Check through the information in the relevant installation chapter of this guide.

Has the system booted? If not, check that all hard disks are correctly seated in the hard diskbay and then check the cabling between the disks and the SAS controller.

Does an error appear during the boot sequence about a change to the RAID configuration?This error appears only if the supplied cable is used to replace an existing SAS cable.Check the cabling between the disks and the SAS controller. Disconnecting a hard disk drive bay that was in use may persist the problem.

Has the system booted but the Operating System (OS) has not seen the tape drive? Check that thedrive has power, the ready light should be illuminated. Check the power cordis connected correctly to the tape drive if the ready light is not illuminated. Check the cabling betweenthe tape drive and the SAS controller if the ready LED is illuminated. Ensure that the HBA port to which the drive is connectedis enabled. For the external drive which was powered ON after the server, power cycle the server.

Are appropriate tape drivers and HBA drivers as well as supported application softwareinstalled on the host?

Check the environmental conditions against the specified limits.

Check through the media information.

Check that the Ultrium cartridge is in use. Compatible media can be recognized by theUltrium logo, which is the same as the logo on the front of the drive.

Use the correct media type:

Has the cartridge been write-protected?

Clean the tape heads with the cleaning cartridge. Makesure that the HP Ultrium universal cleaning cartridge, C7978A are being used.

The cartridge is probably faulty if the tape LED is flashing. Try using a different cartridge.

Try the operation again.

When a problem still occurs and the cartridge is not replaced, try using a differentcartridge.

When the problem is still there, the problem probably lies with the drive or the host computer.

Check the cables and connectors.

Clean the tape heads with the cleaning cartridge.

When the problem persists, check the environmental conditions against the specified limits, seetable above or refer to the HPE homepage (Click here to view the HPE). Perhaps move the drive to a more suitable site.

Attempt a drive unload/eject operation from the backup software.

Many backup applications will issue a Prevent Media Removal (PMR) command to the driverobot in an attempt to prevent human interference during a backup job. If this occurs, thesoftware that issued the PMR must be used to load and unload tapes.

Shut down backup software and, if in a Windows environment, stop removable storageservices.

Press the Eject button on the front of the tape drive.

Sometimes it is necessary to use the Eject button instead of software to unload a tape becausesoftware can lose communication with the product or a rogue application can prevent thesoftware from unloading the tape.

IMPORTANT: This can take several minutes in many cases. Ensure that drive activity hasstopped before continuing on (waiting 10 minutes is a good rule of thumb). It is important thatuser allow sufficient time for the drive to complete rewinding the cartridge. Interruption may cause damage to the media or the tape drive.

Run the HP L&TT.

Run L&TT (Click here to view the HPE Library and Tape Tools) on a host connected to the product, select thedrive, select the tests and run the Stuck Tape test.

There is no problem with the drive or media if the cartridge could be ejected prior to this stepand the following steps are not required. Theremay be a problem with the cartridge or drive if it could not be ejected using the steps above.

Power down the drive.

Disconnect the data cable.

After at least 15 seconds, power the drive back up and wait till the drive is idle/ready.

IMPORTANT: Powering up with a cartridge in the drive can take several minutes. It isimportant to allow sufficient time for the drive to complete rewinding the cartridge. Interrupting may damage the media or the tape drive.

Ensure that drive activity has stopped (waiting 10 minutes after power up is a good rule ofthumb). Push the Eject button.

This step attempts to overcome unload issues due to the drive being in an abnormal state orbecause PMR has been incorrectly left on after being set by a rogueapplication.

Initiate a force eject or emergency unload operation by pressing and holding the Eject buttonfor 15 seconds. This step causes the drive to try everything possible to unload the tape.

If the cartridge is still jammed, the tape drive has failed. Contact customer support at enterprise support: Click here to view the Enterprise Support.

Check that the drive has power (the power cord is properly connected and the ready LED isON).

Check that the correct media are being used. Use only Ultrium media.

Make sure that the cartridge with the correct orientation has been loaded.

Check for damage to the media and discard it, if it is damaged.

Use a new or known, good piece of media and see if it loads. If it does, the original cartridgeis faulty and should be discarded.

Check if another LTO Ultrium drive of the same model will accept the cartridge. If it does, theoriginal drive may be faulty. Before calling customer service, please check that the tape driveis responding.