{
  "id": "1991-april-tape-drive-trouble-youre-not-alone",
  "slug": "1991-april-tape-drive-trouble-youre-not-alone",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1991-april-tape-drive-trouble-youre-not-alone.html",
  "year": 1991,
  "month": "April",
  "monthNum": 4,
  "headline": "Tape Drive Trouble? You're Not Alone.",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "Adam Berliant",
  "author_title": "Editor",
  "affiliation": "Missouri Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting",
  "summary": "Reporters using Qualstar 1260 tape drives are experiencing frequent malfunctions characterized by drives rocking back and forth, with the Missouri Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting receiving numerous complaints about the issue. The problems are typically caused by dirty heads or faulty head connectors, particularly involving defective cable connectors that Qualstar switched to approximately a year ago, with replacement cables reportedly solving about half of the reported cases.",
  "keywords": [
    "tape",
    "drives",
    "problems"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Technology",
    "Investigative Methods"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "9-track tape",
    "magnetic tape"
  ],
  "full_text": "During the past several months, the Missouri Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting has received an increasing number of phone calls from reporters having problems with their tape drives. The complaints have been similar, \"Sometimes the tape drive would do what I asked, but often it would just rock back and forth interminably,\" said Bob Paynter of the Akron Beacon Journal. He had a Qualstar tape drive that \"never seemed to work.\" \"I didn't know what was wrong with it,\" Paynter said. \"It was like asking a kid if his first car was operating properly. I just didn't know.\" Few pieces of electronic equipment could be more foreign to reporters than 9-track tape drives. Fortunately, finding the source of the problem Paynter described is not difficult. Chances are it's either caused by dirty heads or a bad head connector, say the drive's manufacturer, Qualstar, and one of its brokers, Chi Corp. Qualstar is the maker of the model 1260 tape drive, the inexpensive, 6250 bpi-capable drive used by Paynter and other reporters, many of whom purchased their drives through Chi Corp. Chi manufactures the controller card and software that go inside the PC to make the tape drives and computers communicate. Chi's emphasis on the U.S. PC market makes it the company many reporters turn to. Representatives from both of these companies say that rocking problems can be handled. This should be late but great news for Judy Miller, special projects editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, who is now in possession of her fourth Qualstar tape drive. Two of her first three were sent back to the manufacturer because they wouldn't function properly. \"Our first drive didn't work, so we sent it back,\" Miller said. \"Chi Corp. was really good to us, and they sent us another one that worked at first. Then census data arrived, and it started to rock back and forth. 'C3' came up - head error. I called Qualstar and talked to the technician who walked me through cleaning and reseating, and it worked again. But then the next day it just consistently started rocking.\" \"They sent a third one,\" Miller said. \"That one didn't work at all, ever.\" The problems described here are typical of \"read\" and \"write\" problems. Chi's software will call these C0, C1, C2, C3 errors or 40, 41, 42, 43 errors. Chi, too, has been receiving complaints about write and read errors for the past year. \"I think Qualstar switched (cable) brands about a year ago,\" Chi's John Thome said. \"It's not a problem with the head. The green card-edge connector has a ribbon that fastens onto it. That seems to be the problem. We've been sending people new cables, and that has solved 50 percent of the problems.\" The \"green card-edge connector\" lies beneath the head protector on top of the head. One can pull the head cover off and see the connection in question. Look for the vertical green card, and you will see a ribbon of O wires connected to it. If the connector is blue, it is an Ansley connector, one of the most reliable connectors made. If it is not blue, it may be one of the other connectors Qualstar was experimenting with. This doesn't always mean the connector is the problem. It's more likely to be dirty tape heads. \"The most common problem for tape drive malfunctions is dirt accumulating on the heads,\" said Dan Thorlakson, vice president of operations at Qualstar. Heads do need to be cleaned periodically; Thorlakson suggests after every two hours of use. If cleaning fails, both Thome and Thorlakson suggest removing and \"reseating\" the connection. In other words, unplug it and then re-plug it in. If this still does not work, you may have to do what Judy Miller had to do: return the drive so the connectors can be replaced. The Qualstar customer service line is always an excellent first step for solving tape drive difficulties. The number is (818) 882-5822.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "pre-v2",
    "extracted_at": "",
    "verified": true
  },
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  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1991-april-tape-drive-trouble-youre-not-alone.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1991-april-tape-drive-trouble-youre-not-alone.json"
}