m4 9914

[Doc Shipley]

Jay West wrote:

>>   Cheesy/worn media?
> 
> Nah, I tried two different tapes, both are brand new out of the box still
> shrinkwrapped, and I had cleaned the heads twice over the past two days.
> 
> 
>>   I'd be for borrowing a differential SCSI adapter and trying the
>>original setup.
> 
> I may give that a whirl, but... since the drive and host are definitely
> working fine at 800/1600, and because the drives offline diags (not
> involving the host) fail at 3200 and 6250, I don't think it's the interface
> in the drive. Maybe I'm missing something?

   The only thing I can really think of would be a mechanical issue, 
like jerky or inconsistent tape movement at higher speed.  But even that 
wouldn't explain the fact that it doesn't even try at 3200bpi.

   The reason I suggested replacing the diff interface card is that I've 
mixed and matched the internal boards in the old Exabyte EXB-8200 8mm 
drives and gotten really weird behavior.  If the firmware revs in the 
contributing drives weren't _very_ close, it was a crapshoot.  I have no 
idea if that could be the case with your drive.

   I do diagnostics from a very low-tech perspective.  If Device X was 
working or supposedly working before I altered it and it doesn't work 
now, I figure the odds are high that the alteration is a contributing 
factor.  If I don't have the docs or the equipment to do more specific 
testing, going back to the original configuration is my first step.


	Doc