Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 13:11:15 -0600
From: Don Holmgren
Subject: Re: 2.5m obslog 20010213 (MJD 51954)
On Wed, 14 Feb 2001, Eric H. Neilsen, Jr. wrote:
>                    APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M
>
>                              OBSERVING LOG
>
>                         Tuesday February 13, 2001
>
>                                (MJD 51954)
>
> Archiver id3-1 fails during the initial bias scan, and the tape does not
> unload either.  Watcher reports both rimfire errors and:
> "Hardware error: random mechanical positioning error."
>
Congratulations!  This is the first time for this error.
Chances are the drive or the tape are bad.  Craig tells me that a power
cycle restored functionality (the eject button worked).  My opinion is
that that's encouraging enough to warrant trying the drive this evening,
with a different tape.  If this failure happens again, the drive should
be swapped and sent to FNAL for repair.
Don H.