Was this a private fix, or is it fixed with the latest PTF? We
have also been encountering many tape errors on our 3590 drives,
which are also in a 3494 library. I have been suspecting hardware
problems, but now I'm curious to hear what type of problems you
were seeing.

We are seeing many TAPE_ERR1 messages in the errpt (we are
running under AIX 4.2, with the ADSM server v3.1.0.2, Atape
driver is 4.1.0.3 and atldd is 3.1.0.0).

I'd be interested in hearing the types of errors you've
encountered with the 3590/3494 combination under ADSM v3.

 -- Tom

"It's a dog eat dog world,                Thomas A. La Porte
 and I'm wearing milkbone underwear."     DreamWorks SKG
              - Norm Peterson             <tlaporte AT anim.dreamworks DOT com>

On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Bonetti, Dan J. wrote:

>In response to your comment, rather err on the side of safety then go ahead
>and use bad media. There is a problem with media and excessive errors with
>Adsm version 3. I have been getting write errors on tapes, which cause them
>to go read-only since installing version 3. I opened a pmr with IBM
>concerning this and found their is a fix, it is to the Adsm code itself
>(dsmserv).
>
>I just installed the fix and hope it will correct the problem. We are
>running 8 3590's in an 3494 library. The read errors have also caused us
>some problems.
>We installed the latest atape driver, atldd driver and micro code on the
>3590's, but still were getting the errors. Finally, this fix was given to
>us. And yes, I felt it was a bug with the software.
>
>
>              Dan Bonetti
>
>E-mail   bonettdj AT westinghouse DOT com
>Phone  (W) 284-3003   (B) 374-3003
>
>> ----------
>> From:         Nicholas Cassimatis[SMTP:nickpc AT us.ibm DOT com]
>> Sent:         Wednesday, April 08, 1998 12:33 PM
>> To:   ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> Subject:      Re: Tape with write error going Read/Only
>>
>> Actually, I disagree.  I'd rather ADSM error on the side of safety than go
>> ahead and use bad media.  ADSM really has no idea why a write operation
>> failed,
>> it just knows that it did.  So rather than keep putting data on the
>> possibly
>> bad media, it stops, and ID's the volume as having had a problem.
>>
>> So ADSM will mark volumes Read-Only when the volume is fine.  But it's
>> better
>> than writing 30GB of data to a tape that's bad, and only telling you when
>> you
>> try to read the data.
>>
>> Nick Cassimatis
>> nickpc AT us.ibm DOT com
>>
>> If you don't have the time to do it right the first time, where will you
>> find
>> the time to do it again?
>>
>>
>>
>> ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU on 04/08/98 12:01:37 PM
>> Please respond to ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> cc:
>> Subject: Re: Tape with write error going Read/Only
>>
>>
>> Fix the tape by saying "update vol access=readwrite."
>>
>> We get this problem a lot, not because anything is wrong with the TAPE,
>> but
>> because there was a network glitch or a library glitch and ADSM couldn't
>> access
>> the tape DRIVE for a moment - and so it decided to mark the TAPE readonly.
>>
>> This seems like a bug to me.  Anybody agree?
>>
>>
>>
>> ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU on 04/08/98 09:08:25 AM
>> Please respond to ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> cc:
>> Subject: Tape with write error going Read/Only
>>
>>
>> I just started with ADSM v3.1 on AIX and have run into a problem.  I have
>> one tape in a tape pool that went into "error state" and "read-only".  It
>> shows that there is 1 write error.  What is the recovery procedure for
>> this
>> tape?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Frank M. Ramaekers Jr.  Austin Community College     Voice: (512)223-7619
>> Systems Programmer      5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.    Fax:   (512)483-7664
>> Information Services    Austin, Texas  78752-4390
>>
>