Hacking the Rigol DHO800/900 Scope

[ebastler]

Updated my DHO802 using the method from #334. Now the frequency is 100MHz, the memory is 50. Tell me, 200MHz won't work?

No, since there is no 200 MHz model in the DHO800 series. But the actual bandwidth of the 100 MHz model is significantly higher, about 200 MHz -- there are measurements somewhere in this long thread. So I think you are all set regarding upgrades.

[enson72]

That's great! Everything turned out to be very simple, although you have to read the branch with a translator)). Can you also tell me if an update to DHO is released, should I reset the settings?

[ebastler]

Can you also tell me if an update to DHO is released, should I reset the settings?

That should not be necessary. The installed upgrades look to the scope firmware just like regular options purchased from Rigol. (Which are installed the same way, via a SCPI command.) So the upgrades should just stay in place when you upgrade to a new firmware.

[Fungus]

Also noteworthy is the complete lack of any discussion on fan replacement in the DHO800/DHO900 threads. Go figure.

That post did not age well. 

It was correct up 'til then. 

[Fungus]

Updated my DHO802 using the method from #334. Now the frequency is 100MHz, the memory is 50. Tell me, 200MHz won't work?

It already did.

[enson72]

Bravo! I like this because it's comical and seems like something I would do.

That was my first thought, too, as soon as I saw the VESA screw holes.

i also have a few that size of fans and it will be very easy to do. but since i have no problem with noise yet, i'll keep that for later. what i would like to do in case if i do it is automatic power cutoff when fan not rotating, got blocked or end of life. we can detect this from sense/pwm line in 3 or 4 wires fan. i got the idea from dave's video removing the built-in fan and dso got halted. i learnt this technique from my big printer that was not turning on, i figured its fan got blocked by disintegrating foam meant for sealing... removing those stucked foams, the fan rotating again and my printer is working. i guess its a safety feature, suitable when fan operation is critical. ymmv.

My computer with 5 coolers +2 video coolers is quieter than DHO with stock. People have different reactions to noise. I can't stand him. Even if he will appear occasionally. And the cooler that stands inside cannot be made quieter. The blades will always growl. It's made like a rattle.

[UK]

... And the cooler that stands inside cannot be made quieter. The blades will always growl. It's made like a rattle.

It's more than possible since I've already been working on that for some time and have several very promising concepts to achieve that without external fans, but it will definitely require SLS-printed parts.

Also interesting thing that I've found out during different simulations is that the massive bottom part works mainly as a passive heatsink while the weak top part tries to cool 6W Rockchip and 5W Zynq chips. 

[ebastler]

Nice simulation and rendering work!

What is the temperature range for that false-colour scale? The visual impression it gives is "from darn hot to ice-cold", but intuitively I would not expect a huge temperature gradient across a metal part that conducts heat quite well?

[UK]

It depends on airflow, but in general about 10 degrees Celsius.
As you can see hottest areas have too little heatsink body to effectively dissipate that much heat in a short time.

[ebastler]

As you can see hottest areas have too little heatsink body to effectively dissipate that much heat in a short time.

Yeah, well, they will have to rely on heat conduction to the area with the cooling fins -- which is not that far away.

I don't find a 10 degree temperature gradient too disconcerting, and I guess neither did the Rigol engineers. Otherwise they could easily have made the main base plate of the heat spreader a tad thicker, for improved conduction away from the hot spots (or rather warm spots). That would not have requried any change to the overall heat spreader, fins and fan arrangement.

What I find a bit suspicious is that the very blocky, compact "fingers" which reach down to the FPGA and CPU are already showing up as noticeably warmer than the main heat spreader plate directly above them. Shouldn't heat conduction be very effective across those short length scales and compact metal parts?

[UK]

What I find a bit suspicious is that the very blocky, compact "fingers" which reach down to the FPGA and CPU are already showing up as noticeably warmer than the main heat spreader plate directly above them. Shouldn't heat conduction be very effective across those short length scales and compact metal parts?

Eagle eyes. That's because of the dark tint from the shadow of the bottom view which I forgot to hide before making those screenshots

[enson72]

I also tried this cooler, without the case. He gets very tight there. But it was still audible.

[Fungus]

I also tried this cooler, without the case. He gets very tight there. But it was still audible.

I think it'll be difficult to silence it with an internal fan but did it make a significant difference?

[enson72]

I did not measure the temperature and close the lid when I realized that it was also loud with him. It was just interesting for me to try with such blades.

[JDW]

From an earlier posting by Serg65536:

DHO800/DHO900 UNLOCK TOOLS

1) Install GOLang distribution

2) In the "run_DHO_Tools.bat":
- set the GO installation directory path
- set the IpAddress variable (your scope's address is on the IO tab of the "Utility" window)
- change options list, if DHO900
- change scopeID, if DHO900
- if you don't want to create a backup file and pull it to the computer, delete line 35, or make it comment like this:
rem call "adb\05 make Backup And pull it - adb rm updateGEL, sh buildGEL, pull.bat"

3) Run the "run_DHO_Tools.bat"

4) Send the generated SCPI commands to the scope via the SCPI browser tab, opened by the script. Common command view:
:SYSTem:OPTion:INSTall DHOX00-<option>@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scope reboot is not needed.

5) Check BW limit on the "About" tab and the memory depth (for the DHO804) on the "Options" tab of the "Utility" window.

PS: To remove installed options use the "adb\03 adb remove ALL options.bat" file or the ":SYSTem:OPTion:UNINstall" command from p268 of the DHO800/DHO900 Programming Guide.

UPDATE REASON: extending the description text.

All the necessary files and info are in this EEVBlog thread. Once you've run the batch file and generated the license key(s), be sure to copy the license string(s) from the SCPI_commands_generated.txt file (NOT from your terminal window) to avoid inserting any extraneous characters into your license string.

BTW, the measured bandwidth on my newly upgraded DHO914S is 265 MHz on each channel. Of course, activating more than one channel at a time cuts the sampling rate, so the bandwidth will be decreased.

What is "GOLang"?  I did a keyword search in this entire discussion, and only your two posts appear in the results, neither of which explain what "GOLang" is or how it is to be used.  I also cannot find it inside your achive, which has the following files...

[JDW]

I've ordered a DHO804 from Aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005962731116.html for only £321 (chinese singles day).

I've plugged it to my LAN network, pulled the Key.data and vendor.bin files (via adb) and installed these 2 licenses: BW7T10.lic  RLU.lic to increase the front end bandwidth and the memory depth.
The whole process was painless and took less than 5 min.

Clicking your AliExpress link shows the current price to be US$373.44 (free shipping) for the same DHO804 model, which seems to be less than the price you paid, at least, at today's exchange rate.  Actually, I see a $3 off coupon, which brings it to US$370.44.  Nice.  But did it include the LITEON branded ower supply adapter brick?  I assume that's the "good one"? Is the LENOVO one the good one?  Also, what kind of wall socket plug did it come with?  (Japan uses the US style plug.) Looking through the photo reviews on that AliExpress seller I see some people with the LITEON and others with the LENOVO. 

I also see from photo reviews how reflective that screen is.  My goodness!  I don't think even the earliest lossy iMacs were that bad.  But for the price, I suppose it can be overlooked (or not, depending on how your eyes focus).

So did you use the "GOLang" hack?  I still can't figure out what the heck that even means.

[akkk44]

I got my hands on the firmware version 00.01.02 from some shady source and I performed the following test:
Starting with F/W version 00.01.14, push vendor.bin, upgrade to F/W version 00.01.02,self-cal.
Result: DC offset on channel 3.
Starting with F/W version 00.01.00, push vendor.bin, upgrade to F/W version 00.01.02,self-cal.
Result: No obvious offset on all channels, similar to the hack performed on F/W version 00.01.14 before.

Since Rigol hasn't officially announced F/W version 00.01.02 and because of the shady nature of the source I got it, I think it would be better not to spread the F/W for now. Just FYI.

Let me know if you want to see some tests on this F/W. I have a Siglent 2142X AWG on my bench.

[ebastler]

What is "GOLang"?

https://go.dev/
It's the programming language used for the key generator script.

[JDW]

What is "GOLang"?

https://go.dev/
It's the programming language used for the key generator script.

Thanks.  I see MacOS mentioned there, which implies we can accomplish this hack without resorting to the Dark Side of Windoze, correct? 

[akkk44]

I've ordered a DHO804 from Aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005962731116.html for only £321 (chinese singles day).

I've plugged it to my LAN network, pulled the Key.data and vendor.bin files (via adb) and installed these 2 licenses: BW7T10.lic  RLU.lic to increase the front end bandwidth and the memory depth.
The whole process was painless and took less than 5 min.

Clicking your AliExpress link shows the current price to be US$373.44 (free shipping) for the same DHO804 model, which seems to be less than the price you paid, at least, at today's exchange rate.  Actually, I see a $3 off coupon, which brings it to US$370.44.  Nice.  But did it include the LITEON branded ower supply adapter brick?  I assume that's the "good one"? Is the LENOVO one the good one?  Also, what kind of wall socket plug did it come with?  (Japan uses the US style plug.) Looking through the photo reviews on that AliExpress seller I see some people with the LITEON and others with the LENOVO. 

I also see from photo reviews how reflective that screen is.  My goodness!  I don't think even the earliest lossy iMacs were that bad.  But for the price, I suppose it can be overlooked (or not, depending on how your eyes focus).

So did you use the "GOLang" hack?  I still can't figure out what the heck that even means.

You can activate any these license with the Rigol tool provided on this thread. It serves the same purpose, just easier to handle since it has a GUI. Just FYI.

[JDW]

I've ordered a DHO804 from Aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005962731116.html for only £321 (chinese singles day).

I've plugged it to my LAN network, pulled the Key.data and vendor.bin files (via adb) and installed these 2 licenses: BW7T10.lic  RLU.lic to increase the front end bandwidth and the memory depth.
The whole process was painless and took less than 5 min.

Clicking your AliExpress link shows the current price to be US$373.44 (free shipping) for the same DHO804 model, which seems to be less than the price you paid, at least, at today's exchange rate.  Actually, I see a $3 off coupon, which brings it to US$370.44.  Nice.  But did it include the LITEON branded ower supply adapter brick?  I assume that's the "good one"? Is the LENOVO one the good one?  Also, what kind of wall socket plug did it come with?  (Japan uses the US style plug.) Looking through the photo reviews on that AliExpress seller I see some people with the LITEON and others with the LENOVO. 

I also see from photo reviews how reflective that screen is.  My goodness!  I don't think even the earliest lossy iMacs were that bad.  But for the price, I suppose it can be overlooked (or not, depending on how your eyes focus).

So did you use the "GOLang" hack?  I still can't figure out what the heck that even means.

You can activate any these license with the Rigol tool provided on this thread. It serves the same purpose, just easier to handle since it has a GUI. Just FYI.

Thank you for your kindness in mentioning that, but I'm afraid I am not adept at finding it.  I did a keyword search for Rigol tool, with and without quotes, but I am not spotting it. Could you please provide a link to it?

[Fungus]

What is "GOLang"?  I did a keyword search in this entire discussion, and only your two posts appear in the results, neither of which explain what "GOLang" is or how it is to be used.

Did you google it?

[akkk44]

I've ordered a DHO804 from Aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005962731116.html for only £321 (chinese singles day).

I've plugged it to my LAN network, pulled the Key.data and vendor.bin files (via adb) and installed these 2 licenses: BW7T10.lic  RLU.lic to increase the front end bandwidth and the memory depth.
The whole process was painless and took less than 5 min.

Clicking your AliExpress link shows the current price to be US$373.44 (free shipping) for the same DHO804 model, which seems to be less than the price you paid, at least, at today's exchange rate.  Actually, I see a $3 off coupon, which brings it to US$370.44.  Nice.  But did it include the LITEON branded ower supply adapter brick?  I assume that's the "good one"? Is the LENOVO one the good one?  Also, what kind of wall socket plug did it come with?  (Japan uses the US style plug.) Looking through the photo reviews on that AliExpress seller I see some people with the LITEON and others with the LENOVO. 

I also see from photo reviews how reflective that screen is.  My goodness!  I don't think even the earliest lossy iMacs were that bad.  But for the price, I suppose it can be overlooked (or not, depending on how your eyes focus).

So did you use the "GOLang" hack?  I still can't figure out what the heck that even means.

You can activate any these license with the Rigol tool provided on this thread. It serves the same purpose, just easier to handle since it has a GUI. Just FYI.

Thank you for your kindness in mentioning that, but I'm afraid I am not adept at finding it.  I did a keyword search for Rigol tool, with and without quotes, but I am not spotting it. Could you please provide a link to it?

You can find it on #31 of this thread

[Fungus]

Edit: Asked multiple people, rolling back my oscilloscope to the original state, and the issue of a second waveform appearing and filker at a low triggering level is still there. Seemed to be a widespread BUG. I have mentioned this in the BUG thread.

NOT a bug, just something in your signal causing false triggers.

[ebastler]

@akkk44: Please do try the "Noise rejection" switch in the trigger dialog, as I suggested in the bug thread where you posted this in parallel. And let's please stop the discussion in this thread here, since it has nothing to do with hacking.