> mt -f /dev/nst0 erase
>
> no response. wait a bit. ps tells me it's dead.
>
> kill 22107
> kill -9 22107
> kill -KILL 22107
>
> nothing.

happens sometimes. I don't know exactly what the problem is; but I've seen
tape drives (and CD-ROM drives) hang processes like this. I suspect it's
something to do with taking too long to reply to a request. 

going to runlevel 1 (single-user) *may* fix the problem. it may fix this
instance of the problem; and then the device may not work at all, until you
reboot. Or it may work fine.

electronic devices with moving parts suck. 

Carl Soderstrom
-- 
Network Engineer
Real-Time Enterprises
(952) 943-8700