Keysight 34410A doesn't boot up - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: dophuc
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2025, 03:07:13 am
content: Hi everyone,A few days ago my 34410A was working fine, yesterday it suddenly couldn't start. When pressing the power button it gets stuck on the display (all characters appear) and there is no warning sound. I have no experience repairing similar equipment so I don't know where to start checking. Thank you very much for the information about this error as well as replacement parts.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2025, 04:21:14 am
content: is there a stuck button .... looks like its held in a reset state, like an vfd testthe schematics for theses can be found on the webhttp://www.ko4bb.com/getsimple/index.php?id=manualstype 34410a in search, 2 links should appear

author: dophuc
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2025, 01:40:25 pm
content: Quote from: coromonadalix on January 02, 2025, 04:21:14 amThanks for the reply, I took the device apart to make sure the button wasn't stuck. Check the voltage levels of the output power from the transformer, there are no problems.Since it can't boot, I'm speculating it could be a problem with the memory, ram or processor... not sure because there's no way to check.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2025, 05:15:14 pm
content: i would say check all supply lines, and you have isolated ones too, check if you have all the crystal clocks running .... maybe just maybe a tantalum shorted out ?i don't know if you have a logic probe you could poke on the front panel connector if you see the 3.3v 12v reset line if stuck, data in out line, and for sure the filament voltagesyou have to check all section one after the other, mostly voltages 1st, you have isolated +18 -18 volts lines and a 5 volt for the analog section or redacted out, some open office tool was able to recover it, i put 2 files hereother link for the schematichttps://www.dcddcc.com/blog/34410a/schematic.34410a.pdfit miss the supply sectionand lastly you dont change parts for nothing hoping it will work, i dont know your expertise levels

author: dophuc
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2025, 03:41:50 am
content: I found a video a long time ago on YouTube, a person who bought a new 34410A had the same situation as me. He sent it back to the company and they replaced it with a new one and the engineer could not determine the error. Mine was not so lucky as it was no longer under warranty.https://youtu.be/PKW75jDLB_U?si=Orew3ssb0C_gkpvS

author: bsw_m
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2025, 05:49:32 am
content: Maybe your device is affected by this known issue:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/micron-sdram-memory-chips-manufactured-between-2005-and-2010-degrade-over-time/

author: Swake
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2025, 08:21:50 am
content: In the video at about 0:25 you can hear a relay clicking right after he cycles power. And again at 0:54 after a second power cycle, but that one is difficult to hear as he makes a lot of noise.Is yours doing the same?Would this indicate that the issue rather be in the display board than in the main board?Is the mainboard alive?- Connect to usb/ ethernet and see if it responding.- Scope the data lines on the mainboard and between the 2 boards and see if it is alive.- Try measuring something and see if that changes the relays.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2025, 03:38:26 pm
content: you could try to install the old keysight io librairies 16 or 17 i think and the old dmm utility not the bench vueor this 34410a is supposed to accept 34401a commands, never triedhttps://github.com/Niravk1997/HP-Agilent-Keysight-34401A-Control-and-Data-Logging-Softwareor even this excel sheet i made to control my 34410a at some point, need to enable macros etc ... in usb but you need at least Rhode Schwartz visa drivers, and they include tools in them to send direct commands or use the excel sheet ?

author: the Chris
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2025, 07:18:27 pm
content: As suggested by bsw_m, it might be the SRAM chip. I got an E3631A power supply with a similar symptom and found a thread with others that were experiencing the same. I could fix it the same way as all others did by replacing the SRAM, seehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/hp-e3631a-triple-output-power-supply/msg5724953/#msg5724953