Summarising where I have got to so far, with a bricked DSO-1062D 'scope:
It falls over at the start-up screen, and to the best my knowledge has never got further than this since new.
I established serial communications after some failures and this shows that it is stopping with a Linux 'kernel panic' as shown in my previous post.
For those in the same situation as me (not much of a clue, but willing to have a go!) I have found:
uart port on Voltcraft DSO-1062D HW 1.01 is at the back of the board, right next to the USB port and is labelled J801. Mine has a header in it, some will just have holes, no doubt.
The pinout on J801 is (left to right, in the attached picture) 1 nc, 2 GND, 3 RXD, 4 TXD, 5 nc. Remember to connect RXD - TXD and TXD to RXD if this is news to you. You need a usb to ttl device to communicate, the one that works for me is a DSD Tech SH-U09A with a Silicon Labs CP2102 chip - Windows 10 drivers readily available (bought on Amazon, search 'cp2102 usb to ttl').
Port settings are 115200, 8, n, 1 and you will need a terminal emulator program, such as PUTTY
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.htmlOnce you have serial comms, powering up the scope gives a boot log, which gives a clue about what is going on. I am completely ignorant of Linux, so the full implications of this are somewhat lost on me, but it is very clear that the kernel is coming to a halt and that I now have to find a way forward that allows me to do stuff with the DSO and correct faults - a simple software update requires running Linux...
What clearly does work is that if I hit the space bar on my desktop as I am switching the DSO on, it will give me the Download Mode:
##### EmbedSky BIOS for SKY2416/TQ2416 #####
This Board: SDRAM is 64MB; LCD display size is: 800 X 480
Press Space key to Download Mod 0!
SD:File System init failed!
##### Boot for SKY2416/TQ2416 Main Menu #####
##### EmbedSky USB download mode #####
[1] Download u-boot or STEPLDR.nb1 or other bootloader to Nand Flash
[2] Download Eboot (eboot.nb0) to Nand Flash
[3] Download Linux Kernel (zImage.bin) to Nand Flash
[4] Download LOGO Picture (logo.bin) to Nand Flash
[5] Download UBIFS image (root.ubi) to Nand Flash
[6] Download YAFFS image (root.bin) to Nand Flash
[7] Download Program to SDRAM and Run it
[8] Boot the system
[9] Format the Nand Flash
[a] Download User Program
[n] Enter TFTP download mode menu
[r] Reboot u-boot
[t] Test Linux Image (zImage)
Enter your selection:So, the next plan is to try using these options to see if I can get the DSO going. My first thought was to try loading and testing a zImage using option [t] - but the only zImage I have at the moment is the one on the machine that falls over.
I have not downloaded anything to the scope yet, but I have a version of DNW on my Win10 machine to allow me to do this via usb, with luck.
Now thinking I may have to install ubuntu in a VM and compile a kernel for the DSO - but hoping someone can send me a zImage copy that is known to work on the Voltcraft instrument!!!
I hope this pulls together a few ideas for others who are struggling as much as I am!