10 Nov
2006
10 Nov
'06
5:19 p.m.
My first thought is the EOT sensor (the optical
sensor that detects the
hole in the tape). Maybe it's just clogged up with dirt, maybe it's
electrically malfunctioning. There's normally an IR LED and
phototransistor, one mounted in a block alongside the head, the other at
the bottom of the drive (there's a 45 degree mirror in the cartridge).
-tony
Hadn't thought of the tape "coming off" that way- checked with the
owner and confirmed that it was what I thought originally: the tape is not
rolling onto
the spools evenly and is
coming off the spools in the vertical direction (i.e. wrapping higher
and higher until it misses
the top of the spool). Quite odd- and he says it only happens on this
drive.
What would happen if the tape head was tilted (front-back) relative to the
guides in the cartrdige? Could that put a sideways force on the tape?
Maybe the cartridge isn't seating properly,or the head guides (does it
move the head up and down to change tracks?) are misaligned or something.
His hypothesis is an irregularity in the capstain, but
I don't see how
that would be an issue
(DC2000 type tapes use the QIC driveband arrangement, right?).
I don;t see how that could be the problem.
-tony