SUMMARY: error-logging stopped

Thanks to all who suggested things like:

kill -USR1 `cat /var/run/binlogd.pid`
kill -HUP  `cat /var/run/binlogd.pid`
/sbin/init.d/binlog stop
/sbin/init.d/binlog start

None of these worked.
kill -USR1 didnt save the old errorlog and start a new one.
/sbin/init.d/binlog stop didnt stop the binlogd (I did
check that the actual pid was the same as the contents
of binlogd.pid)

I had to kill -9  `cat /var/run/binlogd.pid`
to stop the binlogd, and then use /sbin/init.d/binlog start
to restart it. Then, kill -USR1 `cat /var/run/binlogd.pid`
cycled the binary.errorlog as advertised.

Now back to that tapedrive error...

Cheers,
Terry.