HP/Agilent 54825A Infinium Oscilloscope - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 01:17:50 am
content: I rescued a unloved example of one of these old 54825A Infinium DSOs from the company skip last week and I've had a good play with it today. Even though it is about 20 years old, it seems to be a fairly good scope although it is limited by only having 32k sample memory. It's also huge, heavy and a bit noisy.I've started this thread because I'd like to find out if there are any issues with these early Infinium scopes and also I'm hoping someone can post up a link to any SW updates. I found lots of links to SW updates for this series of scopes but they are old links and are either dead or empty.This one is running Win98 and has scope SW version A.03.50 and I think it has the 'fast' K6 mobo and it has a newish HDD fitted. It passes all self tests and passes the lengthy self calibration routine. The SW seems a bit iffy and a bit limited so I'm hoping that later versions of SW sort out a few things. Is there a formal document anywhere that lists what the SW upgrades achieve?I think this one has the 120Mb LS120 FDD drive fitted as the floppy drive makes a really strange whirring sound on bootup. But I have no 120Mb disks to try in it. It works fine with a regular 1.44Mb FDD.Anyone on here got one of these who can offer any advice?

author: Mr Nutts
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 11:12:04 am
content: Nice findI have a similar scope, 8064, which should be a bit newer as it runs XP.Here's a pdf I found that shows the release notes for the scope software from A.03.00 to 5.71:https://www.keysight.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/Infiniium_5_71_Release_Notes.pdfI read your previous messages in similar threads where you said you were able to generate license codes for these scopes. My scope came wiped and I'd really like to get some of the options back. Can you help me?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 11:57:25 am
content: IMHO these scopes are nice to look at high speed signals. I have the 54835A (uphacked to 54845A) myself and the trigger system has very little jitter. The math functions are also reasonable. I wouldn't want to use it as a general purpose DSO though. I nice addition would be USB ports.This is the thread I created about my 54835A:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/agilent-54835a-scope-(4-channel-1ghz-4gss)-repair-uphack/msg1251605/#msg1251605Some of the things probably apply to your 54825A too but it is likely there are several versions indentified by a VIN number at the back. VIN stands for VINtage in this case.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 11:19:41 pm
content: Thanks for the replies and the links. It looks like there isn't much point upgrading the SW. However, is the SW the same across the 548xx models?If so then I've downloaded the correct SW across versions 3.5 to 4.5 but I doubt I'll bother with it if there is no benefit with my old and basic model.QuoteSadly, it's a lot of work to set up my laptop to do this stuff again. I've uninstalled the later SW version (5.71?) from the laptop and I'm not familiar with your scope model number. It would probably take quite a few hours to get set up and running again for your model number and I'm not sure I'd succeed anyway. It could turn into a huge time trap. If I install the SW again on my laptop it will be for the old version in my scope but I don't think I'm going to bother. Even if I could somehow get it to support later options I'm not really that fussed. I don't need serial decode or EJZIT or the USB/Ethernet stuff. I'm much more interested in having a newer/better version of SW that has a few more standard features. It would also be nice to make it run faster when making measurements as this seems to slow down the update rate a lot.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 12:10:46 am
content: If I did try a later version of SW I'd probably try to do it with a different HDD and start from scratch. That way I could go back to the original if it didn't work out. I think I have to install 3.5 then upgrade each time until I get to 4.5. I think I have to stick with Win98 first edition but it might be possible to get USB1.1 support with some drivers. I have got it to network/share with another old laptop over LAN but I obviously don't want to connect it to anything with a path to the internet. But this is only worth it if the newer SW has some extra features built in. Maybe this is a task for the xmas break...The scope cost me nothing so I'm not too worried about bricking it if I mess things up

author: Mr Nutts
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 07:30:36 am
content: Quote from: G0HZU on October 31, 2018, 12:10:46 amFair enough. Would you perhaps then mind sharing what someone would need to do? I guess it'll require IDA (or IDA Pro?) and the scope software installed on a XP computer, but then?The scope has long been obsolete so there shouldn't be any reason we can't discuss this openly. Also, it's certainly useful from an educational perspective.QuoteCan't you upgrade your scope to XP and use the latest software (5.71)?

author: User2938
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 08:12:24 am
content: I recently bought a used Agilent 54845A, software revision says A.04.21, and it runs on windows 98 First Edition. When I brought it home, I ran the self-tests, ran self-calibration routine and made sure it would calibrate, then tore it down, replaced the dead CMOS battery, the fans with some slightly less noisy ones (Digikey 259-1489-ND), pulled the hard drive and made a backup image, then swapped it with a 16GB KingSpec SSD drive. Took some playing around with to finally get the scope to recognize it, but once it did I installed some Win98 USB 1.1 Drivers found on the web, and got the LAN working. Now copying data to and from the scope is no problem. I use the GPIB for remote control, and picked up a new PS/2 Mouse, new PS/2 Keyboard, and 5-pin DIN adapter from Craigslist for $14 USD.Having not used many high end (read expensive) oscilloscopes, I can say that I LOVE using this scope. Before this I had an old tek 2-channel 100-MHz phosphor-screen TDS scope, which I upgraded with a hacked Rigol DS1054Z. Although it's a bit loud, I find the Agilent 10x more pleasurable and easier to use than the Rigol. I agree that the memory depth sucks though at 32k, that's something I haven't tried to upgrade. The Rigol definitely kills it in that sense.I downloaded a whole bunch of upgrade and system files from an FTP site I found from a forum link when googling (I wanna say it was a yahoo forum), as well as some documents explaining how to upgrade (I think the upgrades were originally posted from a different scope than mine though, it could have been your model possibly). Attached are the upgrade guides. You won't be able to find any of the files from the Agilent site, but if you find you can upgrade the scope, and can't find the site, let me know, maybe the files I downloaded will work.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 08:54:52 am
content: IMHO the VIN33 machines are the best ones to get because these have the fastest CPUs. In order to upgrade to Windows XP you'll need XP drivers for the acquisition board. AFAIK these drivers don't exist for the old models so version 4.5 is the most recent you can run on these scopes. I'm not aware of any interesting software options in the 4.x firmware versions.

author: Mr Nutts
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 09:55:54 am
content: Aside from my Infinum DSO8064 I have also have a DS1054z (Riglol'd of course) and two Lecroy scopes. The Rigol is great if I need a scope outside but most of the time I just use the Infinum which is running a hacked exe that gives me the full 128Mb of sample memory as well as serial decode and infiniscan (more triggers) and power measurements.I also like the touch screen and that I can simply drag a measurement to a trace to enable it. Or that the compensation procedure for the included 10073C probes is automaticThe Infinum is pretty fast. I was told that this is because it has this Megazoom controller (product sticker also says "Megazoom").However, the hacked exe crashes very often. This doesn't happen with the original exe but then I only get 250kb memory and lose the nice functions. So I really need to get the license keys restored somehow

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 10:38:50 pm
content: I think my 54825A is 20 years old but it appears to have had the E2633-68704 upgrade because it has the mobo with the K6-300 processor and the upgraded HDD and memory. It also has the LS120 drive and the 16 bit soundcard for voicecontrol and it is running 03.50 SW.https://www.artisantg.com/info/PDF__4167696C656E745F45323633335F496E737472756374696F6E73.pdfIt boots to be useful in just over 1 minute. However, my previous 500MHz scope, the HP 54540C only took about 6 seconds to boot!The BIOS has an enable/disable option for USB so maybe my mobo has a USB interface on it. I've not looked inside the scope yet but I do plan to fit a USB 1.1 card to it at some point.QuoteSadly, I really can't discuss how to do this because it means showing how to enable any PC software or hardware that uses this common licensing system. I think I'd get banned and also chased by the companies that produce the option system for Keysight and thousands of other software companies that use this system would also be a bit annoyed as well.If you wanted the same qty of options as your current hack it would mean writing loads and loads of option codes for it all. A lot of work!QuoteThat is a shame but I'll probably have a look inside the code for 4.x to see if there is anything hidden in there that I can exploit. I was hoping there would be some extra features in the user interface and maybe a better FFT interface and display.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 11:01:43 pm
content: Quote from: User2938 on October 31, 2018, 08:12:24 amThanks that info is very useful! My scope is too old for a VIN number but looking at your attached VIN doc I think my scope is now equivalent to VIN25 with the 300MHz processor. VIN25 seems to have the same spec as my upgraded scope. So I think I can upgrade to 4.5 via the LS120 drive. I've ordered a couple of LS120 disks and I'll try this over xmas (or maybe before if I get some free time).

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 11:04:24 pm
content: You can upgrade without using the LS120 drive - I posted how to do it in a thread somewhere on here. Also expect boot times to double if you go to 4.5.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 11:16:06 pm
content: OK thanks. I'm not even sure I have the LS120 drive but it does make a very unusual "Whee... Whee!" noise on bootup and it seems to have an electronic eject mechanism that makes a similar noise. The BIOS says it has a Floptical drive fitted and no FDD but there is no gold emblem on the drive to show it is the LS120 type.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 11:20:49 pm
content: I am sure it does have the LS120 in it.Here is how I did the software upgrade:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/agilent-54835a-scope-(4-channel-1ghz-4gss)-repair-uphack/msg1275702/#msg1275702

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2018, 04:08:45 pm
content: Thanks, I've kept a copy of the text from that post.One thing I did notice on my scope is that it has a folder called OSSETUP and this looks to be what would go onto an LS120 drive to recover the scope back to a fresh install of Win98 c/w the version 03.50 scope SW. The folder size is just under 120Mb and it has all the Win98 cab files on it and the scope SW and drivers etc. I think this is part of the E2633-68704 upgrade as it then allows the user to recover the OS and the scope SW from scratch via the LS120 drive. So the contents of this important folder have to be kept safe somewhere to be transferred to an LS120 drive if/when needed. It would make sense for me to transfer this to one of the LS120 disks I've ordered. I've already made several copies of the scope HDD contents via LAN so I've got plenty of backups now

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2018, 02:40:11 pm
content: I had a rummage through some of the SW versions for these scopes and one thing was of interest...In the code there appears to be an overload detect function when the 50R input is selected. It looks like you get a warning message and it automatically changes the input impedance to 1Meg.Does this function work? I'm not going to test it on mine but I wonder if it has been seen before.There were also some humorous comments left in the code by the SW developers. It might be possible to get the comments (and an image?) on the scope screen by selecting a unique set of operator controls. However, I've resisted the temptation to work out how to do it as it really is a waste of timeHas anyone used the Intuilink interface with these scopes? I'm about to try controlling it via LAN and I've never written any code for LAN before. I usually use GPIB or RS-232. has anyone used the LAN interface for stuff like this?