VXA-2 FIRMWARE HISTORY ---------------------- Code Revision: V12104 Date: 12 July 2004 Changes made to firmware since code revision V12101: Issue: If a SCSI command has been queued by the drive while the drive is busy loading a tape, and then the tape load fails, the queued command does not complete. This only affects drives which have the Queue option enabled, an option which by default is disabled. Solution: Complete the queued command in the case when a tape load fails. Issue: A format recovery operation could fail if the tape was written in VXA1 format. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: The drive did not indicate every case when it needed a cleaning. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: Under certain conditions, a tape load could take hours. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: The drive could incorrectly reset itself when an error occurred. Solution: Fixed related code so that drive would not reset. Enhancement: The drive's firmware version will not be reported in the SCSI INQUIRY Device Identification Page (page code 83h) Bytes 22-29. These bytes will contain ASCII blanks (20h). Enhancement: While a cleaning cartridge is in use, the drive will report Sense Key 2, ASC/ASCQ 30h/03h (cleaning cartridge installed). Enhancement: Improved tape handling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V12101 Date: 9 Apr 2004 Changes made to firmware since code revision V12100: Issue: If the host aborted a command, it was possible that communications with the drive could hang. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: If an error occurred while writing a filemark, the residual transfer count reported in the Information bytes of Request Sense was incorrect. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: Under certain conditions, the drive could report a write media error (FSC 4D). Solution: Included appropriate recovery actions to help prevent the write media error. Issue: If the firewire drive stopped data transfer to report an error, it could result in the incorrect reporting of a hardware error and not resuming communications with the host. Solution: The firewire drive will report the correct error. Issue: If the drive reports BUSY status on a command, it may incorrectly report BUSY status on subsequent commands. Solution: Fixed related code. Enhancement: For drives installed in a 1U autoloader, the drive reports status to the autoloader if it is loading firmware or if it is performing a format recovery operation. Enhancement: Improved tape handling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V12100 Date: 3 Feb 2004 Changes made to firmware since code revision V100E: Issue: The REQUEST SENSE field for Remaining Tape could report a size larger than the actual partition size. Solution: The Remaining Tape field will report the correct size. Issue: While a tape was loaded and being used, the drive could intermittently detect that the cartridge was write-protected when it was not. Solution: Check write-protect status only at the time the cartridge is loaded Issue: A Format Recovery operation could hang under certain conditions, with the appearance that the drive was performing format recovery indefinitely. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: When the drive reports EOD detected during read, the reported sense data is the same in two cases: 1 - If it encountered an EOD mark; or 2- If it encountered a location that suffered a write media error on the previous write. Solution: The drive now reports different FSC values in REQUEST SENSE data for the two cases: FSC=2Ch if at an EOD mark; FSC=68h if data was terminated due to a write media error. Enhancement: Improved tape handling. Enhancement: Include additional tape format information so that tapes written in a VXA-2 will be recognized by the next generation tape drive VXA-3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V100E Date: 21 Oct 2003 Changes made to firmware since code revision V100C: Issue: If the host stopped for more than 1 minute during the data transfer phase, the drive would report that a write media error occurred. Solution: If the host stops during data transfer, the drive reports Sense Key 0B (Aborted Command), ASC/ASCQ 4B/06 (Initiator Response Timeout). Issue: On partitioned tapes, after writing EOD in partition-1 the drive could incorrectly attempt to locate to an invalid location. Subsequent commands would fail. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: A format recovery operation could fail if there was a partial EOD mark on tape. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: If the host paused for 1 minute during a write data transfer and then continued the transfer, the drive reported an error FSC 1C. Solution: Further refinement to change in V100C code. Enhancement: Improved write and read operations, reducing the risk of media errors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V100C Date: 21 June 2003 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1009: Issue: If the host paused for 1 minute during a write data transfer and then continued the transfer, the drive reported an error FSC 1C. Solution: The drive will not report an error. Issue: Drive reported an internal target failure (Sense Key 4, ASC 44, ASCQ 00) while attempting to splice data. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: After unloading a cartridge, the drive did not clear the Number of Blocks field (Bytes 01-03) reported in the Mode Sense Block Descriptor. Solution: Drive clears the Number of Blocks field on cartridge unload. Issue: In certain cases the drive failed to change partitions using the Mode Select Device Configuration Page. Solution: The drive correctly changes partitions if requested by the Mode Select Device Configuration page. Issue: If an attempt to splice data failed, it was possible that later operations with the tape could fail with a reported media error. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: In some cases, the drive would not report status on a read media error, leaving the drive in a hung state. Solution: Drive reports status on the read media error. Enhancement: Improved read operations in order to reduce the number of possible read retries. Enhancement: Improved tape handling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1009 Date: 24 Apr 2003 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1005: Issue: Two extra bytes were returned to an Inquiry command for Page Code 80h. Solution: Drive returns correct number of bytes. Issue: In certain situations after the host aborted a command, the drive attempted to send status. Solution: The drive does not return status after an abort message. Enhancement: Improved write, read, and search operations, reducing the risk of media errors. Enhancement: Improved detection of broken tape, reducing the chance of a false broken tape indication. Enhancement: Improved tape handling. Enhancement: Added an option to enable queueing a command while the drive is loading a tape. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1005 Date: 14 Feb 2003 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1004: Issue: Drive reported incorrect sense key 03, media error, when physical end of tape was encountered on write. Solution: Drive reports sense key 0D, volume overflow, when physical end of tape is encountered on write. Issue: Broken tape was not always correctly indicated in sense data reported by drive. Solution: Drive reports sense key 03, asc/ascq 15/01, fsc 5F when broken tape is detected. Issue: FSC 5a. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: For drives integrated in libraries, cleaning cartridge present status was not reported to library when a cleaning cartridge was in the drive. Solution: Fixed related code. Enhancement: Improved performance for space and locate operations. Enhancement: Improved splice operations, reducing the risk of write media errors in certain cases. Enhancement: Improved error recovery on writing end of data mark. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1004 Date: 13 Dec 2002 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1003: Issue: Broken tape was not always correctly indicated by drive LEDs. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: The self-test feature invoked by holding the eject button while loading tape did not work properly, always reporting a failure. Solution: The self-test now correctly performs a write/read diagnostic test and reports status. Enhancement: Changed the reported sense data while a format recovery is in progress to be more clear. Previously the sense key, asc, ascq combination was 01,31,00 (Recovered Error, Format corrupted). Now the reported sense key, asc,ascq combination is 02,04,05 (Not ready, Rebuild in progress). Enhancement: Improved the behavior of the 10-second button press to reset the drive. Previously, if a tape was loaded and Prevent Media Removal had been set, the tape was not ejected. Now, the tape will be rewound and ejected. Enhancement: Changed the length of the serial number reported in Inquiry Page 80h from 12 bytes to 10 bytes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1003 Date: 30 Oct 2002 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1002: Issue: A problem was introduced in code revision V1002 which could possibly lead to higher soft error rates. Solution: Fixed related code. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1002 Date: 07 Oct 2002 Changes made to firmware since code revision V1001: Issue: Search operations in some cases would fail on a VXA-1 format tape with a media error. Solution: Fixed related code. Issue: During write operations near the end of V23 tapes, it was possible to fail while writing data or an end of data mark because the tape unexpectedly reached physical end of media. Solution: Improved tape position algorithm. Issue: The drive was not correctly reporting in all cases that a cleaning cartridge had reached end of media and expired. Solution: The drive now correctly indicates an expired cleaning cartridge. Enhancement: If tape path temperature exceeds a safe operating limit, the drive will now complete the current operation, report the OVER TEMP condition with sense key 02 (not ready), ASC/ASCQ 3F/00 (unit operating conditions have changed), and unload tape from the tape path. The cartridge will not be ejected from the drive. In previous code levels, the cartridge was ejected. Enhancement: Improved the space algorithm to reduce the amount of time to complete space operations in certain cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Code Revision: V1001 Date: 06 Sept 2002 Firmware V1001 is the initial code release for VXA-2.