Updating a Keysight DSO80604B from Windows XP to Windows 10 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: jpg8989
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 12:56:40 pm
content: Hi all,We need to update an old DSO80604B Keysight scope to Windows 10 ... for obvious reasonsAny tips on how we can go about that?Thanks

author: abraxa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 01:11:15 pm
content: What are those obvious reasons you speak of? It can't be viruses because lab equipment should either not be on the network or only on a separate lab network.Apparently, an upgrade of this sort is only possible if you have Windows 7 on it:http://www.keysight.com/main/editorial.jspx?cc=DE&lc=ger&id=2865210

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 01:23:51 pm
content: If it's currently working then this sounds like a monumentally bad idea.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 02:15:15 pm
content: Quote from: jpg8989 on August 08, 2017, 12:56:40 pmI agree... What obvious reasons would those be?To me, that sounds like a terrible idea. Why would you take something that was designed to run on a known, stable, closed system and try to re-jigger it to run on an even more horrifying operating system?Even if you were planning on changing to a good OS like FreeBSD, it is still a horrible idea. Good luck getting it to talk to all the specialized hardware that it almost assuredly has under anything except the OS it was designed for.

author: alm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 05:07:26 pm
content: I agree that I would avoid upgrading and rather isolate it from the network or connect it to a dedicated network not connected to the Internet.If you are feeling adventurous, you could consider making a full backup of the Windows XP setup, install Windows 7 (32-bit?) and then try installing theInfiniium softwareon Windows 7. But it may very well fail and is obviously not supported by Keysight.I would rather run Windows 7 than Windows 10 on a test instrument because Windows 7 is less likely to receive feature updates that might suddenly break your test equipment.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 05:23:14 pm
content: It's been mentioned but it's worth mentioning again.... while XP did have an x64 flavor, your scope mostly likely doesn't use it, and there's a good chance the hardware its running on isn't capable of a running a modern 64 bit OS.I'd also +1 that the reasons aren't obvious. If you are concerned about viruses.... why is your scope connected to the net? If there's a real demand for it, then I would look into getting the important data to a different computer that's connected to the net before I'd try to get an EoL'd OS on a piece of test equipment on the net or update it's OS.... there's just so much that can go wrong when so much of the software is extremely specialized and unsupported on the other OS.Windows 7 is probably the best choice if you had to, but I'd look into other options before trying it.... and make sure to clone the drive beforehand in the event it stops working on the new OS.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 06:26:28 pm
content: Quote from: jpg8989 on August 08, 2017, 12:56:40 pmfor obvious reason but no practical implication, except heavier (slower) OS. if its doesnt broke dont fix it, just my 2cnt advice...

author: senso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 06:53:17 pm
content: Just keep in mind that Windows 10 loves to "kill" early UEFI BIOS because it loves to write garbage where it should not have any write access, then you need to re-flash the BIOS, in a scope with calibration eeproms and would never do it..

author: alm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 07:06:14 pm
content: I doubt a scope released a decade ago with probably even older PC hardware will have UEFI.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2017, 11:16:01 pm
content: Tip #1: Don't do it!Tip #2: Tell whoever said that it needs to be done to come read this thread.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 12:55:49 am
content: Quote from: DaJMasta on August 08, 2017, 05:23:14 pmBelieve it or not, Windows 10 x86 is a thing. It almost seems an anachronism.Everything that has come after XP is quite a different beast under the hood. Migrating something from XP to Windows 7 can therefore be troublesome, since drivers might be very different. Conversely, anything that will run on Vista is likely to run on 7, 8.x and 10, with the latter three being actually very similar technology wise. Windows 7 might throw you a bone due to the compatibility modes, but you would better just use XP and deal with the problems that causes.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 02:05:44 am
content: You want to make your oscilloscopes phone home with who knows what, consume bandwidth downloading "updates" which are absolutely useless, and reboot themselves while you're using them? I'd sooner "upgrade" one from 10 to XP than the other way around...

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 03:10:04 am
content: I would pull the disk drive and clone it so that I had a known functional image to fall back on.I don't see the wisdom of trying to upgrade the OS of a test instrument. Who cares what the OS is made of? All that matters is the application software runs properly.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 05:15:15 am
content: On my Agilent DSO9000 that runs windows 7 i was actually genuinely worried that it might "upgrade" it self to Windows 10 with all the trickery Microsoct has been pulling some time ago, to secretly install it behind peoples backs.But it comes with the embeded edition of Windows 7 so it does not do that luckily.If you really want the terrible OS then make a disk image of the entire hard drive, copy it off to a safe place and then try installing a fresh copy of Win 10, if it doesn't work just put the old image back on. Also make sure to grab all the infiniium files since they contain licenses and calibration data.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 06:30:04 am
content: not just make a disk image.. but also test expand it to the same disk or preferably to another drive and see if the OS still runable. and then recopy and retest the image to newer compatible drive technolgy in each 5-10 years time interval. that scope is worth of several Win10 PC's complete with the needed utilities to open a cybercafe.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 01:38:46 pm
content: Quote from: Mechatrommer on August 09, 2017, 06:30:04 amI had no idea that scope was so valuable! I looked on eBay and there are a couple in the $12k..$16k range. There is no way in the world I would monkey around with the OS.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 04:21:47 pm
content: Quote from: rstofer on August 09, 2017, 01:38:46 pmNot unless it is officially and very well supported by the manufacturer. Normal desktops with an old OS have no place in a netwerk, but specialised devices like these are another story. Not to mention that you have no idea whether the performance is still on par and reliable. That seems fairly important for a scope of this class.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2017, 07:39:26 pm
content: Yep, it's just not worth messing with. Firmware updates are important for a scope (although if what they fix doesn't affect you, even that is debatable), but unless Keysight says it's mission critical to update the OS, doing so is a bad idea, even moreso when it's as drastic as XP to 10.