Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815

[nctnico]

01.18 is out:
<snip>
      Do not support the downgrade operation,

... and, with it, sales dry up until another hack is found!

Could this be a prelude to Rigol plugging holes for hacks in other equipment?

[TheSteve]

01.18 is out:
<snip>
      Do not support the downgrade operation,

... and, with it, sales dry up until another hack is found!

Could this be a prelude to Rigol plugging holes for hacks in other equipment?

Doubtful - they put out effort to prevent hacking of the DSA815 a long time back, so nothing has really changed.

[tautech]

01.18 is out:
<snip>
      Do not support the downgrade operation,

... and, with it, sales dry up until another hack is found!

Could this be a prelude to Rigol plugging holes for hacks in other equipment?

[xrunner]

Installed latest update here - screen shot still saved upside-down LOL ... 

[ted572]

List of DSA815 RF Front-End/IF Components – Rev B, 11.04.2016
This document applies to DSA815s with RF/Digital FPGA Boards 00.05 (Boot 01.02 and 01.03), and Newer Units with Main Board 00.07 and above, with Boot 01.04) with notes. i.e. * Newer Units . . .

This describes the IF Frequencies, Mixers, LO Frequencies, the on board LEDs that tell you which LO is currently active, etc.  This architecture is valid for all versions of the DSA815s with the different Main Boards.  I didn't provide a  schematic or block diagram (I could have) just because I didn't need any except for my personal hand sketches I made while tracing it out.  You will be able to construct it yourself if needed, as I described it clearly in order of signal flow from SA Input through the Last IF (DSP Input).

You will find the Front-End through the last IF (DSP) active, PIN diodes, and Mixer components (with Manufacturer and P/N) for the the DSA815 with Main Board up to v. 5.  And most for those with Main Board v. 7 and above.

Please See the attsched PDF file.

[Zucca]

FYI, long time not here so I don´t know what the current state of the hack is...

I have a:

Main Board 00.04
RFB FPGA    00.05
DB FPGA     00.05
Boot           00.01.03

went from FW 1.09 to 1.18 and only the SSC-SDA option is not active, the others are still there.
Hacked the DSA back in 14/05/2014 installed sucessfull with FW 1.08 with riglol (I did not soldered nothing on the unit):

1 - AAAB - Tracking Generator (do not enter it, already active by default)
2 - AAAC - Advanced Measurement Kit
3 - AAAD - 10Hz RBW
4 - AAAE - EMI/Quasi Peak
5 - AAAF - VSWR

Oh wait the 3- 10Hz is no more there, I got a new option SSC-SDA to activate ... any suggestions  ?

[videobruce]

01.18 is out:
      Do not support the downgrade operation,

... and, with it, sales dry up until another hack is found!

I think the FW is written by Siglent.   

[videobruce]

ted572;
This attachment is a .pdf. But, the file is labeled as a .txt. There are also formatting errors; split sentences running into additional unnecessary lines. 

Here is a single page .txt version correcting formatting errors

[pamphonica]

Just to clarify, I have an older 1.03 bootloader and currently run 1.06 f/w (on a 0.04 mainboard).
I have all the options opened up fine (thank you wonderful EEVbloggers) and would like to keep them!

The latest f/w available is 1.18 and it is clearly marked "no downgrades possible from this release".

It sounds risky to go on this one-way trip just in case all resets itself.

I suppose really should just do the 1.17 upgrade - does that sound sensible?

And if so where could I get it?

Many thanks

Jeremy

[Zucca]

Just to clarify, I have an older 1.03 bootloader and currently run 1.06 f/w (on a 0.04 mainboard).

Like me, I was there!

I have all the options opened up fine (thank you wonderful EEVbloggers) and would like to keep them!

Did you soldered anything or just used the riglol crack SW?

If you did not soldered anything on your DSA, with FW1.18 all your options will be still there... but the 10Hz RBW will be per default active an not showing in the list anymore. There will be also a new option SSC-SDA which will be deactive, and it seems nobody hat yet got the way to activate it.

Just look my post here on this page, just scroll 10cm up.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/spectrum-analyzer-rigol-dsa815/msg1063159/#msg1063159

[K1JOS]

Can someone PM me copies of firmware 016 and 017?  Many thanks in advance!!

Jerry

[Gertjan]

Hi K1JOS,

You have got a PM.......

regards, Gertjan

[K1JOS]

Are all the updates cumulative?  I currently have all options active and on v 1.08 but with FPGA v 00.04.   I don't have firmware v 1.13 which I understand was critical in upgrading FPGA to v 00.05.  Can I use a later firmware version like 15, 16 or 17 to get the FPGA upgrade or must I find v 1.13 somehow?

tia

jerry

[Gertjan]

Hi K1JOS,

My e-mail answer to you bounced again (Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender)
So I answered via the EEVblog PM. so check your IN box...

regards Gertjan.

[pamphonica]

Did you soldered anything or just used the riglol crack SW?

If you did not soldered anything on your DSA, with FW1.18 all your options will be still there... but the 10Hz RBW will be per default active an not showing in the list anymore. There will be also a new option SSC-SDA which will be deactive, and it seems nobody hat yet got the way to activate it.

Just look my post here on this page, just scroll 10cm up.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/spectrum-analyzer-rigol-dsa815/msg1063159/#msg1063159

I just used the software crack successfully.  I think I'll give it a try with 1.18.  10Hz RBW sounds fine!
Thanks for the info

[pamphonica]

Thanks for all your supportive comments and PMs.  My DSA815-TG is now happily running 1.18, with all options still working well.
Jeremy

[Zucca]

all options still working well.

Even the SSC-SDA? If yes drop me a PM please o let us know how to do the magic.

[lost_bro]

I have a DSA815 with old Bootverision 01.02. With firmware version 01.07 all licenses with the key generator were entered. I have not used the write protection of the FRAM.
The firmware was updated step by step up to current firmware 01.18.

Now I have entered a trial license for the SSC-DSA option, and then activated the write protection of the FRAM.
After switching on, the trial time is counted down, but after a new start the time starts again with the time of the write protection activated.

Peter

Good day All
First I would like to thank all the members here who have dedicated their time to furthering the hackability of the Rigol DSA815-TG.

I just purchased the DSA815-TG and wanted to say that it came with All functions operational as Trial with 35 plus hours out of the box, except for the SSC-DSA option.

I have attached photos of the license screen.

My questions is; since the wanted options are enabled now, should I do the FRAM write mod.?

I see from the above that the mod. does indeed work with  the 1.18 firmware, but what about the *new* hardware that this model has?

All ideas and opinions are welcome, as I really want to keep the VSWR option functional.

Thanks
take care, peace
lost_bro

EDIT: added firmware photo.

[Tekwhat]

I have a DSA815 with old Bootverision 01.02. With firmware version 01.07 all licenses with the key generator were entered. I have not used the write protection of the FRAM.
The firmware was updated step by step up to current firmware 01.18.

Now I have entered a trial license for the SSC-DSA option, and then activated the write protection of the FRAM.
After switching on, the trial time is counted down, but after a new start the time starts again with the time of the write protection activated.

Peter

Good day All
First I would like to thank all the members here who have dedicated their time to furthering the hackability of the Rigol DSA815-TG.

I just purchased the DSA815-TG and wanted to say that it came with All functions operational as Trial with 35 plus hours out of the box, except for the SSC-DSA option.

I have attached photos of the license screen.

My questions is; since the wanted options are enabled now, should I do the FRAM write mod.?

I see from the above that the mod. does indeed work with  the 1.18 firmware, but what about the *new* hardware that this model has?

All ideas and opinions are welcome, as I really want to keep the VSWR option functional.

Thanks
take care, peace
lost_bro

EDIT: added firmware photo.

I'll have a new DSA815 in my hands shortly. Good to hear that there will be some trial options available out of the box. I too am interested in knowing what the best method is at the moment for fully activating those trial features. I've done quite a bit of reading, but I assume my unit will come with new firmware, which may prohibit some of the available hacks.

Cheers.

[airlomba]

Hello everyone,

First of all, let me thank you all for all the precious informations shared in this topic. I will try to do my part now, as much as possible from me. I just finished reading all 35 pages of posts in this topic and I must say that I learned a lot. Thank you all!

Now, I own one DSA815-TG since February and so far, I am happy with it; although, I have not given it much use until recently.
Right now, my SA has the latest firmware available (1.18) as shown below. Also, this SA hasn't been hacked, opened or modified.



One thing I read in some topics (page 22), is about the "missing steps" in the power sweep. So, I tried to replicate this function and I think the thing has been solved as you may see in the picture below:



If anyone would like me to do some experiments, please feel free to ask. Also I need the experiment procedure detailed so I can do exactly what you want (as long as it doesn't imply to open the instrument).

Now for the down side of updating my SA to the latest firmware version. Before the update I had firmware version 1.12 and about 23 hours of trials left. The update process went smoothly without a problem, except that, at the end, my trial timers were set to ZERO. I contacted the SA vendor (in Europe) and they provided me some new trial licenses for some of the options I still wanted to try. I installed the licenses as per normal procedures, they got installed, but the option aren't active, as one can see in the following screenshots. The final result is that I have the trial timers with 36 hours but the options inactive...







Contacted the vendor again (as a pivot to reach Rigol) and the answer was that Rigol said that there may be some incompatibility between the hardware and the new trial licenses... I will try to contact directly Rigol Europe or whatever to try to solve this issue. Any feed back I have, I'll post here just in case it may be useful to someone.

Best regards to all,
Emmanuel.

[TurboTom]

I had exactly the same issue with mine. Funny thing is: After some time of use (must have been 10 to 20 hours), the original trial licenses magically reactivated themselves with full 35 odd hours (noticed only some five hours later since a colleague was using the instrument). Before that I tried everything to uninstall the old trial licenses to make the newly provided ones the only and active ones -- without success. I guess all this relates to a new number format in FRAM for the time totalizer Rigol has introduced with f/w 1.17. Anyway, after the trials reappeared, I quickly closed the WP jumper and the trial time is frozen again...
Greetings,
Thomas

[airlomba]

I had exactly the same issue with mine. Funny thing is: After some time of use (must have been 10 to 20 hours), the original trial licenses magically reactivated themselves with full 35 odd hours

Oh! I remember reading your post about this, but seem I forgot about it!
I guess that as soon as I'll get home, I'll turn on the SA, even before I remove my coat. Hopefully, I'll get the trials back on time just before bed time.
Tomorrow I'll inform about the success or not or this "recipe".
Cheers!
Emmanuel.

[Pinkus]

I had exactly the same issue with mine. Funny thing is: After some time of use (must have been 10 to 20 hours), the original trial licenses magically reactivated themselves with full 35 odd hours (noticed only some five hours later since a colleague was using the instrument). Before that I tried everything to uninstall the old trial licenses to make the newly provided ones the only and active ones -- without success. I guess all this relates to a new number format in FRAM for the time totalizer Rigol has introduced with f/w 1.17. Anyway, after the trials reappeared, I quickly closed the WP jumper and the trial time is frozen again...
Greetings,
Thomas

I can confirm that the above procedure works. Somebody with this device had the same problem after upgrading to Firmware 1.18. He also got new license codes from Rigol which were not working (same as above). I then told him what Tom wrote. He tried it out and he just reported that, after approximately 18-21 hours runtime (with some short breaks for a restart for checking if it is now working) his licenses suddendly were reanimated.

[airlomba]

Hello,
I am hoping for the best, since I didn't try yet the VSWR and AMK options. I had the SA turned ON yesterday for about 3 hours. Today I just turned it ON again, and will remain in this state during until I go to bed. 
I will post my results as soon as I get them or give up. I'll give it a maximum of 36 hours running, that's as long as the new trial periods. See you soon.
Regards,
Emmanuel.

[airlomba]

Well, that didn't take too long.   
Having my SA turned ON since my last post (plus a few hours on the other day), I've been using it to play around with a Colpitts oscillator... The result is as shown in the pictures below: I have my trial periods back on time!

The first picture below shows the Option Info page, exhibiting that the options became active, again.



What is curious about this, is the comparision between the two following pictures.
The first one shows the License Info page before the timer restarted counting down. The second image shows the same page, after the timer restarted counting down. The curiosity is in the fact that only the old license codes (2, 4 and 5) are counting down and not the last installed ones provided by Rigol (3 and 6).





Finally, I publish a last image showing the Measure menu with working colors (instead of grey).



Thank you all for your help in this topic in general, and with my issue in particular.
Now I am looking for a cheap VSWR bridge to evaluate the VSWR option.

Best regards to all,
Emmanuel.

Edited to correct some images links.