I can provide some more details for those who are interested.
I got a cheap C2D/Mainboard/RAM combo, it's a Foxconn 45CMX-K with an E8400 an 2GB RAM. I probably wouldn't use that permanently but it should do for first tests.
FX 45CMX-K with fresh XP install:
- Unfortunately I used my last modified XP+SP3+AHCI MSDN DVD to install and this is german (overlooked the language fact). I'm not sure if this could make a difference as some paths in the Agilent software seem to be hardcoded to /program files/. Maybe I'll have to redo the test with an EN version.
- XP installs fine, I could install the Agilent graphics driver for the 65551 (just find the inf file and collect all the files referenced in it).
- The onboard VGA driver will only load if it's primary. So there's a little issue here:
-> PCI is first in BIOS -> Boot messages and everything on LCD but external VGA not available as driver doesn't load
-> Onboard is first in BIOS -> Boot messages on external VGA only but both work in Windows
- Ensure SP3 and all hotfixes are installed, Install VS2005=VC8 and VS2008=VC9 runtime and .Net 3.5.
- For first tests I created an adapter from the external COM1 port to an internal header. The touch driver (UPDD 3.8.34) installs, it's a serial SC4 on COM1 or COM2 but flipped, has to be calibrated.
- I only have my reconstructed 4.40 setup. But it installs. If anything fails, it's probably .Net/VC runtime.
- Hardware is detected (very fast), Analyzer software runs.
- Swap display button (long press on touch) doesn't work. It seems the system is not recognized correctly. Instead of
To switch active display adapters, push and hold the "Touch Off" button.
it shows
To switch active display adapters, push the "Ext. Display" button.
Every time you hit the touch button, it switches to the external display and stays there. It's pretty tedious to get the display back to the internal screen (settings, extend, primary...)
- V5.90 installs but has the same problem as on the other board: "no valid ID detected in frame. requires proper system BIOS".
FX 45CMX-K with modified Agilent XP image;
I didn't do more tests with a fresh install, instead tried to get the stock image to run.
- Source is the 16900-14121 iso image for the ADLINK M815G. Currently available on dropbox, search for "Keysight 16900-14121", there's a hit on keysight communities.
- Easiest way is to run it on the old board, but you can mount the registry from an external system and do the changes as well.
- Create the required entries for the CriticalDeviceDatabase, this is based on an old trick published by heise (
ftp://ftp.heise.de/pub/ct/listings/0218-206.zip), maybe there are other sources as well. You only need the .reg file, the drivers are all there. For my board it was important to add 27DF and 27C0 that have been missing for some reason. Don't know why the 945 wasn't covered by the heise trick.
- Either change the new machine to single core in BIOS setup or change to a multiprocessor APIC HAL (halmacpi.dll). You might do something like 'devcon sethwid @ROOT\ACPI_HAL\0000 := +acpiapic_mp !acpiapic_up' and 'devcon update c:\windows\inf\hal.inf acpiapic_mp' for an 'official' HAL change. Otherwise simply replace hal.dll.
- Now the OS should boot on the new board. If it there is a sudden reboot, it's still a BSOD with immediate reboot. Use F8 and disable reboot on error. If it's a 0xFB error it's probably still a non-accesible boot device. You have to check the hardware IDs of your new ATAPI/IDE controllers. Maybe changing the BIOS into IDE mode will help (though this option doesn't exist on the old 945 chipsets, they didn't have AHCI as far as I know).
- Same procedure: board drivers, SP3 + hotfixes + .Net3.5 + VS runtime
- Same behavior with graphic cards: Driver for internal VGA will only load if it's primary (using latest intel 14.32.4-2008-02-26).
- Did a test with a PCIe HD5450, same thing. Driver only loads if it's primary.
- Touch screen driver is already installed, assigned COM2 to COM1 for first tests (reboot required). Later I'll add a PCI RS232 card to avoid the cable to the external connector.
- Install Agilent software 4.40. Interesting thing: now it complains that this is a genuine Agilent system but it doesn't recognize the BIOS (obviously) and I should get the correct bios update from Agilent. Obvioulsy not possible, but this seems to be the BIOS check in the installer only, it doesn't do further checks.
- Software runs, change displays with Touch-off button works, too.
- I haven't tested software 5.90 yet, but I assume it would fail again (in my tests 5.90 only worked with the original mainboard).
- XP is not genuine any more, has to be re-activated on the new board.
So there could be two issues:
- The analyzer software isn't compatible with non-english OS versions.
- Agilent applied some modifications or registry changes that are used to detect compatibility or control functions. I've not investigated this in detail as the original image is now running.
I still haven't checked if the new board fits into the machine, if power supply and pbtn/pled are compatible. But I assume this should work.
So the short summary would be:
- Other boards work with restrictions.
- External VGA only works if the boot screen is there (Win7 and XP), in Win7 only one screen is recognized, in XP both work. Only the generic VGA driver is available for Win7 but the performance loss is probably not that relevant for the old internal, non accelerated 65551.
- The switch screen function with long Touch-off only seems to work with the original Agilent image. Making it boot on an 945 board requires quite some work but is probably worth the effort.
- Software v4.40 worked for me with other boards, v5.90 did not (no valid ID in frame). Unfortunately still I don't have other software versions between 4.40 and 5.90 to test.