Sam Knight asks:

> Does anyone know the meaning of the error message below, it displays each
>  time a DAT tape is loaded?  The indicator lights are normal (green).  Could
>  not find the message in the MPE/iX Error Message Manual Vol I, II or III.
>
>  AVR Failure on LDEV 7
>  Status FFD F0071, #23 "AVR6

I must admit that I'm guessing what AVR stands for. I've always taken it to
mean something like "Automatic Volume Recognition," but to be absolutely
honest, you can supply your own translation and perhaps be more accurate.

As to what's causing the problem, there too I can only guess, but as I do our
own maintenance on our DDS drives, I have found that this error commonly
occurs because of two somewhat distinct problems. The first is that the
rotating read/write head has a bit of dirt attached to it so that it is
causing the tape to fly off of the surface of the helical head -- and thus
incompletely reading the load point prefix data from the tape and therefore
cannot properly read or recognize the volume data information. The solution
here is simple: clean the tape head by running a cleaner cartridge through the
tape once or twice.

The second source of this problem has been the presence of dirt in the path of
the IR-phototransistor pair that seeks out the black-clear-black load point on
the tape. Pressurized dry air works well to clear this problem -- but you need
to remove and disassemble your drive to perform this operation.

Other sources of this problem would be that the read/write electronics in the
drive have failed, but that is a relatively remote possibility. But if that
should happen, there's almost nothing you can do to remedy that other than
call HP.

Wirt Atmar