Tek CSA7404/TDS7000 repair project (Upgraded memory/CPU)

[Jwalling]

I'd previously removed the NVRAM battery on the PPC board to test it so it would have lost the contents. It appears that if you use any other serial number and key it will not accept it so the serial number must be stored elsewhere on the board.

Also do you know if it's possible for this scope to remember the last settings because every time I reboot it defaults to it's own settings and ignores where I left it last time. I can't see any options to do this.

cheers

That's not what I've experienced when mucking around with these scopes. For instance, I remember one that had a dead battery, and a dead hard drive. I replaced the battery, and programmed the NVRAM. Then I imaged a new drive with an image from another scope. It assumed the serial # and option key from the scope that I imaged it with.

RE: the scope not remembering it's last settings, I see that all the time, so I think it's a bug in the firmware that never got fixed. Very annoying. It doesn't happen every time but quite often.

But in that case you should be able to use other serial numbers and keys but you can't with the scope I have. Have you tried other keys and sn's ??

cheers

Well, yes, by accident. Just as I said above, right? When that happened, I had to wipe the Dallas chip by removing the battery, then edit .sn and .key offline to get the correct serial # back.

[snoopy]

I'd previously removed the NVRAM battery on the PPC board to test it so it would have lost the contents. It appears that if you use any other serial number and key it will not accept it so the serial number must be stored elsewhere on the board.

Also do you know if it's possible for this scope to remember the last settings because every time I reboot it defaults to it's own settings and ignores where I left it last time. I can't see any options to do this.

cheers

That's not what I've experienced when mucking around with these scopes. For instance, I remember one that had a dead battery, and a dead hard drive. I replaced the battery, and programmed the NVRAM. Then I imaged a new drive with an image from another scope. It assumed the serial # and option key from the scope that I imaged it with.

RE: the scope not remembering it's last settings, I see that all the time, so I think it's a bug in the firmware that never got fixed. Very annoying. It doesn't happen every time but quite often.

But in that case you should be able to use other serial numbers and keys but you can't with the scope I have. Have you tried other keys and sn's ??

cheers

Well, yes, by accident. Just as I said above, right? When that happened, I had to wipe the Dallas chip by removing the battery, then edit .sn and .key offline to get the correct serial # back.

Were you able to get other options by using other sn's and matching keys ? I think i tried this first and the other keys and sn's would not be recognized so i'm pretty sure the sn is hard coded into another chip but I was still able to use the original sn and key and restore the original nameplate option without erasing the NVRAM ! What model is your scope ?

[Jwalling]

Were you able to get other options by using other sn's and matching keys ? I think i tried this first and the other keys and sn's would not be recognized so i'm pretty sure the sn is hard coded into another chip but I was still able to use the original sn and key and restore the original nameplate option without erasing the NVRAM ! What model is your scope ?

RE: Options. I didn't try that, but I'm sure it would work.
My observation is that it's not hard coded and only stored in the two locations I mentioned. You could repeat my (unexpected) experiment by wiping the Dallas chip, and editing the two files offline. 

I don't remember what model # it was - either a TDS7054 or a TDS7104. I no longer have it as it was a repair job for a customer.

[limpkin]

I'd previously removed the NVRAM battery on the PPC board to test it so it would have lost the contents. It appears that if you use any other serial number and key it will not accept it so the serial number must be stored elsewhere on the board.

Also do you know if it's possible for this scope to remember the last settings because every time I reboot it defaults to it's own settings and ignores where I left it last time. I can't see any options to do this.

cheers

That's not what I've experienced when mucking around with these scopes. For instance, I remember one that had a dead battery, and a dead hard drive. I replaced the battery, and programmed the NVRAM. Then I imaged a new drive with an image from another scope. It assumed the serial # and option key from the scope that I imaged it with.

RE: the scope not remembering it's last settings, I see that all the time, so I think it's a bug in the firmware that never got fixed. Very annoying. It doesn't happen every time but quite often.

But in that case you should be able to use other serial numbers and keys but you can't with the scope I have. Have you tried other keys and sn's ??

cheers

Well, yes, by accident. Just as I said above, right? When that happened, I had to wipe the Dallas chip by removing the battery, then edit .sn and .key offline to get the correct serial # back.

Were you able to get other options by using other sn's and matching keys ? I think i tried this first and the other keys and sn's would not be recognized so i'm pretty sure the sn is hard coded into another chip but I was still able to use the original sn and key and restore the original nameplate option without erasing the NVRAM ! What model is your scope ?

Hey snoopy!

Regarding the serial number problem, I had the exact same one with a tds7404 I purchased! I also had to replace the nvram battery.
The solution: in the boot console, you can see:

# remove '#' from next line to set powerup scope state to factory default:

    # NvramClearDb = 1

In the vxboot folder, you'll find a .tcs file (if I remember correctly). Simply remove that #, reboot the scope, put it again and your serial number will be fetched again from the .sn.

[snoopy]

I'd previously removed the NVRAM battery on the PPC board to test it so it would have lost the contents. It appears that if you use any other serial number and key it will not accept it so the serial number must be stored elsewhere on the board.

Also do you know if it's possible for this scope to remember the last settings because every time I reboot it defaults to it's own settings and ignores where I left it last time. I can't see any options to do this.

cheers

That's not what I've experienced when mucking around with these scopes. For instance, I remember one that had a dead battery, and a dead hard drive. I replaced the battery, and programmed the NVRAM. Then I imaged a new drive with an image from another scope. It assumed the serial # and option key from the scope that I imaged it with.

RE: the scope not remembering it's last settings, I see that all the time, so I think it's a bug in the firmware that never got fixed. Very annoying. It doesn't happen every time but quite often.

But in that case you should be able to use other serial numbers and keys but you can't with the scope I have. Have you tried other keys and sn's ??

cheers

Well, yes, by accident. Just as I said above, right? When that happened, I had to wipe the Dallas chip by removing the battery, then edit .sn and .key offline to get the correct serial # back.

Were you able to get other options by using other sn's and matching keys ? I think i tried this first and the other keys and sn's would not be recognized so i'm pretty sure the sn is hard coded into another chip but I was still able to use the original sn and key and restore the original nameplate option without erasing the NVRAM ! What model is your scope ?

Hey snoopy!

Regarding the serial number problem, I had the exact same one with a tds7404 I purchased! I also had to replace the nvram battery.
The solution: in the boot console, you can see:

# remove '#' from next line to set powerup scope state to factory default:

    # NvramClearDb = 1

In the vxboot folder, you'll find a .tcs file (if I remember correctly). Simply remove that #, reboot the scope, put it again and your serial number will be fetched again from the .sn.

I think you mean topScript.hw

Yes you can easily change the serial number by overwriting the .sn file but it won't acknowledge the options that come with the corresponding key. It only seems to acknowledge the original serial number and key that came with the scope. I've tried clearing the NVRAM contents by removing the battery and booting up with a new serial number and key but it still won't give me any other options. If I put the original serial number and key back then it sees the 1M option so my conclusion is the serial number is stored somewhere else on the board.

cheers

[limpkin]

oh right I misunderstood you.

IIRC I've seen a keygen being mentioned somewhere in that forum

[snoopy]

oh right I misunderstood you.

IIRC I've seen a keygen being mentioned somewhere in that forum

If you find anything let us know

cheers

[harrimansat]

I want to install 2M option in my tds5054 too

[dretay]

The code is still up on the xDevs site (https://dev.xdevs.com/projects/rnd/repository/revisions/344cfa743297/raw/Tektronix/TDS7000/). There are some hints in the code about how to enable various options, but I think I ended up just setting a bunch of FF's and enabling everything.


########################################################################
4   
# options masks/names/descriptions, conversion functions
5   
6   
# 01 - 1M
7   
# 02 - 2M
8   
# 04 - 3M
9   
# 06 - 2M 2A
10   
# 08 - 4M
11   
# 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 - USB
12   
# 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 - JT3
13   
# 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 - ET3
14   
# 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 - JA3
15   
16   
# 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 - ASM DDRA DJA
17   
# 00 44 00 00 00 00 02 08 - SM ST J1 J3E
18   
# 04 40 00 00 00 00 06 C0 10 - 3M JT2 USB2 ST
19   
# 04 44 FF 03 00 00 8D A3 EF FF 17 - 10XL, MTH, PTH1, ASM, LT, DDRA, SLE, EQ, TDSDDM2, TDSUSB2, YDSCPM2, RTE, IBA, PCI, TDSDVI, TDSET3, SAS, TDSHT3, TBD, JA3, TDSPTD, TDSVNM, DPOPWR, TDSHT3v1.3, 73, 74, DJE, DJA, 77, 78, 79, SVE, SVP, SVM, SLA

[snoopy]

How do you download the files from that link ?

cheers

[harrimansat]

Thanks, but the link doesn´t works
Do you have a copy?

Thanks!

[dretay]

Hey, no idea why the link doesn't work. Happy to send a copy to you if you want to PM me.

[sppixx]

Hello everybody.
I bought TDS7154 without HDD. I'm trying to install software.
Found on this forum the necessary driver. Thank you so much!
But not all. also needed controller Texas Instrument PCI-1225 CardBus.
Maybe there is someone?
The installation algorithm is not quite clear.
Tell me please, who knows how to install correctly.

[PrecisionAnalytic]

Hey, no idea why the link doesn't work. Happy to send a copy to you if you want to PM me.

I'm not finding either sites up:
https://xdevs.com/guide/tek_key/
https://dev.xdevs.com/projects/rnd/repository/revisions/344cfa743297/raw/Tektronix/TDS7000/

I'd be very thankful for a copy.

Background if you are interested:

I received a few days back a TDS8000B that was stated on eBay as having Power Supply issues where they noted:
"Originally it was working but came back to us with a bad power supply. About once out of 20 times it will power on and light up. Sometimes it turns off by itself while booting. Most times it won't turn on at all then will make faint clicking ticking noise in the right rear of the unit. Screen has some scratching."

I powered on the unit and first time not thinking about having a keyboard plugged in to login and perform more testing as my brain was set to modern day touch screens with keyboards that appear on-screen as factory default.   Powered on no issues, though is slow Windows 2000 Pro for sure.

After plugging in a USB keyboard with a USB to PS2 keyboard adapter, I pressed the power button on the front panel and was having no success with being able to use the keyboard to log in.  I am guessing something to do with USB keyboard drivers is the reason.

Now, after holding the front panel power button for over 7 seconds, the unit powered off.   When I tried to power back on, I heard a mechanical clock ticking sound with nothing happening.  When I switched the power switch on the back of the unit the ticking sound slowly went away and all subsequent attempts to power on have failed with nothing happening.

Before I open the case up... any ideas to consider as I am making a giant leap into working on this system as I am still not yet graduated from a TDS-520 repair/restore... though am moving forward on that and learning a lot. 

Just reading this page topic summary has bridged the programming firmware and electronics components like NVRAM and microcontroller gaps I've had. 

[snoopy]

Hey, no idea why the link doesn't work. Happy to send a copy to you if you want to PM me.

I'm not finding either sites up:
https://xdevs.com/guide/tek_key/
https://dev.xdevs.com/projects/rnd/repository/revisions/344cfa743297/raw/Tektronix/TDS7000/

I'd be very thankful for a copy.

Background if you are interested:

I received a few days back a TDS8000B that was stated on eBay as having Power Supply issues where they noted:
"Originally it was working but came back to us with a bad power supply. About once out of 20 times it will power on and light up. Sometimes it turns off by itself while booting. Most times it won't turn on at all then will make faint clicking ticking noise in the right rear of the unit. Screen has some scratching."

I powered on the unit and first time not thinking about having a keyboard plugged in to login and perform more testing as my brain was set to modern day touch screens with keyboards that appear on-screen as factory default.   Powered on no issues, though is slow Windows 2000 Pro for sure.

After plugging in a USB keyboard with a USB to PS2 keyboard adapter, I pressed the power button on the front panel and was having no success with being able to use the keyboard to log in.  I am guessing something to do with USB keyboard drivers is the reason.

Now, after holding the front panel power button for over 7 seconds, the unit powered off.   When I tried to power back on, I heard a mechanical clock ticking sound with nothing happening.  When I switched the power switch on the back of the unit the ticking sound slowly went away and all subsequent attempts to power on have failed with nothing happening.

Before I open the case up... any ideas to consider as I am making a giant leap into working on this system as I am still not yet graduated from a TDS-520 repair/restore... though am moving forward on that and learning a lot. 

Just reading this page topic summary has bridged the programming firmware and electronics components like NVRAM and microcontroller gaps I've had.

Sounds like caps in the power supply or possibly on the motherboard.

Also if you can't get into the bios setup you need to first check your cmos battery on the NLB motherboard and replace it if it is dead. Likewise for the power PC board. If your scope is anything like the experience I had with a TDS7054 then you probably still won't be able to get into the bios setup so you need to boot up in dos on a floppy and run a program like killCMOS to reset your CMOS memory and then you will, beable to get into the bios setup.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/killcmos.html

You can create a bootup dos disk from another computer with a floppy using the setup from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/dos.html

cheers

[snoopy]

Hello everybody.
I bought TDS7154 without HDD. I'm trying to install software.
Found on this forum the necessary driver. Thank you so much!
But not all. also needed controller Texas Instrument PCI-1225 CardBus.
Maybe there is someone?
The installation algorithm is not quite clear.
Tell me please, who knows how to install correctly.

Send me your email address

cheers

[PrecisionAnalytic]

Sounds like caps in the power supply or possibly on the motherboard.

Also if you can't get into the bios setup you need to first check your cmos battery on the NLB motherboard and replace it if it is dead. Likewise for the power PC board. If your scope is anything like the experience I had with a TDS7054 then you probably still won't be able to get into the bios setup so you need to boot up in dos on a floppy and run a program like killCMOS to reset your CMOS memory and then you will, beable to get into the bios setup.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/killcmos.html

You can create a bootup dos disk from another computer with a floppy using the setup from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/dos.html

cheers

Since the HD slides out really easy... I'm going to plan to scan for errors and invest in replacing with a SSD to make sure I have a backup since HD's do fail. 

Older computers have CD-ROM issues too, though I've not experienced having to replace a laptop CD/DVD-ROM drive.  Might not be a bad item to consider.  Interesting how the two boards from what I read are competitors systems, i.e. Power PC and Intel.

Once I open the cover, I'll use a stethoscope to trace where the noise is coming from and go from there.  My thought was loose wire on transformer/torroid filter or something capacitor related though the frequency of the sound is higher than 50/60Hz though not in the KHz range.  I wasn't sure if a transistor can make a noise also like that since I don't comprehend how and not sure why there would be a relay doing that unless there is some sort of fail safe tripped.

Here is a video of the sound that you can here at ~22 second in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3vnesqhAY&feature=youtu.be

I'm not quite into adjustments on the scope yet since I need to read more if can be made from BIOS, Keysight IO or NI GPIB interface apps.  However, any ideas on the down links for future reference and reading regarding options even though that is the last thing I need to be concerned with?

Best Regards

[TxB]

Hello everybody.
Some time ago I bought TDS7104 scope with PPC boot problem.
I have repaired it. Many thanks for TiN !.
I have replaced dallas battery with two AA lithium batteries. But the batteries were working no longer then two months.
After few try with new batteries I have build replacement chip with FRAM. It works well now.
I attach some photos with the replacement chip.
Tom.

[Jwalling]

Hello everybody.
Some time ago I bought TDS7104 scope with PPC boot problem.
I have repaired it. Many thanks for TiN !.
I have replaced dallas battery with two AA lithium batteries. But the batteries were working no longer then two months.
After few try with new batteries I have build replacement chip with FRAM. It works well now.
I attach some photos with the replacement chip.
Tom.

Likely that the Dallas chip was using too much current. I've seen that a number of times now. (Allows me to say once again that DALLAS/MAXIM SUCKS!)

Anyway, you made a custom board? 

[TheSteve]

Your FRAM board is very nice - you should consider selling them or sharing the PCB and parts list.

[bricabrac]

Hello everybody,

Some good news following my posts last september about my TDS7054. It is now working fine  .
Many thanks to the members of this fantastic forum, especially Jay, TheSteve and TiN who helped me to focus quickly on the NVRAM issue.

I eventually unsoldered this NVRAM from the PPC board and tested it separately : it proved defective. Curiously, it seems that the access time when reading data was substantially longer than specified : the chip needed several ms (yes, milliseconds) to output data. Moreover, the standby current  was around 600µA, which depletes very quickly the backup battery.

Before ordering a new NVRAM, I decided to try to replace the SRAM chip soldered on the underside of the NVRAM.
The standard Cypress SRAM chip have been replaced by an Alliance Memory AS6C1008-55TIN chip (costs around 2€...).
Since I am not familiar with SMD rework, it was a pain to manage the 0.5mm pitch but I eventually succeeded.
With the new SRAM chip, the standby current is now 4µA. It's a bit higher than expected but I plan to install in a convenient location a CR123 battery I have on hand and connect it to the NVRAM by wires. The CR123 capacity should provide decades of autonomy (in theory..).

And of course the TDS now powers up normally. The SPC runs also without error 

Pascal

[bricabrac]

Congratulations Tom (TxB) for your FRAM board. Very impressive.
It looks as professional as the surrounding PPC board.

Pascal

[TxB]

Hi,
After two weeks replacement chip with FRAM memory works well.
I have two partially mounted boards without FRAM soldered to share if someone need it.
If there is some need I can order few pcb more.
I attach schematics of the board.

Tom.

[bricabrac]

Hi Tom (TxB),

The genuine DS1245 includes a circuit to write-protect the SRAM chip as soon as the Vcc voltage goes out of tolerance during power down. In your design, don't you worry about random writes during power-down, which may corrupt stored data ?

Pascal

[bricabrac]

Besides that, I have just seen that HP also used similar Dallas/Maxim NVRAM DIP28 chips, with non serviceable lithium battery, directly soldered on PCB, in their top-rated 3458A 8.5 digits multimeter, to store VITAL calibration data