SCSI Tape troubles SOLVED
Hi all, Thanks for all the input. The problem turned out to be in the firmware for the SCSI controller card. When I downgraded to an earlier version of the firmware the tape worked fine. Geoff PS For details and the fixes see the BusLogic driver homepage: http://www.dandelion.com/Linux/BusLogic.html -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
Re: SCSI Tape troubles (2nd try)
Geoffrey Hunsicker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Some further research found that during boot I am getting the message > "kernel: Unable to get major 9 for SCSI tapes." > > Some hunting around in the Kernel sources revealed that this message is > coming out of the module drivers/scsi/st.c when the "register_chrdev" > function fails. The function "register_chrdev" is defined in fs/devices.c > and only fails if either the major device number is greater than 128, > clearly not the problem in this case, or if the major number is already > allocated. I can find no indication that major device 9 is being used by > any other device. I had a similar problem to this. I think it went away when I upgraded my kernel to 2.0.33. I also looked into the problem and the tape device appeared to be being registered twice at different stages of the system initialisation. Simon -- | Simon Liddington | Tel (home) : +44 (0)1703 346087 | | E-Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Tel (work) : +44 (0)1703 592422 | -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
Re: SCSI Tape troubles (2nd try)
On Tue, 5 May 1998, Geoffrey Hunsicker wrote: > On Tue, 5 May 1998, Eric L. Green wrote: > > No real advice except: check the SCSI ID on the tape drive (is it being > > detected by the OS at bootup?), check the termination (do you have a > > terminator installed on the end of this external SCSI bus?), check to > > see whether you've used too many connectors on the SCSI card (remember that > > you can use only TWO of the connectors on the SCSI card -- SCSI is a > > bus, not a tree). Sorry I couldn't help you more. > > The SCSI ID of the tape is 0, could this be a problem? (The tape drive is Hmm, some BIOS's don't like a tape drive to be 0, but it shouldn't be a problem with Linux. I like to set the tape drive to 6 so that it's not mistaken for a boot drive. > The external SCSI bus is terminated, and I am using only the external > connector. Do I need to do something special to terminate the internal > connector(s)? Depends on your controller card. For most controller cards, they auto-terminate if only one connector is in use. Check your controller card manual. Try moving the tape to another SCSI ID and see if that helps. If not, well, holler back and maybe something else will... Eric Lee Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] Executive Consultants Systems Specialist Educational Administration Solutions Louisiana Residents: Important: See http://members.tripod.com/~latrails -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
Re: SCSI Tape troubles (2nd try)
On Tue, 5 May 1998, Eric L. Green wrote: > No real advice except: check the SCSI ID on the tape drive (is it being > detected by the OS at bootup?), check the termination (do you have a > terminator installed on the end of this external SCSI bus?), check to > see whether you've used too many connectors on the SCSI card (remember that > you can use only TWO of the connectors on the SCSI card -- SCSI is a > bus, not a tree). Sorry I couldn't help you more. The SCSI ID of the tape is 0, could this be a problem? (The tape drive is the only device on the SCSI bus, other than the controller card which claims to be using SCSI ID 7.) Both the card and the tape drive are being detected at bootup, although there is the "Unable to get major 9 for SCSI tapes." message I described in my original post. The external SCSI bus is terminated, and I am using only the external connector. Do I need to do something special to terminate the internal connector(s)? Thanks, Geoff -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
Re: SCSI Tape troubles (2nd try)
On Tue, 5 May 1998, Geoffrey Hunsicker wrote: > Hi all, > > I've not gotten any responses to the following. Does anyone have any > pointers to information which might be useful? I've checked all of the > usual sources and found nothing. No real advice except: check the SCSI ID on the tape drive (is it being detected by the OS at bootup?), check the termination (do you have a terminator installed on the end of this external SCSI bus?), check to see whether you've used too many connectors on the SCSI card (remember that you can use only TWO of the connectors on the SCSI card -- SCSI is a bus, not a tree). Sorry I couldn't help you more. Eric Lee Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] Executive Consultants Systems Specialist Educational Administration Solutions Louisiana Residents: Important: See http://members.tripod.com/~latrails -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
SCSI Tape troubles (2nd try)
Hi all, I've not gotten any responses to the following. Does anyone have any pointers to information which might be useful? I've checked all of the usual sources and found nothing. Geoff -- Forwarded message -- Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 17:17:44 -0600 (MDT) From: Geoffrey Hunsicker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Geoffrey Hunsicker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: SCSI Tape troubles Hi all, I have recently acquired a SCSI card and a SCSI DAT tape drive and am having trouble getting them to play together. I am running a RedHat 4.2 system with the 2.0.32 kernel upgrade. The SCSI card is a BusLogic BT958. The tape drive is a Seagate STD64000N 2/4GB external DAT drive. I have compiled support for general SCSI and for the BusLogic card into the kernel. Both the card and the tape drive are recognized at boot up. The problem initially showed up as a failure to write data to tape. If I try to tar to the drive using the command 'tar cvf /dev/st0' I get a listing of files being 'written' to the tape followed by a 5-10 min. pause followed by messages indicating that the write commands have timed out and that the SCSI device is being reset. For what it's worth it appears that the system is actually managing to talk to the drive since the drive whirs and clicks when the command is executed. Some further research found that during boot I am getting the message "kernel: Unable to get major 9 for SCSI tapes." Some hunting around in the Kernel sources revealed that this message is coming out of the module drivers/scsi/st.c when the "register_chrdev" function fails. The function "register_chrdev" is defined in fs/devices.c and only fails if either the major device number is greater than 128, clearly not the problem in this case, or if the major number is already allocated. I can find no indication that major device 9 is being used by any other device. I would be grateful for any help with this. Thanks, Geoffrey Hunsicker -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
SCSI Tape troubles
Hi all, I have recently acquired a SCSI card and a SCSI DAT tape drive and am having trouble getting them to play together. I am running a RedHat 4.2 system with the 2.0.32 kernel upgrade. The SCSI card is a BusLogic BT958. The tape drive is a Seagate STD64000N 2/4GB external DAT drive. I have compiled support for general SCSI and for the BusLogic card into the kernel. Both the card and the tape drive are recognized at boot up. The problem initially showed up as a failure to write data to tape. If I try to tar to the drive using the command 'tar cvf /dev/st0' I get a listing of files being 'written' to the tape followed by a 5-10 min. pause followed by messages indicating that the write commands have timed out and that the SCSI device is being reset. For what it's worth it appears that the system is actually managing to talk to the drive since the drive whirs and clicks when the command is executed. Some further research found that during boot I am getting the message "kernel: Unable to get major 9 for SCSI tapes." Some hunting around in the Kernel sources revealed that this message is coming out of the module drivers/scsi/st.c when the "register_chrdev" function fails. The function "register_chrdev" is defined in fs/devices.c and only fails if either the major device number is greater than 128, clearly not the problem in this case, or if the major number is already allocated. I can find no indication that major device 9 is being used by any other device. I would be grateful for any help with this. Thanks, Geoffrey Hunsicker -- PLEASE read the Red Hat FAQ, Tips, Errata and the MAILING LIST ARCHIVES! http://www.redhat.com/RedHat-FAQ /RedHat-Errata /RedHat-Tips /mailing-lists To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject.
