Adding tape drives

Problems with QIC-02 cartridge tape drives

You may encounter the following problems with QIC-02 cartridge tape drives:

QIC-02 cartridge tape drive not recognized at bootup

The system recognizes a cartridge tape drive if it displays a message similar to this at boot time:

   %tape	0x338-0x33C	05	1	type=wangtek

If it cannot find the tape drive, the system displays a message such as this:

   NOTICE: ct: Tape controller (type=wangtek) not found

For a cartridge tape drive:

Verify that the tape controller card is physically configured to the base address that you gave when you installed the tape drive. If necessary, reinstall the drive and change the parameters.
Verify that the tape controller is seated properly on the motherboard. If necessary, you may need to insert the controller in a different slot.
Some tape drives (particularly external drives) require that the drive be attached to the tape controller and powered on at boot time.
Verify that the cartridge tape drive is supported by SCO OpenServer. See the SCO list of compatible hardware for a list of the compatible tape drives.
If your system still does not recognize the tape controller card at boot time, see your hardware documentation.

Use of interrupts with the Archive drive

Archive drives using the SC402 controller on ISA bus machines do not use the default type A interrupt 4. Reset the jumpers on the controller card or use the mkdev tape command to change the interrupt.

Settings required by the Olivetti drive

The Olivetti tape controller on ISA bus machines uses the following settings:

DMA Interrupt Base I/O address (hex)

1 9 0x288

DMA	Interrupt	Base I/O address (hex)
1	9	0x288

Bad octal digit

After installing a cartridge tape drive, the system may display the following message during the kernel relink process:

   /etc/conf/pack.d/ct/space.c line 46 bad octal digit

To fix this problem, verify that the base address for the tape controller is entered with a leading ``0x'' rather than a trailing ``H''. Install the tape again to modify the cartridge tape parameters.

Tape commands hang

If the tape drive hangs when you test it with the command tape reset:

Verify that the cartridge tape controller card is physically configured for the DMA value that you gave when you ran mkdev tape. To fix this, either physically reconfigure the tape controller DMA setting to agree with the address that you gave with mkdev tape, or run mkdev tape again and specify the DMA value on the tape controller.
Do the same for the interrupt vector.
Verify that the cable between the tape controller and the tape drive is properly attached.
If the tape reset command still hangs, see your hardware documentation.

Cannot open /dev/rct0 error message

If a tar(C) command (or other commands which access the tape drive) fail to write the contents of a directory to a tape, and the system displays the following message:

   Cannot open /dev/rct0

To correct the problem:

Use hwconfig to verify that the interrupt vector for a cartridge tape drive does not conflict with any other device on your system. Refer to ``QIC-02 cartridge tape drive not recognized at bootup'' for information on the available interrupt vectors. To change the interrupt vector, run mkdev tape and indicate a new interrupt vector value.
Verify that the actual physical interrupt (IRQ) setting on a cartridge tape controller card agrees with the interrupt vector that you specified with mkdev tape.
Make sure that the proper device for the tape drive is located in the /dev directory. Enter:

l /dev/rct0
The output should look like this:
```
   crw-rw-rw   1 root  root  10, 0 Feb 14 12:00 rct0
```
(The major device number (10) may differ.) If the listing of /dev does not contain a line similar to this, run mkdev tape again to create the device.
Verify that all cables are connected correctly.
If the tar command still does not work, the tape may be broken. See your hardware documentation.