Unknown Medium Changer disappear in Device Manager when running backup/restore job

[gikipje]

Hello,

We are using the following devices and software:
HP ML310 G5
Backup Exec 2010
Adaptec SCSI card 29320LPE - Ultra 320 SCSI
HP Tape unit 1/8 G2 Ultrium 920 drive

All the b2d are successfully but when we try to backup to tape or we restore from tape the Unknown Medium Changer disappear in Device Manger after some time and a second Tape drive (HP Ultrium 3-SCSI) comes online in the device manager.
When Backup Exec tries to unload or change the tape the job failed with error: e0008115 - Physical Volume Library Drive or Robot paused, offline, or disabled.
For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-33045.

When I reboot the tape unit the Unknown Medium Changer comes back in the Device Manger and the second Tape drive disappear in Device Manager.
It's very strange, we don’t have a second tape drive in our tape unit and why disappears the Unknown Medium Changer only when I try to run a backup or a restore to/from tape??
The tape unit works fine on our old 2003 server with backup exec 11d.
We are using the same settings on the Server 2008/Backup Exec 2010 and we are using the Symantec driver for the tape drive and the Microsoft driver for the library.

The Unknown Medium Changer is located on: Location 5 (Bus Number 0, Target Id 5, LUN 1)
The HP Ultrium 3-SCSI drive is located on: Location 5 (Bus Number 0, Target Id 5, Lun 0)

When the second tape drive comes online in the device manager his location is: Location 5 (Bus Number 0, Target Id 5, LUN 1).
That’s the same location the Unknown Medium Changer has before it disappeared.......

I tried several things: SCSI trace, we don’t have error events in the event viewer, Uninstall/Reinstall backup exec and the drivers, Remove\Disabled several devices.

Can anyone help me with this strange be heaver...

[pkh]

The tape library should appear as an Unknown Medium Changer in the Windows Device Manager.

1) Go to the BE installation directory and use tapeinst.exe to delete all traces of the tape library and the tape drive from BE.

2) Stop the media server and the library

3) Start the tape library

4) Start the media server

5) Ensure that the library and tape drive is recognised and functioning correctly in the Windows Device Manager. The library should appear as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver and the tape drive should have a Symantec driver.

6) In BE, install the library if necessary.  Go to Tools --> Wizards ---> Device Configuration Wizard to do so.

6) Try again.

[Colin_Weaver]

In the past we have seen some strange device errors crop up if the Insight Agents are installed - even to the point where the Insight Agents had to be uninstalled to get a drive/library to stay online.

As you appear to have an HP server with a HP library, do you have the Insight Agents installed?

Note: I am not aware we have seen this condition recently but a few years ago (with older operating systems, hardware and BE versions) it was an issue.

[gikipje]

pkh,

Thanks for your fast answer,
I have used the tapeinst.exe to delete all the traces:

Finding tape devices
Finding plug and play tape device names
Finding IDE plug and play device instances
Finding SCSI plug and play device instances
Hardware ID = SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W
Hardware ID = SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W
Finding Symantec device drivers
Hardware scan complete.
Uninstalling Symantec device drivers
Removing the IDR CD-ROM burner driver (drvmcdb.sys) association for tape drives.
Removed device SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W
Deleting service "halfinchVRTS"
Deleted halfinch.sys
Deleted oem14.inf
Deleted oem20.inf
Removing SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W SCSI\SEQUENTIAL&VEN_HP&PROD_ULTRIUM_3-SCSI\6&2B6CBC1&0&000500
Removing SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W SCSI\SEQUENTIAL&VEN_HP&PROD_ULTRIUM_3-SCSI\6&2B6CBC1&0&000501

After a restart i have used tapeinst.exe to install the symantec driver:

Removing the IDR CD-ROM burner driver (drvmcdb.sys) association for tape drives.
Updating Symantec inf file
Installing Symantec "halfinch.sys" for "SCSI\SequentialHP______Ultrium_3-SCSI__D24W"
Installation complete.

We have to wait now untill the job needs another tape.

P.S. the tape drive has a another name now (see attachments)

[gikipje]

Collin Weaver,

I have already uninstalled that software.
I have read that on a forum that the hp software could be a problem.

In the attachment you can see all the software thats installed on our server.

[gikipje]

Pkh,

Sorry thats not working.
As soon the job is restoring the Unkown Medium Changer is gone... (see attachment)
This time no second tape drive so far...

[pkh]

That is o.k. Do you still have your problem after this?

[gikipje]

Pkh,

Sorry thats not working.
As soon the job is restoring the Unkown Medium Changer is gone... (see attachment)
This time no second tape drive so far...

[pkh]

Run the HP LT&T utility against the tape library. Make sure you select the write test and that you have stopped all the BE services beforehand

[gikipje]

Pkh,

I have done the Write/Read test with the HP LT&T utility.
No errors and the Unkown Media Changer is still in the device manager!

|__ Test 'Read/Write Test' started on device 'HP Ultrium 3-SCSI' at address '5/0.5.0'
    |__ Please ensure a test cartridge is loaded into drive at address 5/0.5.0
 (CAUTION: any data on cartridge will be lost!)
 (CAUTION: Do not press the eject button during the test - this can cause unexpected results)

Continue with test?
    |__ Operations Log
    |    |__ Performing Device Self Test
    |    |__ Checking for presence of cartridge
    |    |__ Performing 1st write phase of read/write test
    |    |__ Rewinding
    |    |__ Writing data (0.0 MB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (256 MB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (512 MB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (768 MB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (1.0 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (1.3 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (1.5 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (1.8 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (2.0 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (2.3 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (2.5 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (2.8 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (3.0 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (3.3 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Writing data (3.5 GB/ 4 GB)
    |    |__ Total amount of data written : 4 GB
    |    |__ Performing 1st read phase of read/write test
    |    |__ Total amount of data read : 4 GB
    |    |__ Test Passed.
    |__ Passed
    |__ Analysis Results

[Vishal_Shinde]

Hello,
Please run the tracer utility, while running the job.(to reproduce  the issue.)

Ref:
Troubleshooting hardware with Backup Exec for Windows Servers using the SCSI Trace Utility (tracer.exe).
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH49432

export the contents to a text file by clicking on File-->export as text; and attach the resulting log with the next comment, if possible.

Regards,
S

[gikipje]

Sasha2008,

I have multiple times run the tracer.exe by my self.
In this log you can see that backup exec tries to unload en load a another tape, but what you see on the picture of the Device Manager is that there is no Unknown Media Changer availible but that there is a second tape drive...

I cancel the job now and reboot the tape unit and then the Unknown Media Changer is back in the device manager and the second tape drive is gone!

[CraigV]

...this isn't a BE problem. It sounds like the issue lies between the OS and the autoloader itself.

Have you made sure that it is terminated correctly, if this is required? Have you made sure that the card used is actually supported by HP?

Thanks!