XSA1015TG OWON spectrum analyzer - firmware problem - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Lukaszb
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 04, 2023, 07:50:46 pm
content: HiRecently I've encountered major problem with my OWON XSA1015TG spectrum analyzer - It's dead...After a bit of investigation I managed to find UART console RX,TX on the PCB. This is what I've received (attached picture). I suspect that the problem lies in the content of the NAND flash memory - basically It would be good to upload firmware but there is no image file, simply I can't find it anywhere. I've tried to contact OWON/LILIPUT in many different ways but they are silent... I have this analyzer for 3 years, so there is no valid warranty, but what I need is just image file.My question to you - does anybody have firmware for this analyzer?

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2023, 04:35:06 pm
content: translatedhttps://blog-goo-ne-jp.translate.goog/electronics_diy_5/e/a1e290f60aad02723100ccc818364ee4?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapporiginalhttps://blog.goo.ne.jp/electronics_diy_5/e/a1e290f60aad02723100ccc818364ee4

author: tomud
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2023, 10:03:00 pm
content: Quote from: Lukaszb on July 04, 2023, 07:50:46 pmit won't be easy. First of all, the image from the manufacturer with a possible update probably does not contain everything. If you do not start some u-boot loader, etc., you will probably have to desolder the memory and program it with a programmer. Looking at what's on the console, most likely the hardware is built on some processor from Texas Instruments. TI has a tool that allows you to flash NAND (UBL/U-BOOT) via the serial port - so I think it's best to start by finding that tool and identifying the CPU.Even if you copy the memory from a second such device, there are still more problems. NAND memories, even new ones, have bad blocks, so you can't copy the image from one memory to another.You will probably need to reverse engineer the file system to create a suitable image (with relocation of bad blocks because it will be different than in the device from which you copied the image), which can be loaded into memory by the programmer to NAND memory.So it is best to find a second such device - although in my humble opinion the amount of work that needs to be put into it is not commensurate with the value of this device.An option may be to buy another such spectrum analyzer with a different damage (e.g. RF parts) and resolder the memory. However, another problem remains, such as calibration data that needs to be fetched from your hardware (extracted from NAND), which will also take some time.I don't want to make you sad, but if I were you, I'd be collecting money for a new spectrum analyzer... because that's probably how this case will end...

author: alpher
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 12:07:27 am
content: Why dont you contact Owon directly, that's what I did with mine.Funny thing is they sent me a whole replacement board, which is almost the whole instrument minus display and PSU.

author: alpher
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 12:56:33 pm
content: info@owon.com.cnThis is the address that I used to contact them.