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Date:      Tue, 23 Jul 2002 13:46:21 +0200
From:      Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@starjuice.net>
To:        freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.org
Cc:        mjacob@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Compaq SuperDLT1 SCSI Tape Drive success story
Message-ID:  <37599.1027424781@axl.seasidesoftware.co.za>

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Hi folks,

We recently took a Compaq SuperDLT1 (SDLT1) SCSI tape drive out of a
Wintendo box and put it in a newly commissioned FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE
backup server.

This drive is, of course, a rebadged something or other.

Unfortunately, the drive didn't work.  The following session transcript
shows output from CAMDEBUG, with "camcontrol debug -Ic 0:6:0":

# dmesg |grep ^sa0
sa0 at sym0 bus 0 target 6 lun 0
sa0: <COMPAQ SuperDLT1 1718> Removable Sequential Access SCSI-2 device
sa0: 40.000MB/s transfers (20.000MHz, offset 16, 16bit)

# cd /dev; sh ./MAKEDEV sa0

# mt -f /dev/rsa0 status
mt: /dev/rsa0: Device not configured

# camcontrol devlist
<COMPAQ BB00921791 3B00>           at scbus0 target 0 lun 0 (pass0,da0)
<COMPAQ SuperDLT1 1718>            at scbus0 target 6 lun 0 (pass1,sa0)

# mt -f /dev/sa0 status
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): saopen(0): dev=0x0 softc=0x0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): sastart(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): RESERVE(06). CDB: 16 0 0 0 0
0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): sastart(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0
0 0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): Key 0x2 ASC/ASCQ 0x3a 0x0 flags 0x0 resid 0 dxfer_len
0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): LOAD UNLOAD. CDB: 1b 0 0 0 1 0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): Key 0x2 ASC/ASCQ 0x4 0x0 flags 0x0 resid 0 dxfer_len 0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0
[...]
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): LOAD UNLOAD. CDB: 1b 0 0 0 1 0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): Key 0x2 ASC/ASCQ 0x4 0x0 flags 0x0 resid 0 dxfer_len 0
(sa0:sym0:0:6:0): REWIND. CDB: 1 0 0 0 0 0
[...]
mt: /dev/sa0: Device not configured

I mailed Matt Jacob in private, and he explained these errors:

> If a tape *really* is loaded in the drive and the command LOAD(to BOT)
> gets
>
> NOT READY (key 0x2)
> 	(asc/ascq 4 0 == Logical Unit Not Ready, Cause Not Reportable)
>
> and the command REWIND gets
>
> NOT READY (key 0x2)
> 	(asc/ascq 0x3a 0 == Peripheral Device Write Fault) << ???????
>
> I'd call it an unusable device.  It violates so much of the SCSI spec
> for sequential access devices that I have to wonder why you'd trust
> your data to it.

Matt suggested that we try any available firmware upgrade.  It turns out
that the 1718 in the dmesg output for the drive is the firmware revision
number.  So we needed a bigger one. ;-)

Our colo techies sent us this description of the hardware:

> Here are the compaq numbers from the DLT drive:
> Model: TR-S12AA-CL
> Assembly #: 203919-001
> Replacement Assembly #: 215390-001
>
> Then there's two numbers, with bar codes in the surrounding area.
> Not sure if this is of relevance to you:
>
> 70-80010-01
> CXA46H0562

Our middle man (for whom we thank $DEITY, because we are _not_ impressed
with Compaq) came up with the following information for tracking down
firmware upgrades for this drive:

> Here's the link to the latest firmware:
> http://www.compaq.com/support/files/allsp.html
>
> What you are looking for is update SP17909. The ROM update contains
> updates for all tape drives which will fill up to 24 floppies.
>
> The trick is to find which disk contains your model and produce just
> that one disk. See this link for an index of which driver is on what
> disk: ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp17501-18000/sp17907.txt
>
> As for the jumper setting Compaq says that all their drives are
> preset at the manufacturers and they don't have the jumper settings.
> You may want to call Compaq themselves 1 800 663 6267 and the case
> #XXXXXXXXXXXX for further explanation or further information.

Our middle man than performed the firmware upgrade using the correct
floppy.  After the upgrade, dmesg output looked like this:

sa0: <COMPAQ SuperDLT1 1E1E> Removable Sequential Access SCSI-2 device 

And now the drive works.

I just thought I'd get this into the mailing list archives for the
benefit of other people battling with Compaq SCSI tape drives.

Ciao,
Sheldon.
--
Sometimes you get what you pay for.  Sometimes you just get a Compaq.

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