Sounds like the drive needs replacement.

A reboot is unlikely to help, but may be worth a try - bringing the 
3k down, then powering off tape drive, then powering on tape drive, 
then starting up 3k.

Good luck.

At 06:46 PM 2010-01-07, Dave Powell,  MMfab wrote:
>It's a DDS3,  and fwiw, its big enough and fast enough for our small 
>system (full backup every night with time and space to spare)
>
>No reboots or other changes here between the last time it worked and 
>the first time we saw a problem.
>
>Just tried powering off the drive for a few seconds --  didn't 
>help.  When I inserted a tape after that, it was the first time I've 
>heard tape-moving sounds since this started, and it sounded a bit 
>louder than usual.
>
>I'll try to restart the system tonight.  I don't need to power it 
>off too, do I ?    Just off the tape drive, restart the 3000, 
>re-power the tape, or some such ?
>
>But I'm calling HP too, to ask for a replacement.
>
>
>Since my first post I've found some other devinfo calls that hang 
>now, like devinfo (7, "TapeTrackError")    and   devinfo (7, 
>"IntTapeError").   All these worked in the past  (we run them every 
>day).  I'm trying to find one that gives an error without hanging, 
>but no luck so far.
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Gilles Schipper" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Dave Powell, MMfab" <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 15:23
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] tape problems
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gilles Schipper
GSA Inc.
HP System Administration Specialists
300 John Street, Box 87651   Thornhill, ON Canada L3T 7R4
Voice: 416.702.7900     Fax: 905.889.3001
email:  [log in to unmask]  web: http://www.gsainc.com
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