Powervault 124T overheat problem...

Hello grendels_Arm,

The 4C error that you have is referring to the system getting to hot and maybe an issue with one of the fans in the unit.  You stated that both fans are blowing so it could be that there is a heating issue where the PV124T is not getting enough air to circulate through the unit.  I would say that since you state that there is no blockage interfering with the air flow that it may be an issue with the system fan & it may need to be replaced seeing as you state that by putting a fan on the system got it to cool down so you could remove the media.  Also what is the current version of firmware for the PV124T & the tape drive as you didn’t list it in your original post?  

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi yes both fans were definitely working.  I came in this morning and the error message is no longer there. There's no longer a tape in the unit except a cleaning tape in slot 16.  However yesterday the error would still come up even with just a cleaning tape.   The unit is in a room that's at 63F so it's plenty cool and has been operating fine for almost a year.

Is there any way to get a status on the fans like current RPM vs what they are supposed to be at? I'm not getting any fan errors.

We're pretty current with the firmware:

Autoloader:   V90.0 (005A.0h)

Drive (Quantum LTO-4) - 2210

I believe there is one update to the firmware for the drive but according to the web site it only fixes IBM LTO-5 problems.

Hello grendels_Arm,

There isn’t a tool that can measure the fan speed for the PV124T.  Seeing as the PV124T is in a cool room I wouldn’t think that the system fan would be an issue.  Have you tried putting bout 4 tapes in the unit & running the random moves test about 10 cycles & see if the error comes back?  I am wanting to see if the error only happens when there is a tape in the drive or not.  I have seen that on the tape drive themselves that have a small fan & those have stopped working & caused a similar issue that you are experiencing.  

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Well we had just the cleaning tape in there in the cool server room and were getting the error.  We brought the machine to another room regular temp and took the cover off and did some operations with the cleaning tape with the cover off and no problems. Then we put the cover on and did the same and no errors.  However now I just started the 10 iterations of random moves with the cover on and we'll see how it goes..

If the fan on a drive stops working it would show a 4C which is an autoloader related overheat condition?  I will say when I could get the condition to clear as soon as I did a tried to do a move operation I seem to remember the error coming back.

Hello grendels_Arm,

Yeah if you are still getting the error again after the 10 cycles of random moves then I would say that there is either a fan issue on a main board issue that the sensor for the unit is not working correctly.  Either way I will wait for your post back about how the random test went.  

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

I did 10 random move tests and it was ok. Also did 10 iterations of every other diagnostic and it went ok.  Then I let the unit sit for an hour or so. In that time period the room where it was in had increased temp, as we turn up the thermostat in the room I'm sitting in testing it.  When I then went to do one iteration of the random move test it displayed the message.

Seeing as our choices are to get a new or used unit, both pricey, I'd rather try to fix this.  Is the board that is under the power supply, the board the flat ribbon cables that go up to the front of the unit and also the magazine sensors plug into, the board that the thermal sensor is on?  Or is the sensor possibly inside the power supply?

Hello grendels_Arm,

Yes the sensor should be on that board under the power supply as the only other board in the system is for the barcode reader.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

i believe this is a psu issue