Well I hooked all the pieces together and checked
out the HP7974 tape drive capstan (as various members
of you suggested and yes, it had turned to goo.  This
is just like the earlier posts this year on this
nefarious capstan.

Having lacquer thinner, I was able to remove the goo.
It is now bare aluminum.  For test purposes and wishing
to harm the brand new tapes I got from HP, I found an
old Platform 1P Cold Load tape I had made some years
back on an HP7979 and loaded it up.

The tape drive display reported ID7 then BOT.  So I
assumed this was good.

I turned on my Micro/XE and waited for the Bootstrap
menu.  Did an I/O map and it found my two Eagles and
lo and behold, the HP7974 also.

With the tape at BOT and the menu in front of me,
I entered LOAD 4, 3 (which happened to be what was
reported in IOMAP.)  The result I got was:

WCS boot failure:
  Can't read WCS pointer record from tape.

Hmmmm... Is it the tape drive, or is it Memorex?

Just in case it has anything to do with the capstan,
let me know.  Although I doubt it, as it consistently
finds BOT on all my old tapes.

Remembering there was something extra one has to do
with goo removed capstans, I'm holding back on using
my new HP tapes.  Although I think a 3/4 inch wide
cut of heat shrink tubing might do the trick, if they
make them that large, or perhaps a fat and small
rubber band.

Will try again later tomorrow.

Tracy M. Johnson
[log in to unmask]
TRW Automotive