More info:

I get a kernel message:

@f,400000/esp@f,800000/st@5,0 (st5):

Error for Command: read Error Level: Fatal
Requested Block: 0 Error Block: 0
Vendor: EXABYTE Serial Number: 815927
Sense Key: No Additional Sense
ASC: 0x0 (no additional sense info), ASCQ: 0x0, FRU: 0x0
  Incorrect Length Indicator Set

So, I wonder what the 'Incorrect Length Indicator Set' means?

This is under Solaris 8.

Running truss on it is not too helpfull, I get:

stat64("/dev/rmt/0bn", 0xEFFFFC78)              = 0
    d=0x00800080 i=52330 m=0020666 l=1  u=0     g=3     rdev=0x008400CD
        at = Aug  6 11:14:52 GMT 2003  [ 1060146892 ]
        mt = Aug  6 10:35:37 GMT 2003  [ 1060144537 ]
        ct = Aug  6 11:15:07 GMT 2003  [ 1060146907 ]
    bsz=8192  blks=0     fs=ufs
open64("/dev/rmt/0bn", O_RDONLY)                = 3
brk(0x00025A98)                                 = 0
brk(0x0002DA98)                                 = 0
read(3, 0x00025990, 32768)                      Err#22 EINVAL
write(2, " a m r e s t o r e", 9)               = 9
write(2, " :  ", 2)                             = 2
write(2, 0xEFFFEFE8, 43)                        = 43
   e r r o r   r e a d i n g   f i l e   h e a d e r :   I n v a l
   i d   a r g u m e n t

An attempt was made to read from a stream linked to a multiplexor.

Thanks,

Andy

Andy Howell wrote:

After years of service, my tape drive died. I got a replacement one out of an IBM box, and I can't get it to read old tapes. I can write new ones just fine. If I try amrestore, it an error:

amrestore: error reading file header: Invalid argument

mt -f /dev/rmt/0 status gives:

Vendor 'EXABYTE ' Product ' IBM-8505        ' tape drive:
    sense key(0x0)= No Additional Sense    residula= 0   retries= 0
    file no= 0   block no= 0

Any ideas what might be wrong? I'm getting rather nervious, as I have not be able to do backups for a couple weeks.

The old drive suddenly started ejecting tapes as soon as they were put in. I tried cleaning it, but no luck.

Thanks,

    Andy