How to recover Keysight 34461A bricked during firmware upgrade. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Odd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2020, 08:11:09 am
content: When upgrading to firmware 3.0 there was a power blackout and all firmware seems to be lost. I'm no longer able to access user interface. When switching on the DMM I get a message on screen and the DMM halts. Message below:Instrument model number: 34461AInstrument serial number : MY5320.....Instrument IP address : 0.0.0.0Follow support instructions to restore the firmware.After this message the DMM halts.This would seem fine except there are no "support instructions" to be found and I cannot access the user interface. I would like to think this is a matter of getting the firmware in place again but I don't know how to do that.Any suggestions or ideas to get me out of this problem?

author: engrguy42
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2020, 08:20:54 am
content: Contact Keysight?https://www.keysight.com/main/support.jspx?cc=US&lc=eng&cmpid=zzkeysupportThere's even an "Ask an Expert" link in the top rightOr ask in their support forumAnd there's a link to download Drivers, Firmware, and Software

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 24, 2020, 08:27:58 am
content: There are instructions which you did not read. Most likely you upgraded 1.x firmware to 3.x which you shouldn't do. You need to downgrade to 2.17 and then update to 3.02.https://www.keysight.com/main/software.jspx?cc=LV&lc=eng&nid=-11143.0.00&id=2367633&pageMode=CVQuote

author: nixxon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2020, 09:37:06 am
content: I have good reasons to believe that this particular instrument failed during an FW update from v. 2.17 to v. 3.0.(I was very tempted to buy this very instrument myself, but decided not to do so. The odds of fixing it seemed to bad)The mains power failed shortly after initiating the FW update procedure.The previous owner has informed that "I’ve been in touch with local representatives for Keysight and they say that the repair cost equals the cost of a new instrument. It’s unbelievable. If it comes to that we will consider another instrument vendor."As the keypad is not working it seems hard to update the regular way via USB flash drive. I would check out if it is possible to connect to the instrument from a PC via the front USB.I would try to find a way to establish a connection to the instrument via LAN. This may be hard because LAN was probably never set up before the miserable FW update attempt.If you are lucky you can get access to the part of memory NAND containing the firmware recovery file. See enclosed picture.Here is a link to the last working FW v. 2.17 on this instrument if you want to attempt to restore FW v. 2.17https://www.keysight.com/main/software.jspx?cc=GB&lc=eng&nid=-11143.0.00&id=2367633&pageMode=PVI wish you the best and hope you succeed in fixing this awesome instrument.NixxonEDIT: More info from previous owner:" I have been updating the DMM ever since the first update and it has worked well. However, this time there was a power blackout right after update to V 3.0 was started. The DMM has two steps to get operational (as I see it). Step 1 is something like starting a BIOS and step 2 is loading the firmware. Now the DMM finishes step 1 and the then halts with the message shown earlier. This means I cannot access the front panel user interface. The DMM seems to be detected when connected to the USB interface but that doesn’t help much."

author: Chris Jones
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 13, 2025, 11:13:28 pm
content: I upgraded mine from 1.xx to 2.17 and then tried to upgrade to 3.03 but it bricked itself during the second uprgade. After each power-on it displayed the message about following support instructions. It showed an IP address of 0.0.0.0, but when I plugged it into a router, it did DHCP and showed a proper IP address. I was then able to connect to it from the KeysightFirmwareUpdateUtility on Windows, but it could not install the firmware, see attached error message. I eventually solved the issue by getting an old laptop with Windows 7 on it, and it worked from that laptop.