again. I have to either hit Stop A, or power off.

It is not liking something on the tape, perhaps.  Alignment of tapes
could be off, but I have only seen that rarely.  Most of the time, in
my drives, it is those silly rubber drive wheels.  Yours are apparently
fine, so that is good.

Were the tapes retensioned and erased before writing?  Sometimes that
makes a difference in the writing/reading of the tapes.  I have had to
forcibly erase, several times, some tapes that were recycled.

I can't fathom exactly why it is locking up, unless the boot prom is
sensing it can't boot from the tape, and then trying to boot from
ethernet or a dead HD, and locking up on that.    If that were the
case, then it is having problems reading the tape or there is nothing
on the tape it can read.  You might dittle some of the eprom settings
so that it has no default boot path but comes up on eprom only.
That way, it should at least always return to the eprom prompt.

That is all I can think of, offhand.

Bob





> 
> Eric.
> 
> 
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