On Fri, Dec 18, 1998 at 10:51:24AM -0700, John Brownlee wrote:
> Hello all, long time listener, first time caller.
Just a wild guess,... is it possible that in the higher altitude
location the humidity is enough lower that you've got a static-
electricity problem from all the tape motion, which then zaps the
hardware occasionally temporarily scrambling its brains? if so a
humidifier in the same room may be of assistance.
Fred
>
> I have a real doozie on my hands here. I've been administrating
> *NIX machines of various flavors for years, and this is a first for me.
>
> After taking the plunge and buying a pair of Sony SDX-300 tape
> mechanisms, I have stumbled into an absolutely befuddling behavior. Two
> identical machines (same NCR 53c810 SCSI card, same 2.0.36 kernel, same
> CPU, same brand of cables etc.) in different locales: one sits in an
> office in Tucson AZ, and the other sits up at 8500' on Mt. Bigelow.
> The one downtown works great all the time, no trouble.
> The one at altitude whines constantly, and cannot be trusted. One
> time, it writes 15 Gb of data and reads it back no trouble, and the next
> day it coughs and complains on the very same tape:
>
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: st0: Error with sense data: Current error
> st09:00: sns = f0
> 3
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: ASC= c ASCQ= 0
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x00
> 0x00 0x05 0x14 0x00
> 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0c 0x00 0x00 0x00
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: st0: Error with sense data: Current error
> st09:00: sns = f0
> 3
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: ASC= c ASCQ= 0
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x00
> 0x00 0x01 0x14 0x00
> 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0c 0x00 0x00 0x00
> Dec 16 14:59:24 bigspcz kernel: st0: Error on write filemark.
> Dec 16 14:59:36 bigspcz kernel: st0: Error with sense data: extra data not
> valid Current err
> or st09:00: sns = 70 3
>
> It repeats this about 3 times and quits. The st device driver and
> SCSI support are built in, not modularized. I shutdown the machine, take
> it downtown to 2000 feet altitude, and it purrs like a kitten. Tapes which
> previously gave read or write errors first time from the wrapper work
> great.
> The machines are running on UPS's with line filters, so the power
> is good. The -BEST- part about this is that when I switch the one from
> downtown to the mountain and vice-versa, then the machine which previously
> worked for dozens of cycles gives the same error. Swapping one drive
> mechanism, different media, one SCSI card for another, etc. All the same
> error. Only thing I notice is that the drive seems to run hot, i.e. when I
> remove a tape from it is it uncomfortable to touch. I may just put a
> temperature probe on the tape after a few hours in there and measure it.
> According th Sony, the drive should work at 10,000', which we're a far cry
> from. Humidity is maybe 35%, room temperature is about 70F at the mountain
> site.
> Has anyone seen anything like this? Is anyone using these drives
> with Linux at altitudes like this sucessfully? Am I finally losing my
> last shred of sanity?
>
> Thanks for any experience/advice,
>
>
> John
>
> John Brownlee
> Lunar and Planetary Lab
> University of Arizona
> jonnie @ lpl . arizona . edu
>
>
>
>
>
--
---- Fred Smith -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
------------------------------ Matthew 7:21 (niv) -----------------------------
