Harddisk Image for R&S AMIQ Generator - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Radiosonde
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2020, 01:57:21 pm
content: HelloI have got a Rohde & Schwarz AMIQ modulation generator, but sadly the hard drive is dead.Does anyone have an image file for the hard disk?I would appreciate if someone could provide me with help.Regards

author: phlegeton
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2021, 07:03:35 pm
content: I don't have an disk image, but I do have files which I copied from the hard disk of an AMIQ. It looks like the AMIQ runs OpenDos.If you're interested I can upload the files some where.

author: Radiosonde
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2021, 05:37:26 pm
content: HelloAfter not having much luck with getting an image file I just contacted a few people on eBay who had one for sale, one of them actually made me a backup for a small fee.After that my AMIQ worked flawlessly right away.If you need the image file yourself, contact me.Regards

author: phlegeton
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2021, 10:25:23 am
content: Good to hear that you got your AMIQ working! And yes I'm interested in getting a full image. I was only be able to get the files of the harddisk. So if you can set something up so I can download the image, that would be great!

author: thorswait
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2021, 04:01:09 am
content: Hi I was wondering if your new image contains the firmware version 4.00 ?

author: phlegeton
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2021, 06:57:50 pm
content: I did some experiments. I downloaded DR-DOS 7.3 (Which my AMIQ seems to boot) and I created a VM , installed DR-DOS, and copied over the firmware which I copied from the AMIQ HD.And to my suprise, it actually boots. Of course at the end the AMIQ firmware crashes, since it cannot the required hardware.See the attached screenshots. Note that at this point I didn't copy over all the files. Once I noticed that it kind of worked, I copied all the files. And what is really funny is that the VM beeps, during bootWith all the files installed I can get to a DOS command line.Unfortunately I don't have a hard disk to actually test this in my AMIQ. But chances are if this is done with a actual HD, it might work.

author: richnormand
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2021, 11:56:57 pm
content: If you have not resolved your issue.My AMIQ is an older one, AMIQ V2.10B, Sept 25 1998.I have just done a disk bit copy of the hard drive and also a copy of the DOS files on my AMIQ.It is Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 with a nice mention on the BIOS boot screen that it is not for commercial use....Like in my CMU200 I will replace the HD (keep it as backup) and use a bootable compact flash card instead.Let me know if you need that copy.

author: QuasiCoherent
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 08:18:12 am
content: Hello, I have an AMIQ 1110.2003.03, if anyone could provide a disk image for this unit, it would be greatly appreciated. I am nearly certain after popping the lid on the system that the hard drive is the culprit, like on my CMU200 (faint periodic clicking sound). Thanks in advance!

author: richnormand
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 04, 2023, 10:26:11 pm
content: sent you a pm.

author: BoscoLab
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2024, 09:23:09 am
content: Hello,I have two Rohde & Schwarz I/Q modulation generators. One AMIQ02 and one AMIQ04. For the AMIQ02 I have backed up the original hard disk image and saved it successfully on a CF card. The AMIQ02 works! I can provide the image if required. (Firmware version 4.xx) Please send me a PM.The AMIQ04 is defective, the capacities on the board are all defective and I will replace them. Also the original hard disk is broken. My question: Is the software version of the AMIQ 02 compatible with the AMIQ04?Thank youRudolf

author: tverbeure
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 10:12:45 pm
content: Rudolf,I recapped my AMIQ04 motherboard and it’s working fine. I replaced the HDD by a CompactFlash and used the AMIQ drive image from KO4BB. This image is supposed to support the AMIQ04.I can connect to AMIQ with WinIQSim and when I program, say, a CW waveform, the clock output will change to the desired value.However, running a self test results in a whole bunch of errors related to the I/Q output. (There are many passing tests too.)I can see activity on the address and control pins of the SDRAMs that contain the waveform data, but there is no activity on the data lines.When I boot up, I get the following error message:Error: 243, “AMIQ variant check failed;Board-ID 155: Bit:24/24 Version:05/06”AMIQ 4.01So other than some major HW failure in the way the SDRAMs are driven by the Altera FPGAs, chances are that I’m just using firmware that is too old for this board revision number.

author: tverbeure
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2025, 07:03:36 pm
content: Quote from: tverbeure on March 22, 2025, 10:12:45 pmI was able to get past this error message.Here's a quick summary of the boot architecture of the AMIQ signal generation PCB:There are 3 programmable logic chips: the controller uses an Altera CPLD. The sequencer and the BER use Altera Flex 10FPGAs.CPLDs use a non-volatile way to store the configuration logic so they only need to be programmed once. Programming the CPLD should never be necessary, but if you feel the need, you'll need the AMIQ configuration floppy disks. It has a LOADCON.EXE program that gets called with a CONTROL.SVF file. This file contains JTAG instructions in ASCII format. LOADCON.EXE converts this file to read and write commands to the ISA bus which go to the BER FPGA. The BER FPGA has JTAG pins that go to the controller JTAG port.The 2 FPGAs need to be reconfigured every time after powering up. This usually happens with an on-board serial or parallel PROM. In the case of the AMIQ there is no configuration PROM. Instead, the CPU configures the FPGAs through the 16-bit ISA bus. This happens with the AMIQINIT.EXE program.When booting up, the AUTOEXEC.BAT will eventually call AMIQ.BAT which calls "AMIQINIT.EXE S.OUT @BER.CFG". After calling AMIQINIT.EXE, it calls DOS4GW AMIQMAIN.EXE which is the main control software. S.OUT is the bitstream for the sequencer FPGA. BER.CFG links to the bitstream of the BER FPGA. Note that the BER FPGA will be present even if the BER feature is not enabled.The AMIQ disk image that you can download from KO4BB is one for an AMIQ03. The S.OUT file on that image is not compatible with the AMIQ04. This is what created the error that I saw.You need the SEQ_04.LHZ file. This is the S.OUT file for the AMIQ04, compressed with LHA. After running lha e seq_04.lhz, you get a seq_04.rbf file. Rename this to S.OUT.In my case, the @BER.CFG file was pointing to NONE.OUT. I don't know what this does, but I think that it's for AMIQs that don't support the BER option. There is a BER.LHZ file. When you decompress that with lha, it creates a B.OUT file. Change BER.CFG to point to B.OUT instead of NONE.OUT and you should be good to go.I'm now able to make the AMIQ work and output some signals with WinIQSim, but there's some issues:I'm controlling the AMIQ over RS232. I'm able to upload short traces usually, but it will often time out for longer ones. I think RS232 is not very well supports and GPIB is the way to go.My Agilent GPIB dongle doesn't work with the AMIQ. That is, WinIQSim refuses to work with it. I'm able to connect with other GPIB software, but WinIQSim is kind of the whole point of using the AMIQ.I recapped the MSI motherboard, but I took a look inside the power supply and those caps have major electrolite leaks. So more recapping will be needed.