Rohde and Schwarz UPL EEPROM issue - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: bjirre
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 02, 2020, 07:02:04 pm
content: Hi all,When enabling a valid key for my unit in the option section i now get a very nice EEPROM error message.E2prom : Internal Error.I already went in the diagnostics menu and backed up all parameters i could find in the eeprom. Did the same with any cal file on the hard drive.Is there any R&S guru that can shed some light on this?I already ordered a couple of spare eeproms and i’m heavily debating with myself whether to try and read out the entire eeprom and see what might be wrong. Additionally thinking of putting an empty one in and see what that gives since there is a hint that the serial number and basically everything else can be entered in the eeprom via the diagnostics menu.Anything i should know, avoid,...Thanks a lot!Bart

author: bjirre
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 12, 2020, 06:27:54 pm
content: Follow up...I had a very annoying issue with my analyzer. An invalid INSTALL KEY was entered which normally should be prompted with an error and dismissed but in my case resulted in an EEPROM error. This also caused the EEPROM to be stuck in the way that nothing new could be entered or existing data could be altered in the diagnostic menu. This was very painful as I had the Extended Analysis option B6 which i could not install.I did what every guy that loves his analyzer would do, cried in a corner.But then i started thinking and made up a plan. The EEPROM chip is an AT24C164 from ATMEL and is located on the analog board.I made backups of the CAL Files on the C-drive and noted everything i could find in the diagnostics menu of the EEPROM.I needed a programmer. This had always been on my wish list and now i had a very nice cause. I settled on the TL866II+https://www.ebay.com/itm/TL866II-Mini-Pro-USB-Universal-Nand-Spi-Eeprom-Programmer/112530282093?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648Since i wanted to avoid soldering on the fragile board, I also bought an SOIC8 Clip.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Testklammer-SOIC8-SOP8-ESP8266-ICs-BIOS-24-25-93-AVR-Programmer-Clip-Adapter/254138192693?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649I also ordered some spare chips to play around and get comfortable.Reading out the chip went rather flawless after getting the clip on right. Now I had a backup and could start to play around. Pro Tip: unplug all connectors from the analog board, otherwise the programmer will be unable to read the chip.The first thing i tried was to see if I could find back the corrupt INSTALL KEY. In my case this was 59079. After finding a match i tried to set all the values to FF and programmed the chip. I used a very nice online editor.https://hexed.it/After restarting the UPL, the analyzer complained in full screen of an EEPROM Error so i quickly reverted back to my backup.I then started wondering. I had the crazy idea that the EEPROM was probably empty when they produced the unit and only later programmed it during calibration. This would make sense since most of the items in the EEPROM are order based (Install keys), Calibration steps which would not occur in a production environment and the serial number. The final clue came from the Diagnostics menu where there is a hint that the serial number could be entered.I decided to clear the chip and start up the unit.The UPL took a bit longer in his selftest and then came up with some very nice messages saying, New EEPROM Detected! I then got the option to copy back calibration data and serial number data from the harddisk. After confirming all these steps I went back to the OPTION menu and reentered my missing INSTALL KEY which i could not enter anymore due to the EEPROM error and lo and behold the UPL nicely accepted it.I have fixed my issue, I went back and took a dump of the working EEPROM.I am a very happy guy right now, my analyzer is back complete!All info can be found here.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yZdcPZHEZdZwkR0rAKo22jHRJFkMxyPmCheers,Bart