Device is not ready Backup exec 10d 5629

[Ankur_Dubey]

Hi Guys,

I have a standalone tape drive IBM ultrium 4. Every time i try to do an inventory,BE throws an error  "The device is not ready" 

I have applied symantec drivers by running tapeinst.exe. RSM is disabled and stopped. Deleted and recreated the device in BE

Uninstalled ans reinstalled the tape drive from windows device manager and rebooted the server few times.

I have seen that the backups are also queued asking for an overwritable media even though there is one inside the drive (probably becuase media label is not getting updated due to failing inventory)

Kindly advise at the earliest.

No hardware error like event id 5 9 11 15 seen in enevtvwr , the only one i see is 

Event Type: Error

Event Source: Backup Exec

Event Category: None

Event ID: 34113

Date: 5/8/2012

Time: 7:04:00 PM

User: N/A

Computer: NZAKLDC01

Description:

Backup Exec Alert: Job Failed

(Server: "NZAKLDC01") (Job: "Inventory Drive 00029") Inventory Drive 00029 -- The job failed with the following error: The device is not ready.

 For more information, click the following link: 

http://eventlookup.veritas.com/eventlookup/EventLookup.jhtml

[CraigV]

Hi,

I don't think that drive is supported in your version. Please check the HCL below:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH46109

Only HP shows an LTO4 drive on the support list.

In this case, you'd need to upgrade to a version that supports this. BE 2010 R3 would work well. If you have support in place, it's simply a case of contacting the licensing department, getting new licenses, downloading the version of BE (2010 R3), and then upgrading. You can use the TN below:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH74415

Thanks!

EDIT: So it looks like the drive MIGHT be supported...IBM don't use LTO4 in their naming!!! Confusing!

Check and make sure that you have the latest Symantec drivers for the drive, that Removable Storage service is stopped and disabled, and that your services for BE are all started up...

[Ankur_Dubey]

Thanks Craig. I tried loading latest drivers from symantec, Removable Storage service is stopped and disabled,BE services are up as well. Still no luck ;(

[CraigV]

Mmm...IBM have a tape testing tool. Get hold of that and check to make sure that the drive itself is healthy.

Has this drive always given you issues, or has it worked before? Are there errors (Hard Write Errors) showing on the tapes you're trying to inventory (I assume they're also LTO4s?)?

Lastly...make sure the drive is connected to the correct SCSI card and not a RAID controller...

Thanks!