Major problems with Agilent DSO5014A USB drive functionality - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: JoeB83
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2015, 06:11:48 am
content: Hi All,This is my first post here but I've been a member for quite a while, and read through the forum quite often.Just to get this out of the way, I have extensively searched both this forum and asked forAgilent'sKeysight's help, with no avail.To get to the point, I'm having trouble with my Agilent DSO5014A regarding the USB drive. Quite often I like to save screenshots, and as of about a week ago, I can't do it anymore. With some USB drives, the scope will give the message "installed as usb0" or something similar when my drive is inserted, either on the front port or the rear port. Now I can't save anything to any drive I've tried; I get the message "ERROR: UNABLE TO SAVE TO usb0" or something along those lines, no matter what format I try to save. I've tried both short and regular re-formatting on my PC, no changes. These aren't cheapy-junky no-name drives either, one is a PNY 16GB and the other is a SanDisk 16GB. Another, more frustrating and worrying problem, is that sometimes the PNY drive that worked perfectly in the past willcompletelyfreeze the scope upon insertion; only upon removing the drive, turning off the scope, then restarting do I have control over the scope again.I haven't done any software upgrades/mods/etc. since I upgraded the firmware a couple years ago. It stays in one spot and the temperature and humidity is very constant (it lives in a spare bedroom which I call my "lab"). I don't know what could have gone wrong here. I've also tried smaller drives (2, 4, & 8GB), a USB 3.0 drive, and an ancient 256MB drive, all with the same results as the ones I used to use.Any ideas? I love this scope and I really want to keep it working well!

author: JoeB83
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 07:13:31 pm
content: No ideas? I did, oddly enough, get a MicroSD card with a USB adaptor to work. I don't know why this would work when a standard USB drive won't. If it makes any difference the MicroSD card and adapter are both Sandisk, 16GB.

author: McBryce
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:21:57 pm
content: Have you tried an empty, reformatted USB stick?McBryce.

author: JoeB83
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:30:19 pm
content: Quote from: McBryce on March 10, 2015, 08:21:57 pmThanks for your reply, McBryce!Yes, I reformatted all of the USB drives I tried, both "quick format" and "regular format" with Windows 8.1. After this failed, I went out and bought a new USB drive, (SanDisk 8GB) tried it straight out of packaging, didn't work, and then formatted it, and still didn't work. Still oddly, the microSD card with USB adaptor worked without reformatting it, straight out of the packaging, and continued to work after formatting. However regular USB drives remain unusable.EDITS: forgot some important info.

author: Wuerstchenhund
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:40:30 pm
content: Quote from: JoeB83 on March 10, 2015, 08:30:19 pmHow exactly did you format your USB drives (i.e. what file system)?It sounds as if you formatted the USB drives with NTFS, which the scope can't read. You have to use FAT32 for it to work.New microSD cards below 64GB often come pre-formatted in FAT32, which is why it should work out of the box.

author: McBryce
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:48:42 pm
content: I've had similar problems wth a Rigol. All USB sticks <=4GB work fine, above 4GB some work, some don't (ie: not recognised - no reaction). Those above 4GB that work when empty don't work if the stick has loads of files on it.McBryce.

author: JoeB83
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2015, 08:51:10 pm
content: Quote from: Wuerstchenhund on March 10, 2015, 08:40:30 pmEt voila, it works! Pretty silly oversight on my part. I formatted using NTFS. Just reformatted a couple in FAT32 and work like a charm. Thank you so much!Quote from: McBryce on March 10, 2015, 08:48:42 pmI had that thought at first, too, but I've been using 16GB & 32GB drives with it prior to this happening. So long as I format them correctlythey work great.Thanks to all for your help!