SOLVED manual/schematic with calibration instructions, Keithley 197 vA2? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 12:52:40 am
content: As the subject says. I just acquired a Keithley 197 with firmware version A2. The manual I found is for version C and there are some differences. So if anyone has a PDF or scans of the manual for this model I would be grateful.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 11:44:27 am
content: Take a look here:http://doc.xdevs.com/doc/Keithley/If you have programmer, worth to save firmware so I could add it there too.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 03:41:22 pm
content: Thanks TiN, but it has the same documents I already have found. I guess I need to contact Keithley and see if they are friendly.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 04:01:27 pm
content: Actually, it looks like I might have found it. When I was searching specifically for the manuals and the search took me to the Keithley site I was faced with having to make an account with Keithley just to get the manual. So I didn't try any further on the Keithley site. I just went to the Keithley site from the front page and then went to support and looked for the 197. As it turns out they only require a login for the generic manual but a document which explains how to enter the calibration mode on different versions was open and freely available.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 07:08:57 pm
content: Care to share?Having login to download documentation is pure evil. That's why I downloaded all and every document and rehosted on ftp.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 08:39:34 pm
content: Yes I will share all the information I get soon. The CAL setup procedure given on the Keithley site for my model does not work. I am waiting on a reply from on how to make it work.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2015, 11:51:33 pm
content: I received a reply from Keithley, and they have no more information than what is available o their website. Unfortunately I cannot get the 197 into calibration mode. There is a "switch" , as they describe it in the instructions, internal to the box. All I can see is a three pin header with a shorting jumper. I moved the jumper over to the other pins, but the meter does not enter the calibration modeI do have a universal programmer, so I will read the chips inside and provide the files along with the manual.

author: Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2015, 05:33:04 am
content: I thought some 197's had an GPIB port as an option, does yours? Most Keithley stuff can be calibrated by GPIB.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 18, 2015, 05:40:57 am
content: Actually I just followed the instructions again, and I was able to enter calibration mode. Mine does not have the GPIB option. I will be dumping the ROM and the CAL memory if I can find it. I am seriously impressed with a very old multimeter that is still within its 1 year accuracy spec after who knows how long since it was last calibrated.

author: Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2015, 07:26:12 am
content: Reminds me to do so on my 199. It wasn't working when i got it do too calibration values that where lost.

author: codeboy2k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2015, 06:35:08 pm
content: I second that, if you can grab the 197 firmware that would be nice. I'd like to take a look at it.I actually have the 197A, and I'd like to get the firmware off that. It uses the 68HC711E9, which has 12K OTP ROM embedded on the chip, and it's hard to get at the firmware due to the protections. I can wire some pins low to enable a special bootstrap mode on the chip, this causes it to jump to a factory coded boot ROM, which will configure the serial port and start downloading serial data into the RAM, and then execute it. This sounds great for loading a small program into RAM that can dump the firmware, right? Except if Keithley programmed the security bit too, then the bootstrap code will first wipe the RAMand EEPROM data, then clear the security bit, and finally configure the serial port , download serial data into RAM and execute it. I think I would still have the firmware, just the EEPROM data is wiped.So I can get at the 197A firmware (I think) but I might potentially sacrifice the EEPROM cal data and brick the meter. I'm not sure I'm ready to do that yet

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 04:23:23 am
content: Here are the documents and my firmware dump from my meter. Remember that mine is a 197 with firmware revision A2.http://www.astc.cl/files/Keithley197.zipOh yes, I should say that the firmware was stored on a Mitsubishi M5L2764 EPROM

author: Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 05:20:33 am
content: Would you mind putting it om TiN's FTP athttp://doc.xdevs.com/contact/too? He is building quite a nice collection of Keithley documents and firmwares

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 05:33:23 am
content: OK! The files are being uploaded right now.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 12:10:48 pm
content: Thanks for your contribution, added!

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 04:26:48 pm
content: Quote from: TiN on April 19, 2015, 12:10:48 pmHmmmm, I don't see my files. The /197 directory still has the same files as before. The file 197A_RevB_DocSpec.pdf is not for the 197 of course. The specifications for the 197 are in the manual. The .lib and .zip files do not exist neither.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 05:00:30 pm
content: Are you lookinghere?. /doc/Keithley/197 dir have fw folder with your files already. 197A moved to it's proper dir.197-901-01A manual is same as was posted before, so that stays unchanged.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 05:04:16 pm
content: No, I was looking at the url you provided earlier in the thread:http://doc.xdevs.com/doc/Keithley/I also just re-uploaded the calibration setting text file with a bit of clarification for firmware version A models.

author: codeboy2k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2015, 06:02:30 pm
content: Thanks, Lightages for the 197 rom, I'm going to be dissecting it soon.@TiN:I also used FTP and uploaded the 196 roms, since you didn't seem to have it inhttp://doc.xdevs.com/doc/Keithley/196I put it in the FTP directory, under Keithley/196_FirmwareI'm not the person who extracted the rom files, the original person is in the readme

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2015, 12:59:53 am
content: Site document page updated manually, while /doc/Keithley is just FTP dir, and uploaded separately. All of data is on FTP dir, it takes time to sort stuff and put on catalog document.