[Tony Duell]

> 
> 
> 
> > My first thought is the EOT sensor (the optical sensor that detects the 
> >hole in the tape). Maybe it's just clogged up with dirt, maybe it's 
> >electrically malfunctioning. There's normally an IR LED and 
> >phototransistor, one mounted in a block alongside the head, the other at 
> >the bottom of the drive (there's a 45 degree mirror in the cartridge).
> >
> >-tony
> 
> Hadn't thought of the tape "coming off" that way- checked with the 
> owner and confirmed 

And I'd not thought of it 'coming off' in any sense other than running 
off the spool....

> that it was what I thought originally: the tape is not rolling onto 
> the spools evenly and is 
> coming off the spools in the vertical direction (i.e. wrapping higher 
> and higher until it misses
> the top of the spool). Quite odd- and he says it only happens on this 
> drive.

What would happen if the tape head was tilted (front-back) relative to the 
guides in the cartrdige? Could that put a sideways force on the tape? 
Maybe the cartridge isn't seating properly,or the head guides (does it 
move the head up and down to change tracks?) are misaligned or something.

> His hypothesis is an irregularity in the capstain, but I don't see how 
> that would be an issue
> (DC2000 type tapes use the QIC driveband arrangement, right?).

I don;t see how that could be the problem.

-tony