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Backup stops and fails before the end; Error E00084F4; Tapes are marked "End marker unreadable";

Alexandre_Miche
Level 4
Partner
Hi

We recently migrated from
SBS 2003 with Backup Exec (BE) V12 on a HP ML350G3
to a SBS2008 Std with BE V12.5 on a ML350 G6

We are using a HP LTO robotic tape library which works well on the old server.
However, on the new server, backup jobs in BE keep failing
  • Most backup job stops and fails before the end; (anywhere between 1GB & 62GB or between 5 minutes & 1:30)
  • Some small job seem to finish without error
  • An error code E00084F4 is recorded
  • Tapes are marked "End marker unreadable";
I have Googled this error, I have searched this forum and I am at loss about what is happening. I am about to ditch this tape library and would rather use USB drive and the native SBS2008 backup...

I followed http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/305233.htm and have uninstalled HP InSight software from the server to no avail.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Alexandre
8 REPLIES 8

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified
If you can try installing an Adaptec (or similar) SCSI card to attach your library to - we have seen a couple of customers indicate that some of the onboard SCSI chipsets do give hardware problems with libraries. I can't guarantee you are experiencing a related problem it is just somethign that might be worth trying.

Alexandre_Miche
Level 4
Partner
Hi Colin Thank you for your feedback. I installed a "HP SC11Xe PCI-e U320 SCSI Host Bus Adapter" to control that tape library ... so it is probably another issue creating this problem. Any other idea ?? Cheers Alexandre

Alexandre_Miche
Level 4
Partner
Hi all,

Any suggestions? 

This server is not getting backed up by Backup Exec. Since my last post, I installed SP3 (for BE 12.5) to no avail.

Cheers

Alexandre

Alexandre_Miche
Level 4
Partner
Hi all,

This is getting very annoying...! How many hours have I wasted on Backup Exec, I lost counts. in the last 2 years probably close to 40 hours. Aaaargh!!! 

I wish Symantec had a proper tech support departement that did not cost an arm & a leg.

The worst is that BE did work on this server with its current software & hardware configuration... The only change is that I had to re-install the OS from scratch loosing all the hours I spent tweaking BE the first time!!! Aaaaaaaaaargh

Anyway I'll stop ranting.

I installed the latest drivers
I reinstalled LiveUpdate (which is not working, see this forum)
I deleted and rediscovered the tape drive in BE

I wonder if this is a HP LTO tape library conflict? 

Any other suggestions

Alexandre


pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
I would suggest that you replace your tape drive.  I have mysterious random problems with my backup jobs until I replaced the tape drive in my HP robotic library.  Luckily, it is still under warranty.  I had to replace the tape drive twice within the past year.

David_Perrin
Level 5
When I have seen this problem I have been trying to backup a remote server and lost network connectivity with the remote agent, which makes the backupexec job not set the end of tape marker which makes the tape non-appendable.  I have changed out many half-used tapes because of this.

Intern
Level 1

I usually run quick erase on the problem tapes to fix this.

Alexandre_Miche
Level 4
Partner
Hi all,

Thank you for your many suggestions.

@pkh: This tape library was working well. I installed on a SBS 2008 3 months ago. I had some issue to make it work, but it was working OK.
We had to rebuild the server a mont ago. Since re-isntalling the OS & BE, I cannot get Symantec to work properly

@ David Perrin: This is a local server attached to a LTO tape library. So no network connectivity here.

@ Unpaid Intern: Did that already. Every single backup fails.


Any other possible solution about this problem? 
Anyone at Symantec listening?

As I just said in another post in this forum related to Live Upadte, I am getting very tired of using Symantec products!

I still don't have a solution for
1. Updating Backup Exec using Live Upadte
2. Backing up the server using Backup Exec.

That's it! Next time, I'll tell my clients to get Arc Serve or another product. I am tired of wasting numerous unpaid hours trying to fix Symantec's !@#$% software

Alexandre