R&S FSP Spectrum Analyzer Win XP SP2?

[ivaylo]

Trying to make a R&S FSP Spectrum Analyzer talk LXI via LAN. It has the B16 option (LAN interface) and is updated to the latest 4.50 SP5 firmware taken from here - https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/en/firmware/fsp/?&facet=facet.OperatingSystem&facet.OperatingSystem=Windows%20XP.
Whenever I try to turn LXI on (via the 'LXI Configuration' Win menu item) I get a popup message:

LXI uses XPe WMI SP2, your instrument contains only XPe SP1 WMI.
Please update the WMI, the file could be updated from the internet.

'My Computer/Properties' says it has:

Microsoft Windows XP
Embedded
Version 2002

i.e. no SP2. I tried installing regular SP2 for XP but that broke things (like the soft on/off button stopped working), I panicked and reverted the change (glad I could), but didn't really check if SP2 fixed LXI for the short time I had it. Tried searching for XP Embedded SP2 but didn't get very far (found posts explaining that anything 'embedded' has to be configured and not downloaded?).

The LAN interface itself seems to be working. I can ping say google.com, also visiting the IP address of the instrument with a browser from another computer renders the attached page. For whatever weird reason basic tools like ipconfig and ping were missing from the installation. I managed to copy 'ping.exe' from another XP and that worked, but ipconfig barfs, there seem to be DLLs missing or something (that doesn't seem to affect the SA, all seems to work fine).

So am I missing something obvious? R&S download page for FSP has a download called 'LXI Class C Support V1.21', but it has a note 'required only for base system version < 4.5x', and what I have is 4.5. Is there such a thing as XP Embedded SP2 and is it safe to be applied to any XP Embedded installation? I guess I'll write to R&S but haven't been very successful with them helping with obsolete products. Appreciate your help...

[Wuerstchenhund]

Trying to make a R&S FSP Spectrum Analyzer

Which one exactly? There are two variants of the FSP, the older one using a Pentium3/Celeron (FMR6) running Windows NT 4 (model no 1064.4495.xx) and the later variant (1164.4391.xx, has a front panel which has 'FSP' on the side left of the screen) coming with a Pentium-M/Celeron (FMR7) running Windows XP Embedded. The older variant can apparently be upgraded to running XP but this comes with a few problems and isn't recommended.

Whenever I try to turn LXI on (via the 'LXI Configuration' Win menu item) I get a popup message:

LXI uses XPe WMI SP2, your instrument contains only XPe SP1 WMI.
Please update the WMI, the file could be updated from the internet.

'My Computer/Properties' says it has:

Microsoft Windows XP
Embedded
Version 2002

i.e. no SP2. I tried installing regular SP2 for XP but that broke things (like the soft on/off button stopped working), I panicked and reverted the change (glad I could), but didn't really check if SP2 fixed LXI for the short time I had it. Tried searching for XP Embedded SP2 but didn't get very far (found posts explaining that anything 'embedded' has to be configured and not downloaded?).

XP Embedded doesn't work with the regular XP Service Pack, you need the updates for XPe (which I don't think aren't publicly available). In addition, XPe is not meant to be updated the same way as regular XP, i.e. you'd generally create a new system image in Visual Studio.

So am I missing something obvious? R&S download page for FSP has a download called 'LXI Class C Support V1.21', but it has a note 'required only for base system version < 4.5x', and what I have is 4.5. Is there such a thing as XP Embedded SP2 and is it safe to be applied to any XP Embedded installation?

Yes, there is, but again I don't think it's available publicly.

The other alternative might be to install a regular Windows XP on the FSP (the drivers should be in a directory on the hard disk).

[ivaylo]

Thanks for the response. It's the newer flavor of FSP, which come with XP by default (and the two USB sockets on the back).

[Wuerstchenhund]

Thanks for the response. It's the newer flavor of FSP, which come with XP by default (and the two USB sockets on the back).

If I were you I'd get a cheap good small SATA SSD, install it in the FSP and then install Windows XP Pro with all updates onto it, plus the FSP drivers/software. This should pretty much give you what you want.

The other thing is that you should probably make a backup of your hard disk (using imaging software) and then replace the hard drive anyways before it fails, as chances are good that the slow Fujitsu 2.5" SATA drive that R&S has used in their instruments has already started running out of spare sectors and is eating itself alive. I've seen a lot of R&S devices with these drives, and I've yet to see one where these Fujitsu drives were used and where it didn't had an excessive defective sector count. The later FSP uses SATA so you can just replace it with a SATA SSD (get a good one, i.e. intel, disable background defrag in XP, and leave say 10% to 15% unused so that garbage collection can do its magic).

[ivaylo]

Yeah, I did that. Well, kinda... No SATA in this FSP, it's same Fujitsu but PATA. So I got one of these - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KTFFXA. Worked fine, looks like it's loading a bit faster too. But these days I am really hesitant to mess with anything Windows at low level (well I used to, 20 years ago, but then I had more time too). Nowadays Windows to me means installation disks, touch the registry only if you know what you are doing, etc. When I was copying the Fujitsu with its three partitions, custom boot loader and what not I got the impression that my chances to rebuild this system with straight XP Pro, like you suggest, are slimmer than the guy who has been writing here he'd be rebuilding a DOS ran R&S unit to run on Linux ()...

[Wuerstchenhund]

Yeah, I did that. Well, kinda... No SATA in this FSP

Strange, as the 4391 should come with FMR7 (which does have SATA). I guess older 4391 were still sold with FMR6.

, it's same Fujitsu but PATA. So I got one of these - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KTFFXA. Worked fine, looks like it's loading a bit faster too.

Oh, Kingspec. It's a Chinese B-brand which has a certain reputation for being unreliable.

But these days I am really hesitant to mess with anything Windows at low level (well I used to, 20 years ago, but then I had more time too). Nowadays Windows to me means installation disks, touch the registry only if you know what you are doing, etc. When I was copying the Fujitsu with its three partitions, custom boot loader and what not I got the impression that my chances to rebuild this system with straight XP Pro, like you suggest, are slimmer than the guy who has been writing here he'd be rebuilding a DOS ran R&S unit to run on Linux ()...

You don't need to fiddle with the registry. Install XP, then all the updates (you can do that offline with WSUS Offline http://www.wsusoffline.net/, just download an older version that supports XP), then the drivers/software, and you should be set.

The three partition on the original disk are the main OS plus the recovery partition and the recovery software. You don't need the latter two so I'd go with two partitions of equal size and install XP into C:.

[ivaylo]

You are tempting me now...

You don't need the latter two so I'd go with two partitions of equal size and install XP into C:

What's going to be on the second partition, just swap?

[ivaylo]

OK, this is the response from R&S:

Based on the serial number, your unit has FMR6/1+ and this can have Windows XP SP1 only. You need to have FMR7 to have SP2 or higher. Sorry, you may not be able to use LXI interface with FSP... You can still use it with Remote Desktop feature and any programming with LAN connection.

Then they go on to tell me that programming with VISA should still work and this is where I am stuck right now. I can connect (Python VISA) to my Agilent scope and Keythley meter which are on the network, but not the R&S FSP. Microsoft Remote Desktop does connect fine.

[dagema]

I bought an FSP on eBay, and it has a Fujitsu hard drive with "click of death". I am desperately looking for an image of the original disk.
Would it be possible for you to provide me with an image from your disk?

Thanks for any help.

[ivaylo]

I should be able to reimage mine (or find the file from when I moved mine to SSD). Give me a couple of days...

[ivaylo]

See if this works https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rv6L7wH3XSynEqqc-gRfi2TiB3gGsSXQ/view?usp=sharing (did it on a Mac and can't test if it mounts on Windows right now).
You should get a 30GB bootable HD with three partitions.

[dagema]

I tried the link after getting your permission mail, but it still tells me that I do not have the needed authorization. Is that what you meant by not being able to mount on windows?

[ivaylo]

Try now.

[dagema]

It is working now - I am currently downloading. Thank you very very much!

[dagema]

Unfortunately, your concern regarding mounting under Windows was justified. I cannot unzip the .iso under Windows. I guess I will have to try installing MAC on a virtual machine and try unpacking it there. Do I need to be careful about the MAC version I use?

[ivaylo]

Can’t even unzip? That’s bizarre, zip is a zip. I was worried about the iso being weird. What error do you get?
Otherwise nothing special about the Mac, later version Mac OS.

[dagema]

If I try to unzip the .iso.zip file, I get an error. I later tried opening in 7zip and unzipping the folder and .iso individually from within 7zip - that worked. However, when I try to mount the .iso file, I get an error saying my virtual CD drive letter G:\ is not valid.  So it looks like the ISO is nailed into MAC file conventions. I am trying to install macOS High Sierre in VirtualBox, but still working on installation issues. 

[Eric_S]

ivaylo, do you have a hash that dagema can check?

[ivaylo]

I have to look, it’s been a while since I mucked with Win stuff. Also the Mac doesn’t do letters for mounted drives.  I think. Or I can reimage again. What software do you guys recommend for doing it on a Win 7?

[Eric_S]

Use this on the ISO perhaps?

https://www.winmd5.com/

[YetAnotherTechie]

I can confirm that 7-zip and windows native explorer fail to extract the file, it's corrupted. The resulting iso are also corrupted.

[dagema]

I have lately been using AOMEI Backupper with good results. It is free, fast and easy to use.

[ivaylo]

I can confirm that 7-zip and windows native explorer fail to extract the file, it's corrupted. The resulting iso are also corrupted.

Ugh... OK, I’ll get back to it. Sorry for the false hope. How about sharing large files for relatively cheap recommendation? I do have a few Gigs free in my google drive but this thing may be more than that.

[dagema]

I have sent you a PM with information for accessing a 64GB NAS share.

[ivaylo]

OK, bought more gdrive - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pipNz7DurTvAD8Qird96NhnB8ItdteKm/view?usp=sharing
It's the iso uncompressed (30GB took 9 hours to upload).