Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815

[Skibane]

The Rigol FW page still shows .12 as the latest firmware for the 815.

Anyone have the .13 firmware, as shown in the video above, that fixes the power sweep issue?

My 815 was just delivered today (7/28), and still has the .12 firmware.

It came from TEquipment.net.

[fqahmad66]

Does anyone have Hi-Res photo's of the DSA832 or DSA875's main board?
If not is anyone willing to open it up and gets some really good hi-res photo's of both sides of the PCB?

Thank you

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/261382

[smgvbest]

Does anyone have Hi-Res photo's of the DSA832 or DSA875's main board?
If not is anyone willing to open it up and gets some really good hi-res photo's of both sides of the PCB?

Thank you

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/261382

I see Hi-res photos of the 815 there but  but nothing of the DSA832 or DSA875
Am I missing it?

[ted572]

DSA815 Spectrum Analyzer firmware 00.01.13 is now available from Rigol.
Firmware Release Notes for Version: 00.01.13.00.01, Release Date: 2015-07-13
1. Solve bug where the frequency is 500 MHz and PA on amplitude is greater than 1dB and causing PA off problem. M
2. Make compatible with the digital board for 09 version. E
3. Solve the power sweep bug where the trace is a straight line. M

    Edit: Added Firmware Release Notes.

[TheSteve]

DSA815 Spectrum Analyzer firmware 00.01.13 is now available from Rigol.
Firmware Release Notes for Version: 00.01.13.00.01, Release Date: 2015-07-13
1. Solve bug where the frequency is 500 MHz and PA on amplitude is greater than 1dB and causing PA off problem. M
2. Make compatible with the digital board for 09 version. E
3. Solve the power sweep bug where the trace is a straight line. M

    Edit: Added Firmware Release Notes.

Thanks for the info, only took them 8 months to fix the bug.
For me it was just too long and a sign they aren't serious about supporting it. I sold my 815 to a friend when I had to chance to pickup a used Agilent.  The Agilent went to 3 GHz when I got it and with a little "tweaking" now goes to 6 GHz including the tracking gen. Picked up the Agilent for the same price as the 815. The 815 is an incredible piece of hardware when you consider the price you get a brand new spectrum analyzer for though. I was looking forward to dumping the firmware via JTAG, guess it won't be happening now.

[radiogeek97]

My Dsa has the pins soldered together to keep the trial add ons alive, i would be curious if anybody that has done that mod has tryied the new FW.  I dont want to loose my free trials

[N8AUM]

My Dsa has the pins soldered together to keep the trial add ons alive, i would be curious if anybody that has done that mod has tryied the new FW.  I dont want to loose my free trials

I am waiting for you to try it 1st ! LOL

[jimeagle]

I have a question about a Return Loss Bridge result.  A 50 ohm resistive load shows a loss of 39.41 dB.  An antenna shows 44.51 dB at its resonant point.  So in a 50 ohm antenna system, how can the antenna show more loss that the 50 ohm resistive load?  The feedline to the antenna is about 6 feet of RG-58. The antenna is J-Pole tuned to 145.6 MHz.

The yellow trace is the antenna and the purple trace is the 50 ohm resistor.

Thanks,
Len

What Randy said. 

The match looks better than the Return Loss of the Resistive Load because there is additional matching going on due to cable effects, phase effects, etc.  On a system that Calibrates to 39dB on a resistive load, any antenna that shows better than 20dB Return Loss is matched well enough.  Most products are specified to be better than 1.5:1 VSWR over their frequency range which is 14dB Return Loss.  Manufacturers will generally try to get around 18dB Return Loss just to make certain that the product meets spec but if your Antenna, Band Pass Filter input, LPF input, etc. shows at least 14-15dB Return Loss it is quite acceptable.

[ted572]

For DSA815 Firmware 00.01.13.00.01:  http://beyondmeasure.rigoltech.com/acton/attachment/1579/f-0580/1/-/-/-/-/DSA815%28DSP%29update_00.01.12.00.02.zip?sid=fTYU3cFT9

Don't worry this is 00.01.13, even though it may look like you will be downloading 00.01.12 firmware!
Re. Edit:  Removed a unnecessary comment about 00.01.12 vs. 00.01.13.

[N8AUM]

So who wants to be the 1st to try the new 00.01.13 firmware ? 

[ted572]

So who wants to be the 1st to try the new 00.01.13 firmware ?

Firmware 00.01.13.00.01 works fine on the original DSA815/TG(s) with Boot-Loader .03.
Those with Boot-Loader .04 will have to try it out themselves.  There must be at least one brave sole out there to step up and be a Hero. . .

[ted572]

Using the DSA815-TG Power Sweep Mode:
I attached a PDF that I put together on what the the Power Sweep Mode can be used for, and how to get stated with it.  I did this because Rigol has never really covered this information in the manual that I'm aware of.  I had previously posted this here, and this is simply my latest edit.

[radiogeek97]

i have a .04 machine with the pins soldered for the trial period.  i just updated the FW and let the clock on the trial period run down about a minute or two shut the machine off and the counter reset      so it seemes that the temp fix still works with the latest FW

[mcinque]

* At this time the possibility of a New Generation Riglol Kegen doesn't look very likely for the newer DSA815 Hardware. *

What's is changed exactly? It's a brand new key/license management?

Actually, on board 00.08 and boot 01.04, we can only short U1105 pins 7 and 8, like Gertjan said Can any other confirm this?

It should work also after installing 1.13 right?

[smgvbest]

* At this time the possibility of a New Generation Riglol Kegen doesn't look very likely for the newer DSA815 Hardware. *

What's is changed exactly? It's a brand new key/license management?

Actually, on board 00.08 and boot 01.04, we can only short U1105 pins 7 and 8, like Gertjan said Can any other confirm this?

It should work also after installing 1.13 right?

Yes,  Boot 01.04 you can only short U1105 Pins 7/8 and I just applied to my DSA815 and trials are still there working with the U1105 hack.

I want to expand on my request for Hi-Res Photo's of a DSA832
I want to examine the differences between a DSA815 and a DSA322 and/or DSA875 for one thing

Then does anyone have a memory dump of thier DSA815-TG with bootloader 1.03?
I want to compare the dumps of a DSA815-TG that had the keys created with rigup/riglol to a DSA815-TG that rigup/riglol doesnt work on.

[mcinque]

I want to compare the dumps of a DSA815-TG that had the keys created with rigup/riglol to a DSA815-TG that rigup/riglol doesnt work on.

That would be interesting. Do you know any specs about what's changed in the hardware to prevent riglol working? I guess it's NOT only a private key matter.

p.s. do you suggest to upgrade to 1.13 or to wait a few more?

And what do you think about the write protect enable trick on the FRAM: theoretically rigol can build an update that checks if the write pin it's soldered or not, for example, writing something during the upgrade and then checking the written value after a restart?

[ted572]

i have a .04 machine with the pins soldered for the trial period.  i just updated the FW and let the clock on the trial period run down about a minute or two shut the machine off and the counter reset      so it seemes that the temp fix still works with the latest FW

Congratulations on your discovery, and kudos to you for being brave enough to even try it.  You are the MAN!  I'm sure that there are several grateful users that are thankful to you. 
Have you tried using the 'Power Sweep' function to see if it works on your new hardware unit (with Boot-Loader 1.04)?

[mcinque]

Yes, you are the man!

I wonder if this fix can be excluded with a new firmware or if this cannot be avoided even intentionally.

Of course at the moment there is no verification over the written data on the FRAM,  the question is if this can be implemented only by a new firmware.

What do you think about this?

[Mark]

I think Rigol would lose a lot of customers if they did something like a write+read test on the eeprom to disable options.  Hackability is the number one reason they are so popular in the first place. 


There would probably be a way around it anyway, does anyone have the eeprom image?  Does it contain serial number etc or do we think eeprom images might be interchangeable? 

[mcinque]

Of course the hackability is the main reason Rigol is so popular with his DSAs and DSOs, this is for sure, so I wonder they changed the latest hardware to prevent the riglol hack. Maybe was too simple?

[dadler]

Well, I installed 00.13 on my non-hacked, non-soldered, still-in-trial DSA815-TG, and I can say with complete confidence that the firmware version number on the info screen has changed to 00.13. 

Since two of the five Rigol products I own have been exchanged or sent back to Rigol for warranty issues, I am a bit reluctant to open up my DSA815 and perform the hardware hack. I am also avoiding leaving the unit on (so as to burn it in and ferret out any hardware issues), as I don't want my trial counter ticking down...just in case I do have to resort to the hardware hack.

I wish someone much smarter than me would find a non-invasive hack for the new DSA815 firmwares. I applaud all of you that are trying!

The 10hz RBW is the only option I would actually pay for, and of course you can't buy that option. 

[mcinque]

I wish someone much smarter than me would find a non-invasive hack for the new DSA815 firmwares. I applaud all of you that are trying!

Dadler, why don't you use a little piece of wire wrap to short the pins 7 and 8 pins of U1105 only by twisting it around them (so doing the hack without leaving any trace)?

[dadler]

I have considered that, but would prefer to leave the (easily defeated, I know) tamper seal in place. But when the trial counter gets down further, I'll probably do just that.  Still no 10hz RBW though.

[mcinque]

Hmmm... it seems that the U1105 FRAM keeps also the "power on" preferences, so by enabling the write protect, you can't select a user preset or the staus (last/default) to load at startup (you can, but it won't be saved really).

What any other info can be stored in that small FRAM?

[smgvbest]

I want to compare the dumps of a DSA815-TG that had the keys created with rigup/riglol to a DSA815-TG that rigup/riglol doesnt work on.

That would be interesting. Do you know any specs about what's changed in the hardware to prevent riglol working? I guess it's NOT only a private key matter.

p.s. do you suggest to upgrade to 1.13 or to wait a few more?

And what do you think about the write protect enable trick on the FRAM: theoretically rigol can build an update that checks if the write pin it's soldered or not, for example, writing something during the upgrade and then checking the written value after a restart?

No idea what's changed,  I do know that rigup can not even find the key info in the dump (I did mine over SCPI),   since I'm not a crypto person I'm betting like the MSO1000Z they made a change to the encryption algorithm maybe even the same change and that's where I want to start and for my own education why I would love a dump of a DSA815 that was taken when all this worked.   I've searched the massive I2C thread and maybe I'm missing where someone posted theirs that having that would help me educate myself on how it worked before.

For now the FRAM hack is the only way to keep the features,  I've done it it's not hard and worth it if you want to keep the trials running.
I'm not thinking Rigol will go to that extreme to stop hobbyist.  We're buying equipement and keeping them to some extent in the market.  I'd love to see Rigol just say "if your a hobbyist you can submit a request to enable all features for free" and just make it straight forward.
But I"m sure like IBM thier lawyers tell them no you can't do that.