DAT drive headaches

[J. Epperson]

Some folks were allegedly saying:

>>>Is the Tape drive the ONLY device on that SCSI controller?? If it is shared
>>>with the HDD then you will get these type of errors. If it is, then I'd
>>>suggest to pop in another SCSI controller, and move the Tape Drive there.
>>>That will eliminate those errors. If it's on it's own, then check to see if
>>>all the SCSI bus terminators are correctly installed. As that can also
>>>cause these types of errors.
>>>
>>>I had a system here, doing the same thing, putting in another controller
>>>solved that problem.
> 
> 
> Yes, the SCSI card will auto terminate, BUT the tape drive will also
> have to be terminated as well. There's usually one of two ways, that
> this is done. Either the drive has a jumper to enable the terminator, OR
> you need to have a terminator on the cable it self. If it's external,
> you MAY not have to do that, but it's also possible that it wasn't done,
> and will need to be checked. As not having the SCSI bus terminated
> properly can/will cause read/write errors.
> 
> If that is all ok, then it's also possible that it could be the media,
> or the drive itself. I'm not sure what else to suggest.
>
The symptoms are consistent with reflectance/termination problems on the 
bus.  Termination for internal drives is usually done at the end of the 
ribbon cable.  It's likely that the cable has at least two device 
connectors, so if there's no terminator, it's often possible to add one 
on the last connector.  Note that something on the bus has to furnish 
TERMPWR--usually one or more devices are jumpered to do so.  Check the 
tape drive doc for jumpers.  I'd also try running a cleaning tape 
through two or three times consecutively.

--W.C. Epperson
***These are my own opinions, but help yourself:  I got a plenty.***