Agilent U1273A Firmware Update - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: rdubelectronic
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 09:25:38 am
content: I purchaced a second hand Agilent U1273AActually a very nice DMM.I did the firmware upgrade. Result: Meter DEAD. Now only shows: D....Tricks cannot be found and reply from Agilent on someone else who did the same update: BERBeyond Economic repairDO NOT EXECUTE THIS UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

author: hayatepilot
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2015, 07:34:00 am
content: Does this happen every time on every meter and PC?Or did the update get interrupted for another reason? Maybe a dodgy USB connection/port?I don't think Agilent/Keysight releases a Update that always bricks the DMM...Greetings

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2015, 03:54:22 pm
content: Any device that can be upgraded like handheld meters, TVs, cell phones, etc should have an "oops" recovery mode.For example, maybe holding down 2 buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds enables some sort of very basic recovery OS that can only accept firmware. This basic OS should also do a checksum and verification of the firmware.Vendors should also make new and old firmware available to all customers free of charge.

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 27, 2015, 07:52:19 pm
content: Sad to hear such story. U1273A is great multimeter from Agilent/Keysight, but some small issue (maybe lack of testing or unfinished code) with officialy provided firmware upgrade made it unfunctional. This is dissapointing - there could be no issues if someone in company would have properly tested upgrade procedures.Such failures are a main reason why one should not do any upgrades to critical HW/SW unless it is absolutely necesary. Or a least be very cautious about doing it. As the saying goes, "if it is not broken, don't mess with it".DMM you had before was functioning properly with no significant issues, not it is not functional at all because of (probably) poorly implemented firmware upgrade. On the other hand, you would probably gain very little from a working upgraded DMM compared to non-upgraded version. Thus, it is a poor risk vs return ratio.The same issues go for various devices/OS/PC programs updates - there were multiple cases when upgraded programs stopped working properly or refused old file types/settings (in simple terms - made things much worse) while blocking downgrade to previous version at the same time.

author: sotos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2015, 10:00:32 pm
content: This is what happened to my new and expensive meter 1 day old. I made an update and got a problem with the continuity test as described here.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/34461a-problem-after-updating-to-firmware-a_02_09-behavior-in-continuity-test/I went back to the old firmware and I’m happy for now, until they’ll fix the problem. They make the new firmware update but it seems they don’t bother to test it, to see if it creates other problems.They are waiting from us, the beta testers to locate and inform them the bugs.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2015, 10:42:28 pm
content: I have both a U1273A and a 34461A. They do have some annoyances that i would like to see fixed in a firmware updates, but thanks for the heads up. For the handheld one you need a IR cable for it, that i don't have anyway.Can't they figure out how to do firmware updates properly? Tiny bootlader in the beginning that never gets written over in an update or something. Its not rocket science.

author: rdubelectronic
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 14, 2015, 04:00:58 pm
content: Very good news and sportsmen reaction from Agilent/Keysight.Meter will be replaced under quarantee

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2015, 06:07:49 pm
content: Great job Keysight!