README: 50GB SLR100 Tape Drive Microcode

This package is being provided to allow the update of older 50GB SLR100 Tape Drives to the latest level of microcode that is currently shipping from IBM.

Customers are encouraged to install the latest microcode level themselves. The microcode and instructions are available for the customer at the IBM external web site:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/firmware/gjsn

Operating System levels supported:

All levels of AIX that this product was announced on.

Installation Time:

The typical time to install this microcode is .3 hrs.
The microcode becomes active when installed and does not require a system reboot to become active.

Can microcode be installed Concurrently?

Yes, but the tape drive must be available with no tape in the drive, and no other processing running to the tape drive.

Is system reboot needed to activate the microcode

A reboot is not needed as the microcode is active in the drive when the drive completes microcode download.
If you use Genucode to download the microcode to the tape drive you will use the AIX rmdev and mkdev commands to have the Vital Product Data show the new microcode level.

Additional Cautions

Do not power off the tape drive during microcode download as this may damage the tape drive microcode requiring the tape drive to be replaced.

Remove any tape cartridge from the drive prior to attempting the microcode download.

Machines Affected:

All pSeries and RS/6000 machines this product was announce on. In general if the tape drive configures and is available with the VPD showing the Machine Type and microcode level as described in this README the machine is one affected.

Microcode History

There are 3 functionally equivalent tape drives(hardware level differences internal to the drive). In order to support the hardware differences there are 3 different microcode files. The history of each tape drive hardware level is detailed in the following charts.

Table 1. Microcode History

Device Specific.(LI)........A170029B
and
Device Specific.(LI)........A0B00E31
The microcode update will bring the 50GB SLR100 tape drive up to the current level of microcode which is:
0620

Tape Drive P/N Tape Drive FRU P/N Microcode Level What does this microcode change

09L2576 09L2577 0535 First Microcode level shipped.

09L2576 09L2577 0610 Fix reset caused by hard read error.
Fix false diagnostic failure and improved diagnostic processes.
Enhance some internal calibrations
Enhance track turn processing.
Enhance read handling to prevent trap errors.
Enhance beginning of tape handling for error recovery.
Enhance tape tensioning for possible loose tape conditions.
Enhance cartridge date handling.
Enhance handling of un-formatted tapes.
Enhance write processing in reverse direction.
Additional error logging for Load/Unload failures.

09L2576 09L2577 0620 This level of microcode reduces the chance of damage to the tape drive from an Electron Static Discharge(ESD) strike to the tape drive head that can occur if the tape cartridge is put in upside down and there is an ESD discharge. This is done by repositioning the tape drive head when there is no cartridge in the drive.
Improve SCSI bus handling during system power up process.

Tape Drive P/N	Tape Drive FRU P/N	Microcode Level	What does this microcode change
09L2576	09L2577	0535	First Microcode level shipped.
09L2576	09L2577	0610	Fix reset caused by hard read error. Fix false diagnostic failure and improved diagnostic processes. Enhance some internal calibrations Enhance track turn processing. Enhance read handling to prevent trap errors. Enhance beginning of tape handling for error recovery. Enhance tape tensioning for possible loose tape conditions. Enhance cartridge date handling. Enhance handling of un-formatted tapes. Enhance write processing in reverse direction. Additional error logging for Load/Unload failures.
09L2576	09L2577	0620	This level of microcode reduces the chance of damage to the tape drive from an Electron Static Discharge(ESD) strike to the tape drive head that can occur if the tape cartridge is put in upside down and there is an ESD discharge. This is done by repositioning the tape drive head when there is no cartridge in the drive. Improve SCSI bus handling during system power up process.

Table 2. Microcode History

Device Specific.(LI)........A1700D56
The microcode update will bring the 50GB SLR100 tape drive up to the current level of microcode which is:
0750

Tape Drive P/N Tape Drive FRU P/N Microcode Level What does this microcode change

95P1868 95P1869 0720 First Microcode level shipped.

95P1868 95P1869 0740 Fix Interchangeability failures: SLR fails to read some data files written on a MLR3 25GB tape drive and MLR3 25GB data cartridges.
Fix "Seek Reference Burst" errors: When old (incompatible) format tapes are loaded into an SLR100 drive immediately after power-on, the head actuator is not properly initialized. The drive may not be able to find reference tracks on a good tape loaded later resulting in I/O errors.
Fix "Sensor" Errors: A firmware logic error can allow the drive to miss a tape ID hole, which is used to identify physical position on tape. With current firmware, this error will not repeat if a customer simply reloads the same cartridge into the same drive. New firmware corrects this logic error.
Add "Automatic Snap Dump" feature: With new firmware, a drive will automatically capture trace data and place it into NV storage. This will help us improve our failure analysis of future field returns.

95P1868 95P1869 0750 Reduce effects of Electro Static Discharge(ESD) on the drive by resetting the drive at tape insertion.
Reduce effects of errors at tape insertion by reseting the drive.

Tape Drive P/N	Tape Drive FRU P/N	Microcode Level	What does this microcode change
95P1868	95P1869	0720	First Microcode level shipped.
95P1868	95P1869	0740	Fix Interchangeability failures: SLR fails to read some data files written on a MLR3 25GB tape drive and MLR3 25GB data cartridges. Fix "Seek Reference Burst" errors: When old (incompatible) format tapes are loaded into an SLR100 drive immediately after power-on, the head actuator is not properly initialized. The drive may not be able to find reference tracks on a good tape loaded later resulting in I/O errors. Fix "Sensor" Errors: A firmware logic error can allow the drive to miss a tape ID hole, which is used to identify physical position on tape. With current firmware, this error will not repeat if a customer simply reloads the same cartridge into the same drive. New firmware corrects this logic error. Add "Automatic Snap Dump" feature: With new firmware, a drive will automatically capture trace data and place it into NV storage. This will help us improve our failure analysis of future field returns.
95P1868	95P1869	0750	Reduce effects of Electro Static Discharge(ESD) on the drive by resetting the drive at tape insertion. Reduce effects of errors at tape insertion by reseting the drive.

Display Microcode Level

Note: In some cases you may already have the most current level of microcode already installed. The following instructions show you how to check the tape drive microcode level.

There are 3 levels of functionally equivalent tape drives(hardware level differences internal to the drive). In order to support the hardware differences there are 3 different microcode files.

To display the level of microcode in the IBM 7212-102 or the internal 50GB SLR100 tape drive do the following AIX command:

 lscfg -vl rmt0               <--- change the drive number to reflect
                                   the actual rmt address of the 50GB
                                   SLR100 tape drive.

The output of the lscfg command will look like the following with the "Device Specific.(Z1)" showing the microcode level:

   rmt0             17-09-00-0,0      SCSI 1/4-Inch Tape Drive (50000 MB)
        Manufacturer................TANDBERG
                Machine Type and Model......SLR100G
                Device Specific.(Z1)........0620
                Serial Number...............20020623
                Device Specific.(LI)........A170029B
                Part Number.................09L5276
                FRU Number..................09L5277
                EC Level....................H27535
                Device Specific.(Z0)........0180020283000139
                Device Specific.(Z3)........L1

OR
rmt0 17-09-00-1,0 SCSI 1/4-Inch Tape Drive (50000 MB) Manufacturer................TANDBERG Machine Type and Model......SLR100 Device Specific.(Z1)........0620 Serial Number...............20005018 Device Specific.(LI)........A0B00E31 Part Number.................09L5276 FRU Number..................09L5277 EC Level....................F24292 Device Specific.(Z0)........0180020283000139 Device Specific.(Z3)........L1
OR
rmt0 17-09-00-1,0 SCSI 1/4-Inch Tape Drive (50000 MB) Manufacturer................TANDBERG Machine Type and Model......SLR100 Device Specific.(Z1)........0750 Serial Number...............20255572 Device Specific.(LI)........A1700D56 Part Number.................95P1868 FRU Number..................95P1869 EC Level....................H81464 Device Specific.(Z0)........0180020283000139 Device Specific.(Z3)........L1

Note: The 3 levels are functionally equivalent tape drives(hardware level differences internal to the drive). In order to support the hardware differences there are 3 different microcode files.
To determine which drive is installed it is necessary to look at the
Device Specific.(LI)........
Device Specific.(LI)........A170029B
or
Device Specific.(LI)........A0B00E31
or
Device Specific.(LI)........A1700D56
Use the DSDATA file and microcode file that corresponds to the
Device Specific.(LI)........
name in the tape drive VPD data you just displayed.

Putting the microcode on the system

There are 2 ways a user can get the microcode files. Each of these will put the microcode on the user's system but the user may have to move the files to appropriate directory for system use.

From the IBM WEB site via the user downloading the files.

When the user downloads the microcode files from the IBM web site the packaged microcode files will be put into the /tmp directory.

If the user downloads the 50GBQTR.bin file the user will put the downloaded file into the /tmp directory and then use the instructions in the section of this README titled "AIX bin file".
If the user downloads the Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm file the user will put the downloaded file into the /tmp directory and then use the instructions in the section of this README titled "RPM file".

From a CD-ROM.

If the CD-ROM process is used to put the 50GBQTR.bin file on the user system the microcode files will expanded into the /tmp/50GBQTR directory. The next step is to follow the instructions in this README titled "AIX bin file" and copy the files to the appropriate directory. The building and putting of the files into the /tmp/50GBQTR directory was done by the user when they used the CD-ROM build instructions.
If the CD-ROM process is used to put the Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm file on the user system the microcode files will be in the tmp/microcode/RPM directory. To put the microcode in the appropriate directory for the system the user executes the following AIX commands:
cd /tmp/microcode/RPM
rpm -ihv --ignoreos Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm
This puts the following files in the /etc/microcode directory for system use:

SLR100.A170029B.dsdata
SLR100.A170029B.0620
SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata
SLR100.A0B00E31.0620
SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata
SLR100.A1700D56.0750
The next step is to follow the instructions in this README titled "Verifying the Microcode".

Note: AIX commands and file names are case sensitive.
If the users AIX permission does not allow the copy to the above stated directory or file then the user will be prompted for a new location.

Packaged Microcode Files

AIX bin file

Download the 50GBQTR.bin file to the eServer pSeries or RS/6000 to the /tmp directory.
Do the following AIX commands to make the file executable:
cd /tmp
chmod +x 50GBQTR.bin
To expand the 50GBQTR.bin file use the following command:
Note: The ./ is used to have AIX path thru the current directory.
./50GBQTR.bin
This will put the following files in the /tmp/50GBQTR directory:

For AIX Use:
SLR100.A170029B.dsdata
SLR100.A170029B.0620
SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata
SLR100.A0B00E31.0620
SLR100.A1700D56.0750
SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata

RPM file

Download the Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm file to the eServer pSeries or RS/6000 to the /tmp directory.
To expand the Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm file use the following commands:
cd /tmp
rpm -ihv --ignoreos Tape50GBQTR-06200750-01.rpm
This will put the following files in the /etc/microcode directory:

SLR100.A170029B.dsdata
SLR100.A170029B.0620
SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata
SLR100.A0B00E31.0620
SLR100.A1700D56.0750
SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata

Verifying the Microcode

To insure the file was downloaded without error do the following:

Change to the directory where you just put the microcode.
cd /tmp/50GBQTR
or
cd /etc/microcode
Use the AIX command sum to verify the checksum of the microcode file:
sum *
Compare the sum you got with the sum of the microcode files here, if they do not match recheck your steps in creating the file on the system:
49894 768 SLR100.A0B00E31.0620
35068 2 SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata
14329 741 SLR100.A170029B.0620
41632 2 SLR100.A170029B.dsdata
09570 2049 SLR100.A1700D56.0750
23658 1 SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata

Updating the microcode in the drive

You need to determine how you are going to download the microcode:

AIX 5.1 diagnostics(or higher).
or
Genucode.

AIX diagnostics and Genucode use different naming conventions for the naming and supported directory for the microcode and dsdata file.

AIX diagnostics requires the microcode file and the dsdata file to be in the /etc/microcode directory.
Genucode requires the microcode file and the dsdata file to be in the /tmp directory.

Copy Dsdata and Microcode to appropriate directory

Copy the Dsdata and Microcode files to appropriate directory for use by either AIX diagnostics or Genucode.

Note: The copy command copies the file to the new directory with the same name when you use the period(.) after new directory name.

For AIX Diagnostics

If you downloaded the RPM file and executed it the microcode is in the correct directory with the correct name for AIX diagnostic use.
If you downloaded the 50GBQTR.bin file and executed it then you need to do the following AIX commands:

cd /tmp/50GBQTR

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A170029B
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A170029B.dsdata /etc/microcode/.
cp SLR100.A170029B.0620 /etc/microcode/.

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A0B00E31
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata /etc/microcode/.
cp SLR100.A0B00E31.0620 /etc/microcode/.

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A1700D56
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata /etc/microcode/.
cp SLR100.A1700D56.0750 /etc/microcode/.

For Genucode

Do the following AIX commands:
cd /tmp/50GBQTR

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A170029B
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A170029B.dsdata /tmp/dsdata
cp SLR100.A170029B.0620 /tmp/SLR100.0620.A170029B

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A0B00E31
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A0B00E31.dsdata /tmp/dsdata
cp SLR100.A0B00E31.0620 /tmp/SLR100.0620.A0B00E31

If the Device Specific information in the tape drive is:
Device Specific.(LI)........A1700D56
then do the following AIX commands:
cp SLR100.A1700D56.dsdata /tmp/dsdata
cp SLR100.A1700D56.0750 /tmp/SLR100.0750.A1700D56

To use AIX Diagnostics

There are 2 ways to do the microcode download using the AIX diagnostics.

Using the AIX Diagnostics menu
Using the AIX Diagnostics via command line input.

Using the AIX Diagnostics menu

To use the AIX 5.1 diagnostics menu for microcode download do the following:
diag (enter)
Task Selection (enter)
Download Microcode (enter)

Select the drive you wish to download microcode to and follow the system instructions.

Note: When the system asks where the microcode file is to be found select /etc/microcode, not diskette.

Using the AIX Diagnostics via command line input.

The command line to download microcode will use the highest level of microcode in the /etc/microcode directory for the device selected. To use the AIX 5.1 diagnostics command line input for microcode download do the following:

Note: If the previous level of microcode is not in the /etc/microcode directory you will need to use the -f option(force) as the diagnostics expect the previous level to be present in the /etc/microcode directory.
diag -c -d rmt0 -T "download" (enter)

or

diag -c -d rmt0 -T "download -f" (enter)

To use Genucode

You now need to use the instructions in the Genucode package to complete the install of the microcode.
Once you have completed the instructions in the genucode package the drive will be at the current microcode level and the microcode update is complete.