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TonyP4you4me's avatar
TonyP4you4me
Level 4
9 years ago

BE2010 job fails mid week, every week

I have a job that continually fails on wednesday nights.  The job stops for some reason and produces an unreadable end marker.  
One week it happened on a Tuesday, but else always on a Wednesday night. 

I ran a clean tape, the error happens on multiple tapes, so not a bad cart either. Jobs run just fine 'most' of the time.  
I pulled the bengine and sgmon logs for these events.  

Logs are attached, please see if you can tell what is going on. Two different dates are in the example, but the error happens at the end of the file on both.  

 

Thanks, 
Tony

 

2010
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Error messages
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    9 years ago
    This is a different problem from the VSS problem which you reported earlier. It would appear that your tape drive is giving problems as well. Is your media server a VM? 1. You should change the tape to a new one. 2. Clean the tape drive 3. Run the manufacturer's diagnostics utility against the tape drive. Make sure you select the write test and that you stopped ask the BE services beforehand
  • TonyP4you4me's avatar
    TonyP4you4me
    9 years ago

    I'm 95% sure there is a batch of bad media.  The client is going with another, tapeless solution.  We bought a bunch of new tapes and retired the ones with the issue.  Still seeing the error happening occasionally, but I'm calling this the solution. 

     

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  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    9 years ago
    This is a different problem from the VSS problem which you reported earlier. It would appear that your tape drive is giving problems as well. Is your media server a VM? 1. You should change the tape to a new one. 2. Clean the tape drive 3. Run the manufacturer's diagnostics utility against the tape drive. Make sure you select the write test and that you stopped ask the BE services beforehand
  • TonyP4you4me's avatar
    TonyP4you4me
    Level 4
    9 years ago

    I'm not sure why this thread was split.  it's not 2 issues.  I originally said the symptom was the end-mark being unreadable.  

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/backup-failure-tape-device-error#comment-11389321

  • Larry_Fine's avatar
    Larry_Fine
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    End marker unreadable error is associated with the hardware.

    end-marker unreadable MAY be a hardware issue.  It is simply a symptom of BE not being able to finish the job properly.

  • TonyP4you4me's avatar
    TonyP4you4me
    Level 4
    9 years ago

    I had another failure.  

    I ran a standard test using the IBM TDT and I have this error.  
     DIAG RESULT                         : ABORTED
     DIAG CODE                           : UNEXPECTED DATA
     DIAG STEP ID                        : PERFORMANCE TEST
    Full report attached (report.txt)

    Firmware update from A233 to C7QJ is available, but fails to install due to INVALID MICROCODE FILE. 

    Ran a system test and it passed.  

    Ran a Full Write test (256/comp) and that passed as well.  

    Going on a hunch that it *could* be multiple bad tapes, I tested a tape which had recently failed with an end-marker symptom.  It also passed.  

    Any other suggestions with new info?

  • TonyP4you4me's avatar
    TonyP4you4me
    Level 4
    9 years ago

    Another failure last night.  

    Can someone tell me if there's an easy way to list/query out all the jobs in the past 6 months that ran to a specific tape (media label or guid)? 

     

  • Larry_Fine's avatar
    Larry_Fine
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    Firmware update from A233 to C7QJ is available, but fails to install due to INVALID MICROCODE FILE. 

    If I recall correctly, the IBM LTO4 is available in two hardware versions, the "original" and "v2".  I susect that you have the wrong firmware file for your version of drive.  I would suggest double checking on the IBM site for the right version.  Or maybe it is just a bad download of the firmware file.

  • TonyP4you4me's avatar
    TonyP4you4me
    Level 4
    9 years ago

    I'm 95% sure there is a batch of bad media.  The client is going with another, tapeless solution.  We bought a bunch of new tapes and retired the ones with the issue.  Still seeing the error happening occasionally, but I'm calling this the solution.