CARTRIDGE TAPE DRIVE
REPLACEMENT PROCESS

Technical Service Bulletin
SX-2000Ž LIGHT PABX

This Technical Service Bulletin is Intended for Customer Service and Installation personnel involved in the installation & maintenance of the Mitel Ž SX-2000 LIGHT. This bulletin provides information on the Cartridge Tape Drive Replacement Process.

1.0 General

The Cartridge Tape Drive (9400-300-304-NA), an integral part of the mass storage subsystem, is mounted just below the hard disk module at the top of the SX-2000 LIGHT control cabinet. The Cartridge Tape Drive, which is interfaced through the SCSI bus to the Main Controller II card, accepts a 3.5 inch, 38.5 Mbytes 3M DC2000 mini-cartridge tape to provide operating system and database upgrades as well as an additional level of backup.

Since the introduction of the Georgens cartridge tape drives in April 1995, a number of Georgens drive failures have been reported. Mitel has identified a potential problem when higher driving force DC2000 tapes are used with Georgens drives. The failures have been encountered when trying to format a tape, mount a tape, or restore operating system software from tape.

2.0 SYMPTOMS

1. Upon loading the operating system software from tape and when issuing a VOL RESTORE SYSUSER FROM TAPE, the volume restore fails partway through with the following system message:

FS info: ...END of restore
Reason: Device Error
FS info: Could not restore volume from device TAPE with name SYSUSER.
Reason: Device Error

2. Upon formatting a DC2000 tape for DATA SAVE purposes with the VOL FORMAT TAPE <name> RES command, the following system message is displayed:

FS info: Could not format volume from device TAPE with name < vol name>.
Reason: Device is unavailable.

3. Upon successfully formatting a new tape with the VOL FORMAT TAPE <name> RES SCR command and at a later date, mounting the tape when issuing the VOL MOUNT TAPE command, the system responds with the following message:

FS info: Could not mount volume on device TAPE with name <vol name>.
Reason: Device Error

3.0 Procedure to Identify Defective Georgens Cartridge Tape Drives

Three levels of identification are required to identify a defective Georgens cartridge tape drive.

1. You must first identify that the cartridge tape drive is a Georgens drive:

square red LED located bottom left
tape ejector is located below tape insertion point
tape insertion point

Georgens drives may be identified by visually inspecting the cartridge tape drive for the following characteristics:

2. You must then determine if the Georgens drive is one of the suspects:

Suspect Georgens cartridge tape drives were shipped from Mitel between April 1995 and the 7th of November, 1995. They may be identified by visually inspecting the left hand side of the cartridge tape drive, without powering down the system, for the following marking:

if RED DOT LABEL PLACED ON TOP RIGHT CORNER OF LEFT SIDE then
FUNCTIONAL GEORGENS DRIVE
else
SUSPECT GEORGENS DRIVE
REFER TO 3. You must then determine if the suspect is a functional or defective Georgens
drive"
end
red dot label
tape ejector
front view of drive
side view from the left side

3. You must then determine if the suspect is a functional or defective Georgens drive

a) Obtain a new DC2000 tape that has never been scratched.
b) VOL FORMAT TAPE <name> RES SCRATCH
c) VOL DISMOUNT <name>
d) VOL MOUNT TAPE
e) FILE CR *.<volume name><catalog name> CAT
f) DATA SAVE <volume name><catalog name>

If you are able to successfully perform all of the steps described above then
YOU HAVE A FUNCTIONAL GEORGENS DRIVE
else
YOU HAVE A DEFECTIVE DRIVE
REFER TO THE CARTRIDGE TAPE DRIVE REPLACEMENT PROCESS IN THE SECTION 4.0
end

4.0 Cartridge Tape Replacement Process

In order to responsibly facilitate the replacement of these potentially defective Georgens drives, Mitel has put in place a special repair and return program. The "Cartridge Tape Drive Replacement Process" will be in effect until March 31, 1996.

In summary, the program will allow authorized distributors to obtain replacement Cartridge Tape Drives from Mitel through the existing advance replacement process, without having to bear the cost of the advance replacement, the return shipping, or the Mitel repair. The cartridge tape drives obtained through advanced replacement, are intended to be used as a "float", so that defective drives can be productively swapped out and recycled through the repair process. Any spare Georgens cartridge tape drives located in your inventories should also follow this replacement process.

As per the Mitel Elite Dealer arrangement and standard industry operating procedures, the Mitel Dealer who has the maintenance agreement relationship with the SX-2000 PABX customer will provide the site labor for the program.

Authorized SX-2000 LIGHT distributors, are encouraged to identify customer sites which may have defective Cartridge Tape Drives installed, then contact Mitel Repair and Return at 1-800-SXMITEL.

Please note that Cartridge Tape Drives returned to Mitel which do not fit the above description, will be processed via the normal repair and return process.

Refer to the 355 Field-Replaceable Units Practice for removal and replacement procedure of the Cartridge Tape Drive.

WARNING

THIS BULLETIN SERVES AS A WARNING TO YOU, THAT THERE IS A LIKELIHOOD THAT GEORGENS CARTRIDGE TAPE DRIVES (PART NUMBER 9400-300-304-NA) COULD FAIL DUE TO A DEFECTIVE COMPONENT THAT WAS NOT MANUFACTURED BY MITEL. MITEL ENCOURAGES YOU TO PROMPTLY UTILIZE THE CARTRIDGE TAPE DRIVE REPLACEMENT PROCESS.