[SOLVED] Misbehaving Tektronix TLA6204 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: workerbee
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 13, 2025, 12:18:35 am
content: Hello Everyone,I acquired a Tektronix TLA6204 about 6 months ago and it seemed to work fine on a project that I used it for right after I purchased it. I put it away and tried to use it for another project last week and ran in to some very weird behavior.I set up the connections and trigger and started a trace. The waveforms did not represent what was expected to be happening in the circuit (not believable). I then connected up another logic analyzer and saw much more plausible circuit operation. I moved back to the TLA6204 but I disconnected all cables from the LA module. Surprisingly, the LA triggered and I got the exact same waveforms with all the cables disconnected.After looking closer, I noticed “TLA [off -line] – [Waveform 1]” in the top left corner of the Waeform Screen. I looked at the “TLA Configuration” and the TLA Name was listed as “” and the Status was “In Use by Administrator”. I then checked the System Properties and the Application Software Version and Mainframe Type seemed right. The Front Panel information was incorrect though as one is present. I also noticed that although that some LED’s on the front panel were lit during the boot process, they had turned off right before the desktop screen was reached and did not turn on again when the LA application was launched. The Software tab had believable information. The LA 1 tab had the right Type but the firmware version seemed weird and the LA characteristics (speed/depth) didn’t match what was on the LA module label (8GHz timing, 235 MHz state, 2 M Depth).The extended diagnostics and calibrations seemed to pass/work. The Mainframe Diagnostics, Firmware Loader, and Power Flex did not display any LA modules to select. The TekVisa “Talker/Listener” application seemed to connect to the LA module and gave information similar to the System Properties LA 1 tab.Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be going on with the LA or recommendations on things to look at or check? It is a nice machine that I would very much to get back working again. It almost seems as though some configuration information has gotten scrambled somewhere. Appreciate your thoughts.

author: squadchannel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2025, 03:34:44 am
content: is an emulator. It has nothing to do with hardware and does nothing.

author: workerbee
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 13, 2025, 03:12:10 pm
content: Thank you so much for that information. I was wondering if that was a possibility.I have tried two different LA modules and they both do the same thing. Both modules passed their self tests according the module LED’s. Now I need to figure out why the the emulation mode is being activated. Wonder if the mode is initiated if the frame can’t communicate with the LA module?

author: calibrationfixture
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2025, 04:45:18 pm
content: Hi workerbee,It is also possible to enable Maximum Memory Depth of 128 Mb instead of 32 Mb. All Chips are allready "ïn house".Calibrationfixture

author: workerbee
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 15, 2025, 08:35:47 pm
content: Success!Searching through other posts I found that sometimes the TekTLA devices have issues with the driver(s). Since none of the modules that I had loaded in my system were seen, I tried reloading the drivers and got a result that I wasn't previously seeing. About every thirty seconds or so I saw a couple of flashes of command windows which disappeared followed by a dialog appearing saying that "There were multiple unsuccessful attempts to establish this TLA's Teklink connection. Please cycle the power on this TLA." I cycled the power on the LA and the dialog kept on reappearing afterwards. With the Power Flex tool, I now had a  TLA Name but with Unknown Model. The other tools showed similar results. The TLA Application was not able to recognize modules that were present in the system. I was disappointed thinking that I now had a hardware issue, I took a closer look at the backplane and noticed a button labeled "TRIB RESET". With nothing to lose, I pressed the button and saw a number of LED's turning on/flashing that weren't on or flashing before. I also noticed that the Firmware Loader tool that I had running in the background now had a status of "Updating Configuration" and a Model of "TLA6200". After waiting for a while I closed the Firmware Loader which hadn't changed and restarted it. I now had the local TLA with the correct Model showing. I closed it and started the TLA Application and it did a power on self test and started the app as it did when it worked after I bought it. The analyzer now seems to working correctly. Something must have corrupted the configuration which was fixed by pressing the button.Thanks to everyone who tried to help. Now I can try and see if I can enable all of the memory on the module.