Flood of new Agilent 82357B GPIB-USB adaptors on eBay the real deal?

[nctnico]

How about they forgot to 'metal coat' a whole batch? 

[Scottjd]

Fake or not, they work well.

I had a fake one that I would never have suspected to be a fake one because it worked so well.
Well, I sold it anyways and the new owner was very happy with it.

As soon as you open up the case and find it not metal coated inside, it is a fake!
Because Agilent had shielding metal inside the housing already on the "A" version, as I have shown earlier in this thread.

Since mine I think is a B version, they could have opted to leave it out also.
So I  don't know why customer service to mention this to me earlier, but if you register on the site make an account you can register your product also. I guess this will start repeating if they are all the same fake batch being made.

[Stupid Beard]

Thanks. I guess as long as they work I don't mind too much if they're fake.

I got a new one for $60 including shipping (the square model) after making an offer the seller couldn't refuse because the market is already satured. Not bad to finally toy around a bit with GPIB...

Is this one the one you're referring to?

[eas]

So I  don't know why customer service to mention this to me earlier, but if you register on the site make an account you can register your product also. I guess this will start repeating if they are all the same fake batch being made.

I don't have much faith in that feature. They didn't recognize the serial number on my 82357b when I entered the first two letters as lower-case, and I still haven't figured why they don't recognize the SN on my early-run 34401a

[nctnico]

Thanks. I guess as long as they work I don't mind too much if they're fake.

I got a new one for $60 including shipping (the square model) after making an offer the seller couldn't refuse because the market is already satured. Not bad to finally toy around a bit with GPIB...

Is this one the one you're referring to?

Yes. Linux recognises it but I have not tested it fully yet. 

[Stupid Beard]

Thanks. I guess as long as they work I don't mind too much if they're fake.

I got a new one for $60 including shipping (the square model) after making an offer the seller couldn't refuse because the market is already satured. Not bad to finally toy around a bit with GPIB...

Is this one the one you're referring to?

Yes. Linux recognises it but I have not tested it fully yet. 

Thanks. I put an offer in.

[Scottjd]

Well, mine is registered and says the warranty expired. It should be showing one year for the date of registration. So the serial number was valid. This is now escalated to keysite fraud department and I should be getting a call next week. I have 30 days to return it, but since the serial was already registered I'm surprised they have not picked up on this until now.
Since I spent 16 years working digital security, fraud, shutdown down the biggest credit card fraud ring once at that time and securing networks by finding vulnerabilities to protect customer information. Well I don't view this fraud any different.

It's stealing from keysite. And the people that buy it may have it burn out to find out its fake past the return date, so it's steeling from them also. All this while the forger gets rich from other people's engineering and designs. Maybe the people selling them don't know? Or maybe they got lied to when they bought a block of them and also found out late.

Either way it's a lie. It's taking money and jobs away from people, part of it may be the big companies fault for outsourcing manufacturing and they took the design that way? Or it may have been reversed engineered since some people are talented enough to do such acts. Nothing against that talent, I have to do the same with software code to see if it's secure. But it's my ethics that prevent me from making something  malicious to steal from other people.

I guess the point of this rant is..... I don't care if it works. I don't support or condone  forgeries. Not a $130 GBIP to USB or a $20 set to tweezers. It doesn't matter the cost, it will go back if it works or not.

[nctnico]

Did you ever hear about installed base or the term 'industry standard'? If Keysight was really worried about the 'fakes' (we still don't know whether these are fake, rejects or surplus!) GPIB adapters they would have shut it down long ago. It just helps to get Keysight's name out there while crushing the competition for cheap GPIB adapters. MAYBE Keysight even initiated it in order not to have to deal with crappy GPIB adapters which aren't compatible with their Benchvue software and flood their support department with questions.
For example: 'fake' Xilinx programming cables have been available on Ebay for years and Xilinx is just fine with it. What is better than having a non-core business product they don't have to have produced, stocked and distributed and still supports sales of their products? Life couldn't be easier!

[HighVoltage]

Fake or not, they work well.

I had a fake one that I would never have suspected to be a fake one because it worked so well.
Well, I sold it anyways and the new owner was very happy with it.

As soon as you open up the case and find it not metal coated inside, it is a fake!
Because Agilent had shielding metal inside the housing already on the "A" version, as I have shown earlier in this thread.

Since mine I think is a B version, they could have opted to leave it out also.
So I  don't know why customer service to mention this to me earlier, but if you register on the site make an account you can register your product also. I guess this will start repeating if they are all the same fake batch being made.

I have 4 genuine  adapters:
1 x "A" version with shielded case
3 x "B" version with shielded case
I doubt that Agilent ever made a run on "A" or "B" versions without the proper shielding

If you only look at the fake one, its is hard to see, what we have been talking about.
I had both, the genuine and the fake one next to each other and then it becomes very obvious, what is true Agilent quality.
Take a look at my pictures, earlier in this thread.
 

[Scottjd]

Fake or not, they work well.

I had a fake one that I would never have suspected to be a fake one because it worked so well.
Well, I sold it anyways and the new owner was very happy with it.

As soon as you open up the case and find it not metal coated inside, it is a fake!
Because Agilent had shielding metal inside the housing already on the "A" version, as I have shown earlier in this thread.

I have 4 genuine  adapters:
1 x "A" version with shielded case
3 x "B" version with shielded case
I doubt that Agilent ever made a run on "A" or "B" versions without the proper shielding

If you only look at the fake one, its is hard to see, what we have been talking about.
I had both, the genuine and the fake one next to each other and then it becomes very obvious, what is true Agilent quality.
Take a look at my pictures, earlier in this thread.

EDIT: Fixed the quotes:
Thanks, Ive already read the whole thread. I try to read the whole thread before chiming in unless its like 90 pages long.
So I saw the pictures. Good to know both A and B have the shielding.
Well I have 30 day return on amazon, but I will wait until key sight replies first. They may want it? Fortunately I have a video of me opening it up from the sealed box tape and all with the name Agilent Technologies even on the tape that sealed the box.
Since mine I think is a B version, they could have opted to leave it out also.
So I  don't know why customer service to mention this to me earlier, but if you register on the site make an account you can register your product also. I guess this will start repeating if they are all the same fake batch being made.

[plesa]

After while my fake Agilent 82357B just died ( device descriptor request failed ).
It looks like like corrupted FW, sometimes it requires few connection attempt to make it working
Time to go back to genuine NI-GPIB-HS adaptor

[MarkL]

After while my fake Agilent 82357B just died ( device descriptor request failed ).
It looks like like corrupted FW, sometimes it requires few connection attempt to make it working
Time to go back to genuine NI-GPIB-HS adaptor

That's exactly what happened to mine, a few pages back.

I found that unplugging it from the GPIB bus allowed it to boot successfully more often, but it was terribly unstable.  Piece of junk.

[Scottjd]

After while my fake Agilent 82357B just died ( device descriptor request failed ).
It looks like like corrupted FW, sometimes it requires few connection attempt to make it working
Time to go back to genuine NI-GPIB-HS adaptor

I'm looking at buying a NI-GPIB-HS. Still trying to find information on it.
Will this run all the same software like agilents bench view, I'm assuming it will.
What I'm trying to figure out is if I buy this NI adapter used will I be able to download the software once I register the serial with NI.
I figured I would ask you since you seem to own one.

The only thing holding me back on returning the fake one is keysight, waiting a week to see their response since my case went to their fraud department. But I have 26 days left to return it, so not in a big rush.

[Bazillus]

I can confirm that the adapters sold by lotusdechine2006 are counterfeit ones.

No copper-sprayed plastic cover, no shielding on the USB connector, no firmware version sticker on the microprocessor.

However, I contacted the seller for full reimbursement within 24 hours, otherwise I will open an Ebay and PayPal case referring to counterfeit items.

I should have known better ...

Michael

[nctnico]

After while my fake Agilent 82357B just died ( device descriptor request failed ).
It looks like like corrupted FW, sometimes it requires few connection attempt to make it working

Sounds more like a bad USB connector or cable than a firmware problem.

[plesa]

After while my fake Agilent 82357B just died ( device descriptor request failed ).
It looks like like corrupted FW, sometimes it requires few connection attempt to make it working

Sounds more like a bad USB connector or cable than a firmware problem.

I tried short cable with ferrite beads, does not work either
For a while worked connection through USB hub with additional power.
But it worked for three times and after that adapter seems to be dead.
I can try to replace connector and solder decent quality cable and we will see.

[Macbeth]

Do these 82357B GPIB-USB devices support the entire bus (like Ethernet) or are they only single device only (like USB-TMC or USB-Serial)?

If the genuine Agilent ones do, and I would expect they would, then do these Chinese versions work with multiple instruments too? at least when they work 

[HighVoltage]

If the genuine Agilent ones do, and I would expect they would, then do these Chinese versions work with multiple instruments too? at least when they work 

The fake one I used to have, worked on multiple instruments without problems. I had 4 x 34401A hooked up at one time and I really did not see a difference to the genuine one. But I sold the Chinese version, before it failed.

[scasagrande]

Another data point in the nettcy168 saga:  I ordered one, and it was delivered promptly. Upon initial, cursory, examination, it was legitimate. A closer inspection, though, revealed discrepancies when compared with the authentic Agilent part. My request for a refund was approved within minutes. The return process was painless. Paypal shows that the refund was credited without delay.
Thanks to EEVblog members for alerting me to the fraud.
Some oddities:

• nettcy168 has a photobucket page showing a vast array of electronic control items. I would be shocked to find that all of them are counterfeits.
• The return address is to an addressee "huchirong udf-krgiox". Pretty cryptic. But huchirong is a user in github. In fact, huchirong/gpibusb-documentation was forked 3 years ago from Galvant/gpibusb-documentation. And Galvant is a perfectly honorable professional (in fact was an active poster on eevblog, as scasagrande), making and selling, of all things, GPIB-USB adapters. Small world, after all.

Sorry to necro this post (at least the latest post in this thread isn't too old!) but I only just read this! Thanks for the kind words . I hope someone isn't using my work to screw people over 

[SkyMaster]

... I have 30 days to return it, but since the serial was already registered I'm surprised they have not picked up on this until now.
...

eBay specifically state to not return counterfeit item.

The seller, nettcy168, tried to make me return the counterfeit adapter. When I told him that his request was against eBay policy, he refunded me within minutes.

[plesa]

Does anybody tried to load into the fake Agilent 82357B GPIB firmware measat_releaseX1.8.hex by fxload?

[ManateeMafia]

Yes. I have been playing with the clone that looks like the Agilent original and linux-gpib. The clone worked with Benchvue but has been difficult/sporadic on a B+. It has been impossible, so far, to get working on a PI2.
I am typically getting timeouts when it is not working. There is a specific order to installing the software and I feel I am close to automating the whole thing, including modifying all files. I have an image file that is working, but I want the script working too.

It would be nice to get it working on a PI2, but I have ordered a second B+ so I can get the only functional one grabbing data on a 3458A.

[MarkL]

Does anybody tried to load into the fake Agilent 82357B GPIB firmware measat_releaseX1.8.hex by fxload?

Yes, it works, but I had to change a couple of lines in the supplied script, /etc/hotplug/usb/agilent_82357a.  I had to export the PATH:

  export PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin

And add an explicit DEVNAME to fxload:

  $FXLOAD -D $DEVNAME $FXLOAD_OPTIONS -I $FIRMWARE

This is on CentOS 6.6, which is somewhat behind the times.  YMMV.

[plesa]

Does anybody tried to load into the fake Agilent 82357B GPIB firmware measat_releaseX1.8.hex by fxload?

Yes, it works, but I had to change a couple of lines in the supplied script, /etc/hotplug/usb/agilent_82357a.  I had to export the PATH:

  export PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin

And add an explicit DEVNAME to fxload:

  $FXLOAD -D $DEVNAME $FXLOAD_OPTIONS -I $FIRMWARE

This is on CentOS 6.6, which is somewhat behind the times.  YMMV.

Thanks for sharing. And can you check adapter identification if it is H82357 or 82357B?

[MarkL]

Thanks for sharing. And can you check adapter identification if it is H82357 or 82357B?

I don't have it anymore because it kept crashing (returned it to nettcy168), but here's the syslog from one of the moments when it did work plugging it in:

Code: [Select]

Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 122 using ehci_hcd
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0957, idProduct=0718
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: Product: 82357B ()
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: Manufacturer: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: SerialNumber: MY49450490
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: probe succeeded for path: usb-0000:00:1d.7-3
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: gpib0: exiting autospoll thread
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: agilent_82357a_detach: detached
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: attached to bus interface 0, address 0xffff8802141c6000
Aug 17 16:15:58 localhost kernel: agilent_82357a_attach: attached