Filter
Top Products
Chapter 4 Troubleshooting Common Problems 145
Chapter 4
Cause: Contamination by
head staining.
(Resulting from adhesion of
chemicals that are present in
the tape media to the head
surface)
■ One or two passes with a cleaning tape should resolve
cleaning lights caused by normal head staining. If a cleaning
tape is unsuccessful in resolving a cleaning light after 3 or
more attempts, the cleaning tape may be contaminated, and
should NOT be used in another drive.
Cause: Temperature and
humidity
■ Tapes should be stored and used in the middle of the
temperature and humidity specifications range of 64-79 F, and
40-60 RH.
Cause: Non-acclimated media
■ A tape should be acclimated for a minimum of 24 hours before
being used, particularly if it has been stored at a substantially
different temperature or level of humidity than the tape library.
Cause: Wrong cleaning
cartridge
■ Only use the cleaning cartridge specifically designated for
each drive type.
Cause: Wrong tape format
■ Attempting to load, read, or write tapes that were written in
other formats can cause cleaning lights.
Cause: Abnormal build up of
head debris (Frequent load/
unload operations with
minimal tape reading or
writing can cause this
condition.)
■ Do not perform frequent load/unloads without also doing tape
operations. The front panel load/unload test should NOT be
run for more than 100 cycles since it does not perform actual
tape operations.
Cause: Bad/defective/
contaminated media
■ If a cleaning light is cleared using a cleaning tape, and then
immediately reappears when a particular cartridge is
reloaded, that cartridge should be suspected as being
contaminated.
■ If this occurs, re-clean the drive, loading a known good tape.
In rare cases, a tape cartridge can be worn out, have bad
calibration tracks, or have a bad tape directory recorded by
another drive.
■ Any cartridge that is suspected of being defective or
contaminated should NOT be reused in any drive.
Table 27
Troubleshooting Table
Problem Solution