[comp.sys.hp] HP35450A DAT Tape+Adaptec1542b+ISC 2.2 problem

rjn@hpfcso.HP.COM (Bob Niland) (02/05/91)

re: > After looking around for a while, I recently bought an HP35450A Dat 
    > Tape and hooked it a PC (33Mhz 386) with an Adaptec 1542B and 
    > Interactive/386 2.2.  

> Bad surprise: The system hangs after displaying the 'Booting the Unix System'
> message. The same tape drive works fine for backup when connected to a 
> DECstation 3100  running Ultrix 4.0. 

> Any clues ?

I know nothing about the systems involved, but on some versions of the HP
DATs we use on the Series 300/400, and some versions of our boot ROMs, the
boot ROM will hang if it finds the DAT drive prior to finding the disc, and
if there is no tape in the drive.  I would suggest using a tape that has two
EOFs written on it at start of tape.

Conversely, if your system thinks it knows how to boot from serial SCSI
devices (or isn't checking the device type), it may be trying to boot from
the DAT drive, and failing.  For example, after the initial read it may
attempt a seek operation that is not supported on DAT.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                UUCP: [hplabs|hpfcse]!hpfcrjn!rjn     Ft Collins CO 80525-9599