[Info-vax] VS80 redux, any service info available

[Rich Jordan]

Going to try one last time.  I've had zero luck finding a service
manual or any useful service info on the VS80 DLT drive.  We picked up
a couple of p/n 337701-001 new in box in 2009, new but out of warranty
per HP.  One has been working great, the other worked for about 10
backups then the leader self destructed.

The leaders are available online, though no other parts or info seems
to be.  I got a couple of replacements, put one in, and got part of
one backup to a brand new tape, then it pulled the tape apart and
couldn't eject.  Used HP's 9 volt battery trick to eject the cartridge
and reset the leader.  Next cartridge (used this time) also failed but
this time the drive leader self destructed again, damaging the end of
the tape itself.

Today we installed the last leader, pulled and reseated every
connector we safely could (two of the thin ribbon cables are very
badly placed for that and could not be done without excess
disassembly) and cleaned the rollers and interior (but not the heads)
with proper swabs and cleaning fluid.  The drive started loading the
tape then errored out.  Turned out it broke the tape again; the drive
leader looks ok.

We're done playing with this drive unless we can get some usable
service information; there's no budget for repair or replacement (it
was to replace DAT backup on the cluster; the DAT drives are still
working.  The other VS80 got hijacked by the peecee weenies).

So... is there anyinfo or documentation publicly available out there
to help diagnose and possibly fix this drive?

Thanks for any input