tk50 usage

[George R. Boyce]

Two questions about the tk50 on a microvaxII/Ultrix system...

1. Is it possible to build a boot tape? How is it done and are all
the required parts on either a rx50 or a tk50 nonsource distribution?
We were told no by the local DEC office... If the answer is no,
could someone explain why? I assume it is in order to protect DEC's
software distribution.

2. We were told that all tk50 tapes with serial numbers in the range
xxx15-xxxx to xxx30-xxxx are bad and should be replaced and/or fixed
and those that have been fixed have the letter "B" stamped on them.
The local office also said that they would replace those tapes *with*
the B if we reported any problems with them. Well, we have had a ton
of problems with the first box of ten we received all of which had 
the B stamp. OTHER than this problem, how well does the tk50 work? It
seems like I have had problems not related to the tapes. I've had
'mt status' hang and refuse to die. I've had the drive go offline
and then refuse to come back online (is there a command like 'mt online'?).
There doesn't seem to be any 'online' light except that we had the
local office replace one of our two drives and the green light on the
new one DOES seem to indicate online. The green light is off on the 
other drive when the tape is online making it real hard to tell what
is going on, say just after loading the tape. Any comments?

Maybe the folks at decuac will see this and answer? Thanks in advance!