Tek CSA7404/TDS7000 repair project (Upgraded memory/CPU)

[CNsam]

I checked the manual, and the error with '.A' is Walk a one through NVRAM memory location. Cache is disabled. Walk a one through bus XPC_ISA_D. I don't understand what bus XPC_ISA_D is.

[coromonadalix]

have you checked the nvram state,  what model do you have ?  show us photos 

mine died, old powercap model  and gave the same symptoms, stalled on tekscope boot

you need to have the power pc console port logs  to know where it stalls,  sure the led display helps  but ...  you may need to reconfigure the nvram ...

some said it died in some case, battery  or the memory chip itself, in our tds 7254b  it's the more modern dip version,  we bought 2x of them, and put them on ic socket, and redo the nvram configs

but on a 7404, the same story happened   but i'm in the progress or re installing everything, the Radisys SU810 mobo is very picky to the extreme, im waiting for original windows disks, does not accept burned ones ??

[CNsam]

Thank you very much for your reply, I will try to check NVRAM.
I bought the DS9034PCX and the original model was a DS9034PC .
This photo is my original NVRAM.

[CNsam]

When configuring NVRAM, does the motherboard need to be powered on?

[coromonadalix]

ah that  su cker  loll  i have this one who died on me,  i cobled up  an cr2032 coin cell socket further away and soldered wires into this nvram, you see the small rectangle notch on the top near the brown nlx connector,  with an small flat screw driver you can pop the top off and see the insides

you will be able to check the battery voltage BUT DOING SO FOR SURE THE NVRAM CONTENTS WILL DIE if it is not already dead
and i hope the nvram is still good,  some claimed defectives ones ...

and yes to reprogram it  you need to power the scope

have an rs232 access thru a terminal software and the power pc board and redo some configs

on the 7404 i have "j790 markings" 10 pins idc connector normally found on the power pc board edge and i plugged an rs232 cable and a rs232 usb adapter

[CNsam]

thank you for your reply!
  I'll put in a new battery and do the NVRAM configuration on Monday.
Thank you again!

[charlyd]

i would replace your NVram i had one which looked good still stange errors af swap errors gone.  even better place a FRAM.

[charlyd]

some familiar with this error, bad AG ?

acqEngVerifyTrigInfo: bad AG! demux = 2

[CNsam]

I successfully connected the instrument! ! ! ! ! ! But I can't send the command. Can anyone tell me how to do this?
The picture is the information after I connected to the machine. The NVRAM looks like it has died.

[coromonadalix]

check the 1st page of this thread

while the countdown goes to zero,  not after,   you have to stop it while pressing a keyboatd key / any key

and go like tin did

type "c"  it will enter the commands, when pressing enter, it will go down 1 line by 1 line, if you do a mistake,  you can redo them again, it will cycle all the way down and begin anew

[CNsam]

I can't send any commands like "?" "c" .I don't know how to solve this problem. Yesterday's picture was just the machine booting up for self-test....

[CNsam]

I tried several times and didn't see the countdown. I think configuring NVRAM is too difficult for me.

[CNsam]

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

romPost: MPC106  Walking-one passed.

romPost: MPC106 configuration passed.

romPost: First PCI access  passed.

romPost: PC87560 Walking-one passed.

romPost: PC87560 configuration passed.

romPost: DEC21554 configuration passed.


romPost: PERFORMING ROM CHECKSUM TEST...

romPost: ROM checksum passed.


romPost: PERFORMING DRAM CELL TEST...

romPost: Enabling data cache...
romPost: Data cache enabled.
romPost: Enabling instruction cache...
romPost: Instruction cache enabled.

romPost: DRAM Cell test passed.
romPost: Disabling data Cache...
romPost: Data cache disabled.
romPost: Disabling instruction cache...
romPost: Instruction cache disabled.

romPost: PERFORMING DRAM MARCH TEST WITH CACHE OFF...
romPost: Writing address to each *address...
romPost: Reading address from each *address...
romPost: DRAM march test passed...

romPost: PERFORMING DRAM MARCH TEST WITH CACHE ON...

romPost: Enabling data cache...
romPost: Data cache enabled.
romPost: Enabling instruction cache...
romPost: Instruction cache enabled.
romPost: Writing address to each *address...
romPost: Reading address from each *address...
romPost: DRAM march test passed...

romPost: PERFORMING DRAM WALKING-ONE  TEST...

romPost: DRAM Walking-one test passed.

romPost: PERFORMING NV-MEMORY WALKING-ONE  TEST...

Expected Value: 0x00000001
Actuall Value: 0x00000000
Location: 0xFD0E0000
romPost: NV-MEMORY Walking-one test failed.


The above is all the contents of the machine self-test

[Jwalling]

You won't be able to communicate with the scope until you replace the bad NVRAM. Communication isn't possible till the early self test passes.

[CNsam]

oh!!! Thank you very much! ! !

[coromonadalix]

Managed to get a tds7404 running, Radisys Su810 crap  Mobo, 256mb of ram
I had to buy 2x hdd,  i put one as the cd-rom substitute with all the needed stuff in it

Put an Celeron 1.1Ghz  instead of the lousy 566 Mhz one, waiting for more ram

Installed win98se  with tekscope 2.55  it works, but i have spc errors to iron out

EDIT  now on Win Me and Tekscope v2.53

Made an raw image backup of win98se no tek installation(s)

This is what works for me in the nvram content

boot device          : sm
processor number     : 0
host name            : host
file name            : c:\vxBoot\vxWorks.st
inet on ethernet (e) : 192.168.0.1:ffffff00
inet on backplane (b): 192.168.0.2:ffffff00
host inet (h)        : 192.168.0.1
gateway inet (g)     : 192.168.0.2
user (u)             : anonymous
ftp password (pw)    : anonymous
flags (f)            : 0x1000
target name (tn)     : tds7000 -----> i've been told to keep it like this, if not, tekscope does'nt save some  settings ??
startup script (s)   : c:\vxBoot\topscript.hw
other (o)            : 0x0

Still have doubts on the flags and other sections, 

if i put something else in the flag like 0x1008, tekscope stalls
if i change other setting like 0x1000  tekscope starts but no traces of ch1 ch2 .....

For those who have low brightness on the lcd,   you have to get the right chips tech 9000 drivers, in the advanced section you have gamma correction  ...


I have searched tons of drivers and all i could find on xdev's site and help from others, all the iso's, windows installs  etc ...
had to install unofficial usb drivers packages to get some usb keys to work, very picky on brand or storage sizes.

The touch screen is working as an HID device, i can not calibrate it ?? (slight offset, but workable)    i have to dismantle the scope to check  which company did the touchscreen interface on COM2   not sure i want to go there ...

Win ME  All seems to work, divers to find, mostly the video ones, the chip and tech 9000 is very important in my case, if not i got garbled traces, and low brightness (gamma set at 2.0) attached here, picky on usb drives brands and sizes

Win2k  I got  hw resource conflict between the pcmcia slots and the lan interface (was discussed here)  and Tekscope 2.5.3 or 2.5.5 would not give scope traces on the screen

XP Sp3  Stuck in a continuous boot loop an minus 39 minutes,  absolutely can't finish the setup ?? even upgrading from Win ME or Win2k, I wanted to read the vid's and pid's of the hardware   

Win7 as an extreme measure,  not even sure that will work  loll  NOT

-----

Will try  with an ordered motherboard based on intel 815 from a gateway e-3400  ... well see,  for sure the motherboard metal frame need some mods, one more hole for an audio connector, and maybe one db9 port


EDIT  Well its a pretty tight fit in length, the metal frame is not compatible for sure,  the pcb is longer than the Radisys one, and sadly    the scope doesn't want to power up, the led power button turn red, and this one would accept an 1.4Ghz Tualatin 

Even on NLX standards, something must be missing for the gateway, maybe a supply line ??  it was a very low cost purchase 

-----

Good infos here :  https://github.com/exit-failure/tds7000/blob/main/NVRAM/README.md


thks to this thread
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/boot-problem-on-tektronix-tds7404-scope/

to reformat some eeprom ...  cleared some problems

all spc pass and self cal pass    oooofffffffffffffffff   what a ride

[CNsam]

Copyright 1984-1996  Wind River Systems, Inc.





CPU: Tektronix HPP - PowerPC 740
Version: 5.3.1
BSP version: 1.0.3.0
Creation date: Jun 28 2000, 16:52:12




Press any key to stop auto-boot...
 0
auto-booting...




There's no way I can make it stop! what should I do!

[coromonadalix]

have you read : https://github.com/exit-failure/tds7000/blob/main/NVRAM/README.md   ?

are your terminal software properly configured ?   i had to remove "lochal echo" in my terminal it was messing with communications

[CNsam]

i think the terminal software is properly configured. I'll try to find local echo and delete it.
thank you for your reply.

[CNsam]

The software I use is tera term and I have tried terminal and hterm, but they have no effect.
Do I need to use other software to communicate?

[coromonadalix]

i used multi terminal v1.0.2  because it can open multiple com ports

here's my screenshot  i had to correct the target name from a member advise

the black dot at the end is generated by the software (dont care)

with this one you type on the keyboard directly  ....  not like termite or others who need you to type commands in a specified section

[CNsam]

Thanks! I'll give it a try!

[CNsam]

Hey!! I successfully connected the instrument! But I've encountered a new problem. I want to modify the data in the previous row, what should I do?

[coromonadalix]

all the infos is given on the first pages of this thread   ... 

go back and please read carefully    everything is there

[CNsam]

I tried to learn linux instructions for a few days, but it didn't work. .