The purpose of this thread is to help/support people with their broken Rigol DS1052E scope.
The most common problem is totally dead scope after unsuccessful firmware "downgrade/upgrade". The only way to recover it is to reprogramm the flash chip (Spansion S29GL064N90TFI04) either via BlackFins's JTAG interface or in external programmer. There is very important part inside the flash with the factory calibration data, which is unique to every unit. These data has to be preserved in a new flash image for proper operation.
Second common issue is partially working scope, which doesn't shows signals correctly after a 100MHz patch (see story of shafri and others for details). These problems are caused by corrupted factory calibraion data which may get corrupted probably when patching via serial cable (especially if you accidentally hit the ENTER instead of sending correct <LF> char). This is the reason, why I strongly recommend:
DO NOT USE SERIAL CABLE!Some people ask me about how to hack scope HW version "xy", FW version "xx.xx.xx". The fact is, that different firmware supports different HW version, so there is
always some risk when you are running the FW that doesn't support your HW version. Please don't ask me if it's safe to downgrade to FW 02.02, if you have HW version "57" or "58" - I don't know
Here's the table which FW supports which HW. Higher FW supports all older HW versions.
HW version | FW version |
58 | 00.02.04.01.00 |
57 | 00.02.04.00.03 |
07 | 00.02.02.02.00 |
WARNING: Do not experiment with undocumented SCPI commands especially if you don't know the correct syntax. You can corrupt or lost some of imortant calibraion data!
Repair history repair date | model | (nick)name | details |
08/28/2010 | DS1052E | lynx / SE | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
10/08/2010 | DS1052E | dimlow / UK | corrupted calibration data (same as shafri: problem description) |
10/08/2010 | DS1052E | shafri (Mechatrommer) | corrupted calibration data (problem description) |
09/20/2010 | DS1052E | jasper / US | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
09/26/2010 | DS1052E | Ben / AU | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
10/26/2010 | DS1052E | Viktor / BY | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
10/27/2010 | DS1052E | Giovambattista / IT | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
11/02/2010 | DS1052E | mainer / AT | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
11/03/2010 | DS1052E | Larry / US | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
11/22/2010 | DS1052E | Peter / AU | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
11/23/2010 | DS1052E | teixeluis | corrupted calibration data (problem description) |
01/03/2011 | DS1102E | Mohammad / IR | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
02/02/2011 | DS1052E | Chris / US | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
02/03/2011 | DS1052E | Mel / UK | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
02/06/2011 | DS1102E | Marlon / US | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
02/11/2011 | DS1052E | nasser32 | corrupted calibration data (same as shafri: problem description) |
02/21/2011 | DS1052E | Brian/ US | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
03/09/2011 | DS1052E | David / AU | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
04/28/2011 | DS1052E | Denis / RU | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
05/05/2011 | DS1052E | Hans / NL | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
06/01/2011 | DS1052D | Rob / NL | corrupted calibration data |
06/29/2011 | DS1052E | Andres / ES | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
10/01/2011 | DS1052E | Ray / UK | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
10/16/2011 | DS1052E | Jeremy / AU | corrupted calibration data |
10/17/2011 | DS1052E | Doug / US | corrupted calibration data |
11/24/2011 | DS1052E | Aleksandr / RU | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
04/10/2012 | DS1052E | Rob / UK | corrupted calibration data |
... |
02/11/2019 | DS1052E | Bruzzel / DE | wrong firmware flashed |
02/17/2019 | DS1042C | Taras / UA | bricked after unsuccessful FW upgrade |
02/21/2019 | DS1302CA | ivi_yak / UA | wrong firmware flashed |
Well Drieg has certainly got my hopes up, yesterday i required a scope, so i used my Uni-T UT81B, but it didn't quite meet my needs. Cant look at a 20Mhz signal with a 10Mhz Scope! BTW i love this little meter for when im poking about with micro controllers on a breadboard. I guess a should post my views of it in the UT81B thread.
Drieg, you have really helped me out! I got the chip back yesterday and I think I soldered it back in record time. I couldn't wait to assemble to scope properly and left the power supply hanging off of the table. Guess what, the scope is alive again!! Thank you!!
To everyone else. my scope was broken when I attempted to upgrade the firmware. I Upgraded, rebooted, and them bam... nothing. Blank. I will admit we had a few beers as an old friend was in town so I was sure that somehow I had put the wrong image on the flash drive. I checked and rechecked but all seemed in order. Its not even my scope so it was somewhat embarrassing to do this in front of a bunch of people including the owner of the scope and have to say "Oh sorry... guess you don't have a scope anymore!".
After trying unsuccessfully for several months with a blackfin programmer and a half-built homebrew programmer in VHDL I met Drieg and I sent my poor blank spansion flash chip off to go see Europe and start a new life there. After becoming sufficiently cultured it crossed the Atlantic once more (I believe that it was quite homesick) and it is perfect working condition! Thanks so much Drieg! I am lucky that the factory calibration data was not erased
-Nebarnix
Second common issue is partially working scope, which doesn't shows signals correctly after a 100MHz patch (see story of shafri and others for details). These problems are caused by corrupted factory calibraion data which may get corrupted probably when patching via serial cable (especially if you accidentally hit the ENTER instead of sending correct <LF> char). Currently I'm working on a solution how to correct these data without the need of even opening the scope;)
Would that include a square wave frome a function generator that appeared as a sine wave on the rigol scope. I didn't know what to think. I am still not sure if it was the function generator or the scope as the scope seems okay... I did run the recalibration tool a few times because I also had the issue of the vertical system being wierd at the 5volt per division mark. It was about a volt below ground with nothing connected and seemed to be the worst at the 5volt per division area. After recalibrating it again it seems okay.... I am not sure if my scope is shoddy now or not...
i deleted my previous comment, its nonsense!
pls keep this thread clean guys!
What about all other threads in this forum, shafri?
Maybe read the calibration data, keep a backup in a safe place, and just try randomly changing values to see what they do? Not much to lose if it's already unusable.
I Just thought id bump this tread as Drieg has updated his first post asking for help. He needs that data for my scope and id love to get it fixed, so please if you have one of the scopes get in contact.
Like I said in the other thread (
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=553.msg18626#msg18626), this was the situation I was in:
- Came with firmware 2.04 SP1
- Has been downgraded to firmware 2.02 SP2 for changing the model number
- Exhibits repetitive noise at high sampling rates after self calibration
- Cannot be upgraded to 2.04 SP1 (because the firmware isn't available to the public yet)
Although it doesn't provide you with an unusable scope, it is kind of annoying.
Like I said in the other thread (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=553.msg18626#msg18626), drieg has a way to fix your scope if you have one that:
- Came with firmware 2.04 SP1
- Has been downgraded to firmware 2.02 SP2 for changing the model number
- Exhibits repetitive noise at high sampling rates after self calibration
- Cannot be upgraded to 2.04 SP1 (because the firmware isn't available to the public yet)
Just post your problem on this thread and drieg or someone else may be able to assist you.
I've got the same issue as above, and would love to get it fixed. I've tried asking Rigol for the 2.04 SP1 firmware no reply as of yet. Serial starts with DS1ED123, I would appreciate any help given. Thanks
I have a DS1ED121xxxxxx scope , if you ever need info from that serial range, let me know.
Drieg has helped me endlessly in my quest to fix my CRO. We have not got there currently ( but that's totally through my lack of skills).
I hope one day i get to buy him a beer and thank him in person because he has helped me so much with advice and personal time and effort. Its so nice to see that there is genuinely fantastic people out there.
If i manage to get it working again i will name thee "Driegol 1053E enhanced"
Yep drieg is one of the good guys. Im hoping to have my scope sorted soon. Without him id be stuck with this dead scope for ever.
Dear drieg at I too have spoiled Rigol DS1052E by attempt to change firmware with E on D.
Write please in detail how to restore firmware by a simple way.
At inclusion the white screen. Whether necessarily to take a microcircuit?
Send if it is possible firmware for the chip
I live in Russia, English I know poorly, excuse.
wolend1@mail.ru
Dear drieg I have bought in China (mail) Rigol DS1052E
He well worked.
I have read http: // embedders.org/content/kak-iz-rigol-ds10 52e-sdelat-rigol-ds1102e and has made it.
It has turned out. He well worked. (large difference has not noticed except for 2 n?/d and DS1052E - DS1102E)
Then I have tried to change firmware DS1052D in DS1052E through WINHEX and to stitch to her.
It has turned out. He well worked. (nothing has changed except for DS1102E - DS1052D) (LA has not appeared:))
Then I have tried to replace firmware from another (Not Rigol) I any more do not remember what, it seems and to stitch it(him).
The size firmware was 6 mbytes (on Rigol 4 mbytes)
Has failed.
?
?? has passed, I have switched off
?? and has switched on it(him) the simply light screen has appeared. There is no reaction to buttons.
@Shafi
Yes. Drieg has sent me the fix for my scope, i have tested it and it seems to be working. I still need to test some more. I did start some further tests and i was going to test it against my 400Mhz HP54502A scope, but when i turned on my old reliable, she is no longer reliable. It popped up with Calibration Memory checksum error. So i spent quite a few hours trying to recalibrate it and failing, it seems that the old HP is dead now
Anyway one thing i noticed is that the rigol, when presented with the same waveform on each channel gives different voltage levels. They differ by about .2 Volts. Although the scope does seem to be working, i think accuracy has been lost in the vertical axis.
Further tests and I will report back.
@wolen
I can help you, but you have to desolder the flash chip and send it to me for reprogramming. If you don't have a good hot air rework station around or you are not skilled or brave enough to do it, you can also send me the whole mainboard. PM sent.
Large thanks Dear Drieg!
I shall send by mail you mine mainboard.
I hope that mine Rigol DS1052E will work.
my rigol is fixed now. the vertical offsets that i was report about?... its now gone! my rigol is working 100% fine right now. i'm glad that i have my scope back. Thanx Drieg!
Nice to hear that
now anyone can more freely breathe if they brick their scope
Great! Thanks to Drieg, there is hope! A great start to a full recovery for bricked scopes.
Why is this thread a thumbs down? Its probably the only published solution for a failed hack.
Big Thanks to Drieg, Im satisfied that my scope is now working within spec, Another great fix, Your the man,
Thanks to Drieg i now (once again) have a scope.... not only a scope but a 100MHz scope.
I totally bricked it, did a poor job of de-soldering the chip ( i thought i would give him a challenge) he fixed the chip however due to my pin abuse i did not managed to re-solder it.
Drieg then went out of his way to re-program another chip for me and send it around the world to Aus and shazam it now works. The amount of effort and advice he has given me is amazing i will be forever in debt of his kindness, the Driegol 1052E enhanced now lives!
Thank you so much!
Like others, i have bricked my DS1052E trying to downgrade the firmware from 02.04.01.02 to 02.02.02
What happens if i send back it to the seller for repairing, my scope is on warranty.
If it's a bad idea i will send the board to you Drieg.
(sorry for my english i am italian)
Thanks drieg for the great job
I would assume performing hacks like this will void any warranty so do it at your own risk and preferably after the warranty period has expired otherwise you have to take responsibility for repairing it.
I would assume performing hacks like this will void any warranty so do it at your own risk and preferably after the warranty period has expired otherwise you have to take responsibility for repairing it.
i dont think sending legitimate RS232/USB command will void the warranty. for me, it shouldnt. even if we feed with random data, the scope should be well protected from that, as proven by Drieg sometime ago, RS232 comm is not so reliable, so meaning the Rigol design got flaw.