Cipher 891 1/2 tape drive SCSI to SparcStation 1+

[W. Gregg Stefancik]

I just connected a Cipher 891 1/2 tape drive with a SCSI interface to
my SparcStation 1+.  However, I can only get it to respond to the 
'mt' commands offline, and rewind.  Issuing any other command causes
nasty error messages to be sent to the console.  Here is an entire
print out of the st0 messages generated:   
 
st0:    Generic Drive, Vendor=<NCR H621>
        0.50 inch reel
        Fixed record length (512 byte blocks) I/O
st0:    Error for command 'read', Error Level: 'Fatal'
        Block: 0        File Number: 0
        Sense Key: Not Ready
st0:    Error for command 'rewind', Error Level: 'Fatal'
        Block: 0        File Number: 0
        Sense Key: Not Ready
st0:    Error for command 'rewind', Error Level: 'Fatal'
        Block: 0        File Number: 0
        Sense Key: Not Ready
st0:    REQUEST SENSE couldn't get sense data
st0:    REQUEST SENSE couldn't get sense data
 
Has anyone else had problems like this?  Hopefully there is a solution. 
Please respond via e-mail. 

W. Gregg Stefancik < wstef at eng.clemson.edu >