MSOX3104A fails to boot

[blueskull]

My msox3104a is able to display splash window, then stuck there with leds on buttons lit in an infinite loop. It should stay in this status for ~40s, but this time it stuck at this point for more than 5 minutes. What could go wrong?

[tautech]

This sucker bricked itself after sitting on the shelf for 6 weeks. Thankfully it is still in warranty, so I will let Keysight to deal with it, plus anyway I have to ship it back -- I need a new cal cert.

If it is not in warranty, ugh, I will have to pay $3k to get it fixed, even if it is a simple firmware issue. It will be $3k flat rate.

That sucks, even makes you wonder why you shelled out so much for a "so called" A brand instrument. 

[D3f1ant]

Even the most expensive gear can still have a random failure but it probbaly won't be due to poor workmanship on keysights part [emoji6]

Why would a "not booting" problem not be covered by warranty? That $3k flat rate seems expensive for them just to look at it, maybe that's why there is so much 'as is, not working' gear on ebay.

Keysight just replaced my Agilent 1272A that had an intermittent fault, it was working when I sent it to them and but they replaced it anyway, no questions asked.

[D3f1ant]

That's the spirit

[dadler]

I'd be surprised if you can't get it sorted. Keysight/Agilent monitors this forum and they have great customer service. Even if it turns out your scope is out of warranty, they very well may just fix it--as perceived goodwill posted online is much more valuable to them than Keysight's out of pocket repair cost.

[trevwhite]

Mine did this and Keysight collected the scope, repaired it and delivered it back. Fantastic support. The problem was not software but the memory chip itself was not working. Once in a while it would fail to boot and I thought it was because I was booting from a USB stick. I then left the scope for a few weeks whilst I went travelling. Came back and same fault as you describe was now present and I could not boot or use the scope at all.

Mine was under warranty so it was a relief. I think the repair for this is to replace the whole main board. Mine was originally Agilent. They even rebranded it Keysight and upgraded the firmware whilst it was in for repair.

[trevwhite]

Also warranty follows the machine,  not the owner so I would be surprised if they do not fix it under warranty.

[TheSteve]

You can check the warranty status quite easily right here:
https://service.keysight.com/infoline/public/details.aspx?i=COV&pn=&sn=&lc=&cc=

[Neganur]

I'd be surprised if you can't get it sorted. Keysight/Agilent monitors this forum and they have great customer service. Even if it turns out your scope is out of warranty, they very well may just fix it--as perceived goodwill posted online is much more valuable to them than Keysight's out of pocket repair cost.

I hope it is this case. It is a third! hand device. Bought from a Finnish forum member who bought it from Keysight Europe (possibly Germany) as a recertified equipment.
I hope Keysight US honors warranty and service agreement issued by Keysight Agilent DE.

What does it matter where you bought it? If the infoline database says it still has warranty then you're barking up the wrong tree.

[Neganur]

[...] It is a third! hand device. Bought from a Finnish forum member who bought it from Keysight Europe (possibly Germany) as a recertified equipment.
I hope Keysight US honors warranty and service agreement issued by Keysight Agilent DE.

Warranty   Active   4/1/2014   4/1/2017   3Yrs,Keysight/Dealer,RTK,8x5   RTK Repair

Do you really call premium used 'third hand' ?

[Keysight DanielBogdanoff]

You should have no problem getting this covered under warranty, I'm sorry that this happened to you!

We absolutely honor our warranties world wide and should have you up and running without too much delay.

[Wuerstchenhund]

That sucks, even makes you wonder why you shelled out so much for a "so called" A brand instrument. 

Exactly! Such a pitty when he could have spent his money on a bug-ridden B-brand scope instead 

 

[TheSteve]

This sucker bricked itself after sitting on the shelf for 6 weeks. Thankfully it is still in warranty, so I will let Keysight to deal with it, plus anyway I have to ship it back -- I need a new cal cert.

If it is not in warranty, ugh, I will have to pay $3k to get it fixed, even if it is a simple firmware issue. It will be $3k flat rate.

That sucks, even makes you wonder why you shelled out so much for a "so called" A brand instrument. 

As a dealer for another brand why not stop making posts like this and present yourself with some serious integrity instead? If you simply represented your brand to the best of your abilities and stopped with the annoying posts we might all take you more seriously and value what you can(and often do) bring to the forum.

[nctnico]

Don't be too harsh on Tautech! He is a nice guy but he just got dealt a sh*t hand by becoming a Siglent dealer. 

[tautech]

This sucker bricked itself after sitting on the shelf for 6 weeks. Thankfully it is still in warranty, so I will let Keysight to deal with it, plus anyway I have to ship it back -- I need a new cal cert.

If it is not in warranty, ugh, I will have to pay $3k to get it fixed, even if it is a simple firmware issue. It will be $3k flat rate.

That sucks, even makes you wonder why you shelled out so much for a "so called" A brand instrument. 

As a dealer for another brand why not stop making posts like this and present yourself with some serious integrity instead? If you simply represented your brand to the best of your abilities and stopped with the annoying posts we might all take you more seriously and value what you can(and often do) bring to the forum.

So are you saying I can't offer my personal hobbyist opinion? 


At a moderators request I added a disclosure as a Siglent dealer, it's like a tattoo on my forehead here as much of what I post can be misconstrued (as you have).

Yes I should have edited the quote more so to not upset you, however I did highlight the important part, or did you miss that?
I'd be pissed if a scope refused to boot after a period of storage or non-use, regardless of the brand.
Wouldn't you?

Even the most expensive gear can still have a random failure but it probably won't be due to poor workmanship on keysights part

This I agree with ^^^^


Anyway, thanks for your constructive suggestion.

Don't be too harsh on Tautech! He is a nice guy but he just got dealt a sh*t hand by becoming a Siglent dealer. 

You'd be happy being one too, with the sales I've made this week. 

[Neganur]

Got contacted by Keysight and got a free RMA. Overall good service. Keysight: have you guys ever heard of a thing called NAND data retention? Seems like I got bitten by this this time.

You're killing me. Ofc the RMA is free. This is Keysight - enjoy the ride

Most likely your calibration is included in the repair too, it's afaik standard in repairs under warranty. Would be interesting to see if it has drifted at all (if you happen to get the full report into the infoline history and if the board isn't completely swapped out)

[Wuerstchenhund]

Some companies do not allow warranty transfer. Seems like Keysight allows it.

That's pretty standard for any big brand. Warranty is attached to a device, not a person. Sometimes a new owner has to register with the manufacturer (i.e. Anritsu) but that's pretty much it.

[nctnico]

I would not have expected any different! I recently bought a Keysight DMM in the higher end range but it had a flickering display. Sh*t happens but I got a new one before I managed to send the old one back. I did tell them I wasn't in a hurry!

[Keysight DanielBogdanoff]

Just got a call from Keysight local contracted service provider. They are going to collect my scope tomorrow 10:00~13:00, they will pack it properly and send it to Keysight for me. They said it is a NAND error.

It's possible it was NAND, but we've built in some auto-recovery in more recent firmware releases to make NAND boot failures less frequent. 

[nctnico]

Don't be too harsh on Tautech! He is a nice guy but he just got dealt a sh*t hand by becoming a Siglent dealer. 

You'd be happy being one too, with the sales I've made this week. 

No thanks. Back when I was selling/repairing PCs to pay for my electronic projects while studying I quickly learned to stay away from bottom-of-the-barrel products. They always came back to haunt me because they just didn't work right (hardware/driver issues). You are trying to do the customer a favour by getting something cheap for them but it quickly becomes a never ending support nightmare costing precious time and making the customer unhappy. In the end you just have to hope the customer shuts up about the problems -or worse- doesn't return the product. With quality products it is much easier to get happy customers which always return so you don't have to hunt down the next sucker to fall into the cheap product trap.

[tautech]

Don't be too harsh on Tautech! He is a nice guy but he just got dealt a sh*t hand by becoming a Siglent dealer. 

You'd be happy being one too, with the sales I've made this week. 

No thanks. Back when I was selling/repairing PCs to pay for my electronic projects while studying I quickly learned to stay away from bottom-of-the-barrel products. They always came back to haunt me because they just didn't work right (hardware/driver issues). You are trying to do the customer a favour by getting something cheap for them but it quickly becomes a never ending support nightmare costing precious time and making the customer unhappy. In the end you just have to hope the customer shuts up about the problems -or worse- doesn't return the product. With quality products it is much easier to get happy customers which always return so you don't have to hunt down the next sucker to fall into the cheap product trap.

You should have selected better products, I don't have such problems.

[nctnico]

From my own experience with Siglent gear I can't imagine that being true or you must only sell Siglent gear which is on the market for at least 3 years OR your customers have extremely low expectations.

[Wuerstchenhund]

From my own experience with Siglent gear I can't imagine that being true or you must only sell Siglent gear which is on the market for at least 3 years OR your customers have extremely low expectations.

To be fair, Siglent hardware isn't bad, actually it's pretty good, at least if it's not rusting  The haptic quality is good, and, some rare issues like the SDG1000 jitter aside, they seem to design the hardware properly, unlike Rigol. I don't imagine that there are many returns because of hardware faults.

The real issue with Siglent is everything software, and since this is, unlike to a hardware fault, something a reseller can't do anything about, I guess many people just patiently wait for the next firmware update.

Juts look at this forum, it's truly amazing how many people are willing to play beta tester for rushed out products. Not just from Siglent.

[nctnico]

But the SDG1000 has been released more than 3 years ago! When I first got my SDG1010 I installed Lecroy's firmware on it because the firmware it came with was rather poor. And there are still issues with it today like the log-sweep not working (it is a stepped sweep!). If you look at all the threads about newly released Siglent equipment you'll notice a pattern: the firmware is not mature for at least 3 years after the hardware is released. And who says Siglent didn't make other mistakes in their hardware just like Rigol did with the regulators?
Anyway I still don't believe Tautech never had any returns or complaints due to (recently released) Siglent equipment not living up to expectations. It is simply not possible or his salesmenship is so good that he can even sell a 50" TV to a blind person.

[Neganur]

Did you get the scope back yet? How long did the whole process take and did you get new cal data?