DELL Powervault TL4000 - tape stuck in the drive

Hello lfelip,

You can try to load the firmware on the drive, as sometimes that will cause the media to eject.  As I rule you want to upgrade firmware on tape drive first then library.  If doing a firmware update doesn’t eject the media, then you will need to remove the tape drive and remove the media manually.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hello,

Updated firmware (first the drives and then the library, as recommended). After the update I could move the stuck tape from the drive to the I/O station (using the web utility). Now I'll make some tests with some new tapes to see if problems will happen again.

Hello lfelip,

Glad that worked.  I would not use the media that got stuck in the drive unless you need to do a restore from it.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi, 

The drive that had the stuck tape ejected needs cleaning. In fact, this drive was asking for cleaning much more frequently than usual in the weeks before the problem with the stuck tape happened.

Tried to clean this drive using three different cleaning tapes, no success. The cleaning tapes are loaded on the drive, the cleaning process apparently is initiated but is interrupted and doesn't complete. All three cleaning tapes were considered by the drive as "invalid cleaning cartridge" and all of the three tapes were marked as bad tapes. The first cleaning tape I used were a brand new, never used tape.

I believe there's a problem with the drive.

How can I be sure if the problem is with the drive? 

Hello lfelip,

Can I get you to send me the library & drive dump logs I can review them to see what is going on?  Here is a link on how to get the logs if you need it. https://dell.to/3ab90u8

I will send you a private message so that you can send me the logs.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi, 

Library & drive dump logs sent as requested.

Hello lfelip,

Thanks for the logs as it helps to look into your issue.  Based on the errors from the drive dumps I can see that Drive 1 had some errors, but they have not returned since the firmware was upgraded and in the last 10 power on cycles.  Drive 3 however is showing errors since the firmware has been upgraded.  You hare having a loading error when you are loading media.  What you would do to test is to make sure at the latest firmware and then test to see if you still get the error.  Since you had stuck media and are still getting the error then the drive will need to be replaced. 

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hello Sam L,

Made some backup tests using drive 1, with 2 new (unused) LTO 5 tapes. First tried to format the tapes, using our backup software. This drive took too long to format the tapes, something that was almost instantaneous when the drive was ok - I believe there's some problem with the drive. While formating the tapes the drive changed status, in this order: writing => calibrating => writing (during many minutes). Used the web utility to view the drive's status. But in the end the tapes were formatted, with no errors.

Used ITDT too, to run some tests on the drive: system test and health test.

System test writes some data files to the tape. In the end the drive passed the test, but again it took longer than usual writing data to the tape (stayed in the "writing => calibrating => writing" routine for a long time).

Health tests went through a routine of loading/unloading the tape and writing data to the tape. The drive passed  the writing test, but failed during the performance test with error code EC6 (asking to clean the drive). The tape used in the test was marked as a bad tape (though it as a new tape).
After the test failure I got the drive dump log. Can you review the log to see what's going on with this drive?

Thanks in advance.

Hello lfelip,

If you send me the drive dump log, I can review it to see what is going on.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hello,

Drive 1 dump log sent for verification.