On Feb 13, 8:46, Clint Wolff (VAX collector) wrote: position Yes, but watch the LEDS. You really need to look at both LEDs together. Here's the table from the User's Guide: Green Red Drive state -------------------------------------------------------------------- Off Off power off Off On 1. After power-on, this condition occurs for 5-15s while the drive is initializing. (Red goes off and green comes on after initialization.) 2. Indicates handle is up, following cartridge insertion. 3. Indicates tape has almost completeed rewinding, and is approaching the unload point. Red stays on during this sequence (8-10s). On Off OK to lift handle NOTE: Only under this condition is it safe to lift the handle. Under any other condition, lifting the handle may damage the unit or cause a fault. On On Tape is at BOT and drive ready to accept system commands. Flash On Indicates tape motion during normal system operation. Flash Flash Tape is rewinding to BOT. Flash Fast Indicates a fault condition. See Chapter 5, Solving Flash Problems. Pushing the LOAD/UNLOAD switch FOUR times may clear the fault. Chapter 5 suggests trying the four-presses two or three times. If that doesn't work, power off and then on (it says to do this only once, actually). If that doesn't work, it suggests calling your system administrator, Field Service, or removing the drive to send to a Service Centre. Not very informative or helpful, really. The only chapter that's shorter is Chapter 4, "Uses For The TK50". The load sequence is: If the power is off, make sure the LOAD/UNLOAD button is in the OUT (unload) position, and power up the drive. Let the drive initialise: the red LED should be on for between 5 and 15 seconds, and then the green LED comes on and the red one goes off. When the green LED is on and the red is off, lift the handle. "Caution: never lift the handle if the red LED is on or blinking." "Smoothly and completely insert the cartridge." [the manual doesn't say where, but I'd be tempted to find the nearest convenient member of the TK50 design team, and ask them to turn round...] When it locks in place, the red LED should go on and the green LED off. Lower the handle. After several seconds, the green LED should come on steady, and the red LED should go off. At this point, it's safe to operate the handle again to remove the cartridge, or continue to load the tape. Push in the LOAD/UNLOAD switch (the LOAD position is IN). The tape shuold go through the load process, taking 5-8 seconds. Both LEDs come on steady when it reaches BOT. To unload a cartridge: Set the LOAD/UNLOAD switch to OUT (UNLOAD position). If the tape isn't already at BOT, both LEDs will flash *slowly* while it rewinds. If the tape was very cose to BOT, you might not see them flash. The red LED comes on while the tape is unloading from BOT. This should take 8-10 seconds, then the red LED should go off and the green should come on. When the red LED is off and the green is on, left the handle, which partially ejects the cartridge. ----- The manual has some diagrams showing how the tape leader in the cartridge should look, and how the take-up leader in the drive should be. From what you wrote, I don't think you have any problems here, but for the sake of completeness... I'm not going to attempt ASCII art for this, and I'm afraid I can't get at a scanner ATM, so I'll try to describe them: Cartridge: Looking at it right-side-up, with the edge with the door towards you and the hinge at the right, you should be able to release the door lock by lifting up the release. Swing open the door; you should see the leader on the left, with *nearly* all of the eye in the leader showing. Drive: With the handle down, looking into the cartridge slot, you should see the take-up leader, with its notch roughly in the middle of the slot. To the left of that notch, the take-up leader should be a little less than 1/2" wide; to the right of the notch it narrows to a fraction of that (maybe an 1/8"), with a sort of fat arrow-head on the end. A little hook on an arm behind the takeup leader (called the buckling link) should be hooked through the notch. Just at the back of the hook, on the buckling link, are a couple of vertical pins which prevent the takeup leader sliding too far back up the buckling link. The narrow part of the takeup leader should all be in front of the link, and straight; it should not be displaced above the link, nor tangled in it, nor unhooked. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York