IDE tape drive stt3401a

[Oliver Fromme]

Carl Foote <cfoote at bmyster.com> wrote:
 > I just converted a windows server over to Freebsd 5.4 stable.  The stt3401a
 > tape drive that was in server was working fine.  The tape drive posts in the
 > BIOS but when freebsd boots up, it will not detect the drive.

You haven't removed the ast(4) driver from your kernel,
have you?

 > Documentation
 > for the drive does state it cannot be on the same controller as a hard drive,
 > which I verified.

It can be on the same controller, but not on the same
channel.  As far as I know, it works when configured as
slave device (even though this isn't really a legal ATA
configuration):

atapci0: <Intel ICH4 UDMA100 controller> port 0xf000-0xf00f,0-0x3,0-0x7,0-0x3,0-0x7 irq 9 at device 31.1 on pci0
ata1: at 0x170 irq 15 on atapci0
ast0: TAPE <Seagate STT3401A> at ata1-slave PIO3

 > So, on its own controller (secondary) as master

Try to configure it as slave device.

 > I know freebsd is doing /dev differently than in the past.  It loads /dev
 > dynamically on boot, so it is not loaded with all the device files, just the
 > ones it detects.  Is there a way to force the dev file to load.

There is no way, and it wouldn't be useful anyway.
If no driver attaches to the device, a device node in /dev
wouldn't buy you anything.

 > ANY suggestions would be appreciated.

You're not giving much information ...  It would be helpful
to know what kind of controller you have.  An appropriate
excerpt from a verbose boot might contain useful information
(/var/run/dmesg.boot).

Best regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme,  secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing
Dienstleistungen mit Schwerpunkt FreeBSD: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd
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