Sense Key Information

Primary Sense Key Information

Message	Sense Key	Most Common Cause(s)
No sense	0x0	No error information available
Recovered error	0x1	The device recovered by itself
Device not ready	0x2	No media or not spun up
Media error	0x3	An actual media problem
Device hardware error	0x4	Usually a device hardware error
Illegal request	0x5	Invalid command or data issued
Unit attention	0x6	Device was reset or power-cycled
Data protect error	0x7	Usually device is write protected
Unexpected blank media	0x8	Tried to read at end of a tape
Vendor unique error	0x9	Varies
Copy aborted	0xa	Copy cmd aborted by host (not used)
Aborted command	0xb	Target aborted command
Search data successful	0xc	Search data command OK (not used)
Volume overflow	0xd	Tried to write past EOT on tape
Reserved	(0xE)	0xe should not be seen
Reserved	(0xF)	0xf should not be seen

While Table B-1 helps to identify an error, Table B-2 provides further information on the cause of an error. The ASQ (additional sense qualifier) is printed numerically when its value is not 0 (in 4.0; in 3.3.3, it is always printed by the differential SCSI dual-channel controller). Missing numerical values are not printed either because they are not defined or because the drivers treat them specially.

Table B-2 is provided primarily so you can look up the additional sense codes in the device manual. Some are self-explanatory, others quite obscure.

Additional Sense Code

Addition Sense Qualifier Message	Additional Sense Code
No index/sector signal	0x01
No seek complete	0x02
Write fault	0x03
Not ready to perform command	0x04
Unit does not respond to selection	0x05
No reference position	0x06
Multiple drives selected	0x07
LUN communication error	0x08
Track error	0x09
Error log overflow	0x0a
Write error	0x0c
ID CRC or ECC error	0x10
Unrecovered data block read error	0x11
No address mark found in ID field	0x12
No address mark found in Data field	0x13
No record found	0x14
Seek position error	0x15
Data sync mark error	0x16
Read data recovered with retries	0x17
Read data recovered with ECC	0x18
Defect list error	0x19
Parameter overrun	0x1a
Synchronous transfer error	0x1b
Defect list not found	0x1c
Compare error	0x1d
Recovered ID with ECC	0x1e
Invalid command code	0x20
Illegal logical block address	0x21
Illegal function	0x22
Illegal field in CDB	0x24
Invalid LUN	0x25
Invalid field in parameter list	0x26
Media write protected	0x27
Media change	0x28
Device reset	0x29
Log parameters changed	0x2a
Copy requires disconnect	0x2b
Command sequence error	0x2c
Update in place error	0x2d
Tagged commands cleared	0x2f
Incompatible media	0x30
Media format corrupted	0x31
No defect spare location available	0x32
Media length error	0x33[20]
Toner/ink error	0x36
Parameter rounded	0x37
Saved parameters not supported	0x39
Medium not present	0x3a
Forms error	0x3b
Invalid ID msg	0x3d
Self config in progress	0x3e
Device config has changed	0x3f
RAM failure	0x40
Data path diagnostic failure	0x41
Power on diagnostic failure	0x42
Message reject error	0x43
Internal controller error	0x44
Select/reselect failed	0x45
Soft reset failure	0x46
SCSI interface parity error	0x47
Initiator detected error	0x48
Inappropriate/illegal message	0x49
Command phase error	0x4a
Data phase error	0x4b
Failed self configuration	0x4c
Overlapped commands attempted	0x4e
Media load/unload failure	0x53
Unable to read table of contents	0x57
Generation (optical device) bad'	0x58
Updated block read (optical device)	0x59
Operator request or state change	0x5a
Logging exception	0x5b
RPL status change	0x5c
Self diagnostics predict unit will fail soon	0x5d
Lamp failure	0x60
Video acquisition error/focus problem	0x61
Scan head positioning error	0x62
End of user area on track	0x63
Illegal mode for this track	0x64
Decompression error	0x70[21]