Rohde&Schwarz FSP HDD defect

[Jörg]

Hello folks.
I have a first generation R&S FSP spectrum analyzer. That means with Windows NT.
Although the FSP has only had 150 operating hours, the HDD suddenly failed when it was switched on.
It is also no longer read correctly on a PC. Only the hard drive type is in the Windows Device Manager.
I tried to use another HDD with the Win NT image from KO4BB. Unfortunately it does not work.
Windows NT starts correctly. The R&S FSP application starts and stops.
The error message "Undefined IF board type frontend Load SDF Data (CDS_ID: 11402) - Srceenshot in the appendix appears.

The other ISO image on this page is the newer XP version. The OS start, aborts immediately with an error message. (attached screenshot with blue screen)
Does anyone have a good idea if there is another trustworthy source for a working Win NT image?  Thanks Jörg

[DaJMasta]

Do they have the firmware available for download?  These instruments will generally accept a standard Windows installation, so I'd probably just slap XP on it then install the latest firmware from R&S.  The shipped OSes are streamlined for the OEM, but the hardware is standard PC stuff built into a R&S board, and that type of installation will let the OS auto-configure for your hardware.

[max-bit]

After all, R&S is a German company
Write to them, they will not help the compatriot? 

And all devices (drivers) are installed?
Here are all descriptions of drivers etc ... :
https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/firmware/fsp/

[Jörg]

Unfortunately, R&S couldn't help me well.
An HDD image is not available there.
I could still buy the 6 GB HDD as a spare part, but for the price of two current Samsung 2TB SSDs. It is very painful.

[DaJMasta]

Unfortunately, R&S couldn't help me well.
An HDD image is not available there.
I could still buy the 6 GB HDD as a spare part, but for the price of two current Samsung 2TB SSDs. It is very painful.

And as I said initially, it is not likely that you need an image, a recovery disk, or even to shell out for the ancient drive.

Get a reasonable PATA drive (if that's the interface), I've used inexpensive 16-32GB SSDs, install a normal copy of Windows XP, then download and install their firmware package.  Their PC environment instruments from this vintage (and I think most things later) work this way, the calibration and serial keys are stored on the boards themselves, the CPU board is a custom one with a standard PC architecture, and you can recover the PC portion with a standard OS, install their firmware package, and it often takes care of the rest.

[Kosmic]

Got a similar problem recently on a FSP 7. The hard drive was completely dead.

The WinNT image you can find on KO4BB worked for me. (http://ftb.ko4bb.com/getsimple/index.php?id=download&file=Rohde_Schwarz/Rohde_Schwarz_FSP/Rohde_Schwarz_FSP_Spectrum_Analyzer_Disk_Image_NT4_2.80SP3.zip).

I only had a small problem when transferring the image to the hard drive. It was made with Acronis true image, but you need a older version (ex 2016) since the drive must be configured for MBR and not the newer GPD format. By default, the recent version of Acronis will auto convert to GPD and thus not working on the Spectrum Analyzer.

After that I think I just did a hardreset (removed the MB battery) and booted the spectrum analyzer.

For the hard drive, I tried different PATA to Sata adapters with no luck. I ended up using a old 40Gig PATA drive I had.

On a similar note, does anybody know how to get in the bios ? the usual "del" or "f2" doesn't seem to work on the FSP.

[Kosmic]

Unfortunately, R&S couldn't help me well.
An HDD image is not available there.
I could still buy the 6 GB HDD as a spare part, but for the price of two current Samsung 2TB SSDs. It is very painful.

And as I said initially, it is not likely that you need an image, a recovery disk, or even to shell out for the ancient drive.

Get a reasonable PATA drive (if that's the interface), I've used inexpensive 16-32GB SSDs, install a normal copy of Windows XP, then download and install their firmware package.  Their PC environment instruments from this vintage (and I think most things later) work this way, the calibration and serial keys are stored on the boards themselves, the CPU board is a custom one with a standard PC architecture, and you can recover the PC portion with a standard OS, install their firmware package, and it often takes care of the rest.

On a different thread someone was saying that the software you can find on Rohde & Schwarz website are missing some .dll. They apparently only can be used to upgrade and it's not enough for a clean install.

On my side I didn't really tried and simply used the drive image I found.

[Kosmic]

Windows NT starts correctly. The R&S FSP application starts and stops.
The error message "Undefined IF board type frontend Load SDF Data (CDS_ID: 11402) - Srceenshot in the appendix appears.

I would try to remove the IF board to see if the instrument start correctly. If it's the case, inspect the IF board, something is probably broken around the eeprom circuit.

[Jörg]

Hello .
Good news from me. A new attempt with the NT image of K04BB is successful.
After following the instructions in the service manual, my FSP is working properly again.
In a roundabout way, the new installation of Win XP also worked.
But I did not manage to install the R&S analyzer software correctly on it.
But this is not a problem because the Win NT image is now working again.
Many greetings

[Jörg]

On a similar note, does anybody know how to get in the bios ? the usual "del" or "f2" doesn't seem to work on the FSP.

Press the "SETUP" button after switching on the FSP. Then you get a normal bios.
A changed boot sequence e.g. A / C ... does not remain permanent. If necessary, this must be changed again at the next start.

I replaced the original HDD with a CF card with a CF to PATA adapter. Works wonderfully.

[g7kbr67]

Hi Jörg

I have the same issue as you, my original drive was a flash card and I believe it was a Windows enterprise build. To cut a long story short, I fitted a SATA drive in as this had the two SATA cables which originally went onto a sub board which holds the flash card. 

I tried to install a fresh windows xp onto the SATA drive, this worked but I had a couple of issues with hardware, mainly drivers. I have this link for the complete drive I am sure I tried the NT version but it didn't work.   Believe the other one is a backup using a .rib format?

Spend so much time trying to get this to work, but at the moment its going in the recycling.

Any thoughts?

Regards

Paul

[g7kbr67]

Hi Jorg

I have a FSP40 which had a corrupt flash drive.  I have installed the XP version you talk about from http://www.ko4bb.com/getsimple/index.php?id=manuals&dir=Rohde_Schwarz/Rohde_Schwarz_FSP the iso and installed on a SATA drive.  It boots but get a blue screen.  I see you got the NT version in the end; I have the issue of the tib file.  i don't have the 2016 software to extract the image.

I wonder can you help?

Regards

Paul