Lecroy HDO6034A won´t boot anymore - Fixed - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Martin72
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 07:03:19 pm
content: Hi,It was a shock, our HDO6034A wouldn't boot up from one day to the next.Switched on, after a while the logo appeared on the screen - and after another half minute the scope had switched off again.Damn.I contacted support and they advised me to try a recovery.They gave me the instructions and said I had to connect a keyboard so that I could press an F key shortly after switching on.Problem: It is not recognized that I press anything, no matter which key.OK, then you have to send it in, then the PC in scope is defective.PC in scope.....This gave me an idea.Somehow I knew the behavior, I once had a PC that stopped working from one day to the next, it wouldn't even boot up.Surely this is not the same thing....So I didn't send the Scope in yet, got it on the table and unscrewed it, the warranty had expired last year.Nice design with 3 fans...The PC part is immediately accessible, the mainboard is on the left side and there is a battery on the board...Dismantled and measured - 0V...Got a new CR2032 and installed it.And that was it!I had to switch the scope back on a few times afterwards, I assume something had to initialize, and now it runs again as if nothing had happened.And that's the bad thing about newer PC systems when the onboard battery has failed.Older computers are still familiar with the message after switching on, battery is empty, go to the bios.With the newer ones you no longer get such a message, they either switch themselves off again or cannot be switched on at all.An idea and a €1 battery saved us four-figure costs.I wanted to share this with you in case someone with a PC-based scope has the same problem.It doesn't always have to be the battery, of course.But the chances are high and in future I will be on the lookout for defective scopes that no longer want to boot up.Martin

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 07:41:46 pm
content: Just wondring how many not so old PCs and notebooksfor that matter, are going into the dumpster becauseof a flat BIOS battery. Probably thousands.....

author: egonotto
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 09:35:48 pm
content: Hello,I would have thought you haven't had the device for so long.Best regardsegonotto

author: Martin72
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 09:47:21 pm
content: We bought this together with the Waverunner at the end of 2019, and it seems like only yesterday...

author: egonotto
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 10:00:03 pm
content: Hello,If you have to change the battery after four years, it should be accessible from the outside.Best regardsegonotto

author: Martin72
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 10:42:05 pm
content: Hi egonotto,That would be great, but rather utopian.You're not supposed to lend a hand yourself, you're supposed to hand it in for repair...Of course, I wrote to the people at Lecroy to tell them that I had found the fault myself - I would have liked to have seen their faces at the moment.But they were good enough to congratulate me, they had no other choice.(If the warranty has expired, it's going to be expensive - they charge a flat rate of €2500.That's why I thankfully decided not to have a WS422 repaired almost 2 years ago.)

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 11:18:17 pm
content: It is kind of odd that a CMOS battery runs out so quickly. And getting flat to 0V is also uncommon.These batteries should last close to a decade. I have revived dead computers by simply replacing the CMOS battery but these where much older than 4 years.

author: Martin72
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2023, 11:24:30 pm
content: That's annoying, but I don't really see it as critical.The battery itself has a limited service life or storage life, so if an "older but new" one was installed in this Scope, that was just bad luck...I am curious to see when this will happen to us with the Waverunner, which was delivered at the same time.This is also a Scope based on a windows 10 PC with an i5 processor, I wouldn't be surprised if it's not the same board.

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2023, 07:03:53 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 21, 2023, 11:18:17 pmMy experience with these BIOS batteries (CR 2032)is that they last for 4 to 8+ years. Even 10 years, if very lucky.On average let us say 6 years.