IBM HH LTO manual Post-installation troubleshooting, The drive does not work, Understanding LEDs

The drive does not work

Possible reason	Recommended action
If the drive does not turn on, the power cable might not	Make sure that the power cable is firmly connected. Try
be connected to the drive correctly.	another power cable. If the power supply is present and
	all LEDs remain off, try the reset button to power cycle
	the drive. If this fails, call for assistance.
If the self-test fails, there might be a hardware or	If there is a cartridge in the drive, remove it. Turn off the
firmware failure.	drive and turn it on again. If the self-test still fails, call
	for assistance.

Post-installation troubleshooting

Remember that the system recognizes devices during start-up. If you swap or connect a product when your system is running, you will need to restart the system. Restarting the system will reset devices and will often resolve problems. Restart the computer every time you add a driver or install firmware.

Understanding LEDs

Your tape drive has four LEDs (light emitting diodes) on the front panel, which indicate drive status. These LEDs provide useful troubleshooting information.

The tape drive performs a power-on self-test whenever power is applied or the drive is reset. The test takes about 5 seconds.

The green Ready light and the three amber lights for the other LEDs flash briefly and then go out.

The green Ready LED flashes and then remains on if the drive passes the self-test.

If the self-test fails, the Drive Error and Tape Error LEDs flash, while the Ready and Use Cleaning Cartridge LEDs are off. This continues until the drive is reset.

Use the following table to interpret the LED sequences and the appropriate action to take.

Symptom	Action
Drive fails to execute power-on self-test. LEDs remain	Check power is being supplied to the drive.
off.	Try another power connector.
	If the power supply is present and all LEDs remain off,
	call for service.
Drive fails to execute power-on self-test. The Drive Error	Unload the tape cartridge. Power cycle or reset the drive.
and Tape Error LEDs flash, while the Ready and Use	Use the end of a paperclip to press the Reset button on
Cleaning Cartridge LEDs are off.	the front of the tape drive.
	If the condition clears, load a new tape and discard the
	‘suspect’ tape cartridge.
	If the error condition reappears, call for service.
The Use Cleaning Tape LED is flashing.	The drive requires cleaning. Load the cleaning cartridge.
The cleaning cartridge is ejected immediately after	Make sure that you are using a cleaning cartridge that
loading and the Tape Error LED is flashing.	has been used fewer than 15 times.

18100/200 GB HH LTO Internal Tape Drive: User’s Guide