DLT4000 media errors. Bad drive?

[Dan Brosemer <odin@svartalfheim.net>]

I've used various tape technologies with OpenBSD for a while (Exabyte, DDS,
etc.) but never DLT, so I'm hoping someone with better DLT kung-fu can help
me.

I recently bought a second-hand DLT4000, and I'm not sure if the drive is
bad or if I'm not doing something that needs to be done for DLT and not for
DDS or 8mm tapes.

I cannot write to brand new tapes.  I have run a cleaning tape through even
though the drive didn't ask for it.

If I put a fresh tape in, the "tape in use" light blinks for a short while,
then the 20GB and Compress lights come on and the "tape in use" light blinks
with different frequency.  After two minutes, it goes solid and stays that
way for upwards of 30min.

At this point, I can run mt commands and get reasonable results (below).

But I can't write data.  (Input/output error from dd)  The 20GB and
Compression lights go off when I try, too.

So, am I just missing something DLTish, or is my drive broken?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

dmesg, mt, dd, and kernel info:

----  dmesg  ----
OpenBSD 3.4-stable (GENERIC) #0: Tue Nov  4 13:07:28 EST 2003
    odin@akbar.cleannorth.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
cpu0: Intel Pentium II Xeon ("GenuineIntel" 686-class, 1024KB L2 cache) 450 MHz
cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX,FXSR
real mem  = 1073311744 (1048156K)
avail mem = 990146560 (966940K)
using 4278 buffers containing 53768192 bytes (52508K) of memory
mainbus0 (root)
bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(00) BIOS, date 12/31/99, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf0000
pcibios0 at bios0: rev. 2.1 @ 0xf0000/0x2000
pcibios0: PCI BIOS has 8 Interrupt Routing table entries
pcibios0: PCI Interrupt Router at 000:15:0 ("Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ISA" rev 0x00)
pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0x8000 0xc8000/0x4000 0xe8000/0x6000 0xee000/0x2000!
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (no bios)
fxp0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 "Intel 82557" rev 0x05: irq 5, address 00:08:c7:07:bf:00
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82555 10/100 media interface, rev. 0
"Compaq Netelligent ASMC" rev 0x00 at pci0 dev 12 function 0 not configured
siop0 at pci0 dev 13 function 0 "Symbios Logic 53c875" rev 0x14 using on-board RAM irq 9
scsibus0 at siop0: 16 targets
siop0: target 6 now using 8 bit 10.0 MHz 15 REQ/ACK offset xfers
st0 at scsibus0 targ 6 lun 0: <Quantum, DLT4000 CPQ DRV, D473> SCSI2 1/sequential removable
st0: drive empty
siop1 at pci0 dev 13 function 1 "Symbios Logic 53c875" rev 0x14 using on-board RAM irq 10
scsibus1 at siop1: 16 targets
vga1 at pci0 dev 14 function 0 "ATI Mach64 GV" rev 0x3a
wsdisplay0 at vga1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
pcib0 at pci0 dev 15 function 0 "Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ISA" rev 0x02
pciide0 at pci0 dev 15 function 1 "Intel 82371AB IDE" rev 0x01: DMA, channel 0 wired to compatibility, channel 1 wired to compatibility
atapiscsi0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0
scsibus2 at atapiscsi0: 2 targets
cd0 at scsibus2 targ 0 lun 0: <COMPAQ, CD-ROM CR-589, GC4K> SCSI0 5/cdrom removable
cd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2
pciide0: channel 1 ignored (disabled)
uhci0 at pci0 dev 15 function 2 "Intel 82371AB USB" rev 0x01pci_intr_map: no mapping for pin D
: couldn't map interrupt
"Intel 82371AB Power Mgmt" rev 0x02 at pci0 dev 15 function 3 not configured
pchb0 at pci0 dev 16 function 0 "Intel 82451NX Mem & IO" rev 0x03
pchb1 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "Intel 82454NX PXB" rev 0x02
pchb2 at pci0 dev 19 function 0 "Intel 82454NX PXB" rev 0x02
pci1 at pchb2 bus 4
ppb0 at pci1 dev 5 function 0 "IBM 82351 PCI-PCI" rev 0x01
pci2 at ppb0 bus 5
cac0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Compaq SMART2P RAID" rev 0x02: irq 11 Compaq SMART-2/P
scsibus3 at cac0: 2 targets
sd0 at scsibus3 targ 0 lun 0: <Compaq, RAID1 volume #, > SCSI2 0/direct fixed
sd0: 17363MB, 4358 cyl, 255 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sec, 35561280 sec total
sd1 at scsibus3 targ 1 lun 0: <Compaq, RAID0 volume #, > SCSI2 0/direct fixed
sd1: 17351MB, 4355 cyl, 255 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sec, 35536800 sec total

isa0 at pcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker>
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0/6 irq 6 drq 2
fd0 at fdc0 drive 0: 1.44MB 80 cyl, 2 head, 18 sec
biomask 4e40 netmask 4e60 ttymask 4e62
pctr: 686-class user-level performance counters enabled
mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support
dkcsum: sd0 matched BIOS disk 80
dkcsum: sd1 matched BIOS disk 81
root on sd0a
rootdev=0x400 rrootdev=0xd00 rawdev=0xd02

--- mt status ---

mace# mt -f /dev/nrst0 status
SCSI tape drive, residual=0
ds=3<Mounted>
er=0
blocksize: 0 (0, 0, 0, 0)
density: 26 (0, 0, 0, 0)

--- dd ---

mace# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nrst0 count=4
dd: /dev/nrst0: Input/output error
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes transferred in 0.030 secs (0 bytes/sec)

--- this from the kernel when I do the dd ---

st0(siop0:6:0): Check Condition on opcode 0xa
    SENSE KEY: Media Error
   INFO FIELD: 512
     ASC/ASCQ: ASC 0x80 ASCQ 0x00
st0(siop0:6:0): Check Condition on opcode 0x10
    SENSE KEY: Media Error
   INFO FIELD: 1
     ASC/ASCQ: ASC 0x80 ASCQ 0x00

-- 
"Burnished gallows set with red
 Caress the fevered, empty mind
 Of man who hangs bloodied and blind
 To reach for wisdom, not for bread."  -- Deoridhe Grimsdaughter