VMS: problems with INITIALIZE MUC6: (TK50)

Hi, this is a followup to the problem I'm having formatting a TK50 drive with a VMS filesystem, needed to create a diagnostic tape. I am on a VAX 6400 with VMS 5.4 or 7.2 (dual boot so to speak :-), nether works. I do $ INITIALIZE MUC6: ELAN When that runs the tape scrunches and spins happily until suddenly: %PBC0, Port is Reinitializing ( 45 Retries Left). Check the Error Log. %INIT-F-VOLINV, volume is not software enabled then in the error log I find what's attached below. This time, I believe the critical entry is there. Could someone help me interpreting this? I suppose it might just have a data error, but this should really not make the whole thing stop. I had several warnings when I wrote a tape with this drive on a uVAX-II with NetBSD, and it still went on writing it all. So is there an easy fix? Could it be that the TK50 tape doesn't play well with the TQK70 controller? Would it be better if I hooked the TK50 to the DEBNT, but where on the backplane rear do I connect this sort of thing and how is the IDC connector wired on the VAXBI side? thanks for helping out, -Gunther ******************************* ENTRY 3695. ******************************* ERROR SEQUENCE 157. LOGGED ON: SID 0B000006 DATE/TIME 2-MAR-2002 14:18:55.32 SYS_TYPE 02400101 SYSTEM UPTIME: 0 DAYS 00:08:56 SCS NODE: VAX/VMS V5.4 ERL$LOGMESSAGE ENTRY KA64A CPU FW REV# 6. CONSOLE FW REV# 4.0 XMI NODE # 1. I/O SUB-SYSTEM, UNIT _MUC6: MESSAGE TYPE 0002 TAPE MSCP MESSAGE MSLG$L_CMD_REF 6ADA0004 MSLG$W_UNIT 0006 UNIT #6. MSLG$W_SEQ_NUM 0000 SEQUENCE #0. MSLG$B_FORMAT 05 TAPE ERROR MSLG$B_FLAGS 41 SEQUENCE NUMBER RESET OPERATION CONTINUING MSLG$W_EVENT 0068 DATA ERROR READ DATA CHECK MSLG$Q_CNT_ID 132B0008 0342F6A1 UNIQUE IDENTIFIER, F6A1132B0008(X) TAPE CLASS DEVICE TBK70 MSLG$B_CNT_SVR 00 CONTROLLER SOFTWARE VERSION #0. 0C UNIT HARDWARE REVISION #12. MSLG$B_LEVEL 01 MSLG$B_RETRY 2C MSLG$L_GAP_CNT 00000000 GAP COUNT = 0. MSLG$B_FMTR_SVR 00 FORMATTER SOFTWARE VERSION #0. MSLG$B_FMTR_HVR 00 FORMATTER HARDWARE REVISION #0. TK70 DEVICE/CONTROLLER DEPENDENT INFORMATION DRIVE FLAGS 13 CARTRIDGE PRESENT HEAD AT TRACK ZERO POSITIONED AT BOT TRK NUMBER 00 LOGICAL TRACK NUMBER = 0. PHYSICAL BLK# 0004 PHYSICAL BLOCK NUMBER = 4. LOGICAL BLK# 00 LOGICAL BLOCK NUMBER = 0. TAPE POSITION 0100B4 TAPE POSITION = 65716. DRIVE STATE 0A0C RD/WRT STATE 2B3C OPERATION FLGS 01A2 CNTRLR STATUS 02 RECOVERED BY RETRY DRIVE ERR CODE 13 COMMUNICATIONS ERROR ****** ENTRY 3694., ERROR SEQUENCE 156. LOGGED ON SID 0B000006 ERL$LOGSTATUS ENTRY KA64A CPU FW REV# 6. CONSOLE FW REV# 4.0 XMI NODE # 1. I/O SUB-SYSTEM, UNIT _MUC6: MSLG$L_CMD_REF 6ADA0004 ORB$L_OWNER 00000000 OWNER UIC [000,000] UCB$L_CHAR 0CC44038 DIRECTORY STRUCTURED SINGLE DIRECTORY "SEQUENTIAL BLOCK" ORIENTED FILE ORIENTED AVAILABLE ERROR LOGGING ALLOCATED CAPABLE OF INPUT CAPABLE OF OUTPUT UCB$L_OPCNT 00000003 3. QIO'S THIS UNIT UCB$W_ERRCNT 0001 1. ERRORS THIS UNIT UCB$W_STS 0810 ONLINE SOFTWARE VALID CDRP$L_MEDIA 00000000 CDRP$W_FUNC 000C READ PHYSICAL BLOCK CDRP$L_BCNT 00000050 TRANSFER SIZE 80. BYTE(S) CDRP$W_BOFF 0170 368. BYTE PAGE OFFSET CDRP$L_PID 0001000D REQUESTOR "PID" CDRP$Q_IOSB 000001F4 00000000 IOSB, 0. BYTE(S) TRANSFERRED -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org