Thank you for reading this post.
First time poster, but long time reader of EEVblog. For the last couple of month I've been slowly bringing a dead HP8161A pulse generator back to life. Unit was a complete DOA when I got it in, with only a cooling fan functioning. Based on S/N and components generator dates back to 1989, made in West Germany!
Firstly I was able to secure service manual which is extensive. Upon initial inspection power supply rectifier board A12 loaded with silver can Tantalum capacitors revealed ravages of time! Along with electrolytic capacitors it required a complete re-capping. Since wet tantalum caps are hard to find I had to resort to a hybrid solution by doubling small tantalum with electrolytic capacitor to keep ESR. It is an old trick and ripple on supply rails is very low, almost not detectable. Both A12 and A18 regulator board were recapped. After addressing power supply issues unit came back to live. One small victory!
Checking for functionality I have found that all waveform parameters are functional except for Period. Period is stuck and does not respond to keyboard entered values. All other parameters are responding to user inputs. So this were I am. Digital service block is a bit cryptic, but it appear that A23 is responsible for timing, hence Period. Device BUS address table 8-2-1 states FF7E value is the bus address for Period programming. But which board is a mystery to me?