Help, Transistor VS. DS1102e rigol DSO

[IonizedGears]

I recently got a ds1102e. When i connect it across a powered pnp or npn transistor (Between the base and emitter) I get an extremely weird waveform that is extremely unstable but semi trigger-able and view-able if you use the stop button. After this when i disconnect everything, my oscilloscope gets all wonky and if i cycle the power, it starts up with a blue flash and some noise then the splash screen for rigol. I hope i am not harming my oscilloscope? Can you tell me if it is bad for the scope or my scope is bad, etc.

[c4757p]

What does the waveform look like? Can you take a screenshot? And what is "wonky"?

[daveshah]

Is the transistor being powered from a mains earth referenced source (i.e. a device connected to a USB port)?

[w2aew]

I recently got a ds1102e. When i connect it across a powered pnp or npn transistor (Between the base and emitter) I get an extremely weird waveform that is extremely unstable but semi trigger-able and view-able if you use the stop button. After this when i disconnect everything, my oscilloscope gets all wonky and if i cycle the power, it starts up with a blue flash and some noise then the splash screen for rigol. I hope i am not harming my oscilloscope? Can you tell me if it is bad for the scope or my scope is bad, etc.

A 10x scope probe is NOT the same as the probes on a DMM.  The DMM inputs are floating, the scope input is not.  The "clip" on the scope probe is electrically connected to the mains ground. It sounds as if you are connecting the scope probe's ground lead to a part of the circuit which ISN'T ground.  Dave did a good video on this, entitled something like "how not to blow up your scope".

[IonizedGears]

I know, the circuit was battery operated. I can't post any pictures right now since my main computer needs a new motherboard and it has the pictures. But when i am measuring across the transistor it looks like a sinusoid but getting progressively smaller in amplitude. When i disconnect the scope, the scope starts to measure an insanely high amount of noise that is unreadable. Also, sometimes when i turn the scope off then on. A blue screen shows up for a second right before the rigol logo screen.

[smashedProton]

That is normal.  The rigol display module has a shitty power sippky

[IonizedGears]

That is normal.  The rigol display module has a shitty power sippky

Why would this be a power supply problem? It looks as if the display driver is to blame as it only happens if i cycle the power in a relatively short period of time. Maybe it takes a lot of time for the power from the power supply to bleed so the scope goes into a "hibernate" mode but not enough to resume? Hmm