Hack it to what end? What else would you imagine could be achieved?
Well you can up the bandwidth of a 60MHz Oscilloscope to 200MHz easily with a software hack. That means a 195W PSU could be turned into a 650W with a firmware tweak or a keygen obviously. I mean these are modern digital PSU's with Arduinos inside. Not some old rubbish like Power Designs or Lambda. You have to change all the valves and transformers in them, innit?
This was precisely my point, but I was trying to tease out what shrek had in mind in the first place.
Hello guys, thanks for responding. Sorry about delay in my reply, but this was a long weekend.
When I asked the question, I was referring to reverse engineering of the analog subsystem of DP832. I have a problem with my unit, where CH2 and CH3 stopped working, showing 0V on the outputs. My diagnose is that the micro's DAC is dead, since I get nothing on the output. Digital part seems OK, responsive to firmware upgrade procedure. And yes, the warranty is gone... since some time ago. The unit is way too heavy, so sending it off to the nearest repair center is as expensive as like half of the new unit!
My question was actually asking if somebody used the Analog Micro's JTAG, and was it successful, meaning, was the firmware readable or not, all sectors or just a piece... or not... everything worked fine afterwards?
I am getting the replacement for the microcontroller from Farnell soon, but it will be blank, so I'll need to flash it with something. Would be the simple copying back "the fallen one's" dump file work or not?
I believe the calibration tables are stored in the micro's flash, along with original, factory calibrated values. If somebody has a different opinion or experience, please come back to me.
And yes, Dave was right when criticised some of design solutions of DP832 in his video. And what I hate there on the board is erasing chip markings... why for God's sake? We are not going to clone their babies, just to fix them when they're "sick"!
Regards,
Shrek