Sony AIT (SDX-400) series on a Dell Poweredge 1400SC server

I have a problem with a recently installed Sony AIT (SDX-400) Tape backup system on a Dell Poweredge 1400SC Server.  The tape drive has been installed and detected by the kernel ok.  I can access it with 'mt' to control the drive, 

[root@monolith root]# mt -f /dev/st0 status 
SCSI 2 tape drive: 
File number=0, block number=0, partition=0. 
Tape block size 512 bytes. Density code 0x30 (AIT-1 or MLR3). 
Soft error count since last status=0 
General status bits on (41010000): 
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN 
I can rewind and retension etc without any problems.  However, If I try to tar a file to the drive the system can do one of two things  (using the command below)

[root@monolith U2]# tar -c -v -f /dev/st0 U2-One.mp3 
U2-One.mp3 
and then they system hangs about 20 minutes later requiring a reboot.  When the system is rebooted, the directory structure on the tape can be seen but the files cannot - It normally reads the first file and then issues an Input/Output error.

Does anyone have any suggestions where I could be going wrong?



System Information :

Server :  DELL Poweredge 1400SC , 1.3Ghz P3, 3 x 60GB IDE HD
             Redhat 7.2 Linux (2.4.10 Kernel)
             




Electrocatalysis Research Fellow,
Combinatorial Surface Science Group,
Department of Chemistry,
University of Southampton,
Southampton,  Hampshire.
SO17 1BJ.  United Kingdom.


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