BTW, the downside of all this is that it's essentially
destroyed the resale value of used Rigols.
![Shocked :o](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
It's the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Why do I say that? Because now there's no way to know whether a used unit was tampered with. Even if it's set back to 1052E, you don't know what's been done with it. And
so far, if a unit is modded improperly, there's no way to recover vital data. It still displays a trace, but there are strange and unexplained behaviors. The bottom line is that there is
invisible data that's critical to proper Rigol operation. Normally that data is secure, but a side-effect is that this data is vulnerable and
can be undetectably destroyed.
![Sad :(](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/sad.gif)
One thing that no one here has done is perform a full set of base measurements with their unit (reference set), and then compare them with the readings after the mod. That would be extremely time-consuming, and here was no reason to think it was necessary. Yes, several have done some spot and range checks, which were indicative of good results (mostly at the high end of the frequency spectrum). But we don't know
WHICH reference data is located immediately after the strings involved. So the problem might be only on, e.g. Chan2, 200-2000 mV, in a certain frequency range.
Who'd like to buy shafri or dimlow's unit now (sorry, guys), and try to use it for meaningful measurements you can rely on? Now, potentially any unit you come across could be like this. The mod has certainly been publicized widely enough. Until we find a solution to their problem (if one exists), it's now a problem for everyone. While shafri's problem may be very obvious, due to his making repeated mistakes when sending strings in, others may be much more subtle.
I'd really like to hear more from Drieg on the corrupted data he's experienced when sending the proper <LF> terminator.
Rigol may even need to get involved with this, since
it could completely undermine their integrity as an instrument that can be trusted. And it was their oversight that left the door open to this damage, so ultimately it's THEIR responsibility. Yeah, let's blame it on them.
![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
- Mark