SCSI tape drive doesn't work - problems with AHA 2940UW?

[Rick Stevens]

Milen Dimitrov wrote:
>  Hi,
> 
> I have installed AHA-2940UW Dual SCSI adapter and external HP SureStore 
> DAT 24 Tape drive
> on my linux box running RedHat 9.
> On the next boot RedHat detected the new hardware.
> When using RedHat Hardware browser I see it in the list of hardware 
> devices :
> SCSI devices:
> ---AHA-2940UW/AHA-38XX/AIC-7895
> ---AHA-2940UW/AHA-38XX/AIC-7895
> -------------Manufecturer : Adaptec
> -------------Driver: aic7xxx
> Tape Drives:
> ---HP C1537A
> -------------Manufecturer : Unknown
> -------------Driver: none or buil-in
> -------------Device : /dev/st
> 
> The problems - cannot access tape drive: Here are the commands and the 
> error messages:
> #mt status
> #/dev/tape: No such file or directory
> # mt -f /dev/st status
> #/dev/st: No such file or directory
> # mt -f /dev/st0 status
> #/dev/st0: No such device or address
> 
> Additional info:
> # cat /proc/scsi/scsi
> Attached devices: none
> #
> 
> How can I check/prove if AHA 2940 driver is working properly ?
> Any ideas how to solve the problem and make the tape drive work?
> 
> Thank you for the help in advance!
> Milen
> ======================================================
> P.S.
> I'm posting the ouput of lsmod and dmesg commands bellow:
> 
> Here is the output of lsmod command: (you can see st, scsi_mod i the list)
> #lsmod
> #
> Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
> st                     31660   0  (autoclean)
> nls_iso8859-1           3516   0  (autoclean)
> udf                    98432   0  (autoclean)
> r128                   88408   1
> agpgart                48128   3
> parport_pc             19076   1  (autoclean)
> lp                      8996   0  (autoclean)
> parport                37056   1  (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
> autofs                 13268   0  (autoclean) (unused)
> 8139too                18120   1
> mii                     3976   0  [8139too]
> microcode               4668   0  (autoclean)
> ide-scsi               12208   0
> scsi_mod              107544   2  [st ide-scsi]
> ide-cd                 35712   0
> cdrom                  33728   0  [ide-cd]
> keybdev                 2976   0  (unused)
> mousedev                5556   1
> hid                    22244   0  (unused)
> input                   5856   0  [keybdev mousedev hid]
> usb-uhci               26412   0  (unused)
> usbcore                79040   1  [hid usb-uhci]
> ext3                   70784   2
> jbd                    51924   2  [ext3]
> =============================================================
> scsi1 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.8
>     <Adaptec 2940/DUAL Ultra SCSI adapter>
>     aic7895: Ultra Wide Channel A, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs
> 
> scsi2 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.8
>     <Adaptec 2940/DUAL Ultra SCSI adapter>
>     aic7895: Ultra Single Channel B, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs
> 
> Vendor: HP        Model: C1537A            Rev: L907
> Type:   Sequential-Access                  ANSI SCSI revision: 02
> blk: queue decd7014, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
> st: Version 20030406, bufsize 32768, max init. bufs 4, s/g segs 16
> Attached scsi tape st0 at scsi2, channel 0, id 2, lun 0
> scsi : 1 host left.

Well, your system saw it initially and called it /dev/st0 but it
seems to have gone away now.

Whenever I see this kind of thing, I immediately have to suspect SCSI
bus termination issues.  Make sure the drive is at the end of the cable
and that it either has its termination resistors installed and enabled
OR that it's not at the end of the cable and the cable has a terminator
on it.  Remember, on SCSI buses, the last device at each end of the
cable must be terminated.  The controller usually is...it's up to you
to make sure the other end is.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-        "More hay, Trigger?" "No thanks, Roy, I'm stuffed!"         -
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