Is my Siglent SDS 1102CNL worth repairing?

[clh333]

A NOOB, I purchased the scope several years ago to replace an analog scope, used it infrequently and discovered yesterday that it suddenly malfunctioned: 

On power-up the display is dark for several seconds, then I hear a relay click and soon the display shows the "splash" screen for a few seconds, but next instead of a dark background with a reticule display, the screen is almost pure white, except for a small bar of dashes across the lower screen and a series of chirps, 5 or six in a row.  At this point nothing more happens; none of the knobs or buttons produce any change in the display.  Turn it off, wait a few moments, turn it back on and the same thing happens.

As it happens I live near Siglent NA and called the support line today to ask if it could be repaired.  The tech told me there might be a way to "recover" the unit by running a file from the USB port at startup, but that turned out to be misinformation: He called back to say the file didn't exist and neither did parts for repair of the scope (at a cost of $250) so I was SOL.

Siglent published a repair manual for this series (https://siglentna.com/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2017/10/SDS1000CNL_ServiceManual_en.pdf) and I feel that there is a good possibility some passive component has failed, as opposed to the display LCD or driver circuit, but what do I know?  I haven't found much here from people who have experienced this issue before so I thought I would ask:  Is this worth attempting?  Maybe I should just buy a Rigol and be done with it.

What say you?

-CH-

[tautech]

Normal recovery for these older models is to press Math rapidly while booting.
Try several times.
Report result.

[clh333]

After reassembling the chassis I tested in the indicated manner, by pressing the MATH button rapidly as the unit powered up, and the unit booted to its normal display.  After powering off subsequent boots did not require the special technique in order to reach the main display.

Why this malfunction happened is a mystery to me, although it did occur after I tried communicating with the scope from the PC using National Instruments' software.  Equally mysterious is the manner and the efficacy of the fix, and most mysterious of all is why Siglent Support did not suggest it.

All credit to tautech; all credit to eevblog.  Thank you all for your support.

-CH-

[tautech]

https://siglentna.com/operating-tip/oscilloscope-hardware-reset/

[clh333]

I re-established communication with the Siglent EasyScope utility running on a Win10 PC, which dual-boots to Fedora Linux 37.  Is there a similar utility in the Linux world that can operate under Fedora?

Thank you all for your suggestions.

-CH-

[tautech]

I re-established communication with the Siglent EasyScope utility running on a Win10 PC, which dual-boots to Fedora Linux 37.  Is there a similar utility in the Linux world that can operate under Fedora?

Thank you all for your suggestions.

-CH-

App note:
https://siglentna.com/application-note/lxi-tools/
Forum thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/open-source-lxi-tools-v2-0-released/

[clh333]

Thanks to tautech for his suggestions, which I have investigated but encountered problems implementing.  First problem is that the Siglent scope connects to the PC directly through an USB cable, not through a network connection, so LXI (the L stands for LAN) can not be implemented without making the Siglent a network node.  That may be more trouble than it is worth, since the PC it is connected to is dedicated mostly to electronics work and only connects to the outside world through a combination Wi-Fi router and cable modem.  As a matter of policy only a few of the printers and scanners are (locally) networked and none of the PCs. 

A second problem occurred when I installed SNAP and then SNAP-STORE, thinking it was required for LXI installation.  The idea behind SNAP, containerization of installation and of operation, is a sound one, but the current implementation made "automatic" changes to my system that caused other applications to break.  It took me long enough to get a handle on DNF...

-CH-

[tautech]

Thanks to tautech for his suggestions, which I have investigated but encountered problems implementing.  First problem is that the Siglent scope connects to the PC directly through an USB cable, not through a network connection, so LXI (the L stands for LAN) can not be implemented without making the Siglent a network node.

Yeah sorry, overlooked yours an older CNL and not a CNL+ with LAN.

Maybe you only need the USB connectivity drivers in the NIVISA Runtime package which are required when using the Windows based EasyScopeX package Siglent provides for free.

[clh333]

Yes, no LAN but I DO have an RS-232 port...  The NI VISA driver (2023 Q3 version), which I installed yesterday on the Win10 side, required almost 1.5 hours to set up.  Elapsed time involved uninstall of the NI software and then re-installation of the newer version.  And I skipped all the optional installs offered.  Not for the impatient.

As for SNAP, it appears that a reboot was necessary after installing SNAP-STORE, as today Evolution seems to know which way the wind blows once again.  Following on-line installation advice, I had already rebooted twice after installing the daemon, snapd.  I need to understand this application better, and anyway we're getting off thread here.  Enough said.

I will also investigate whether NI has any tools, e.g. drivers, for Linux.

Thanks once again to all for their support.

-CH-

As a followup edit:  lsusb shows the presence of the Siglent scope, but Dolphin file manager does not show the device as part of the system.  This probably means no driver is recognized and installed automatically.  More details on the Siglent USB parameters are (would have attached this but didn't know how) :


Bus 001 Device 007: ID f4ec:ee3a Atten Electronics / Siglent Technologies SDS1102CNL
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0xf4ec Atten Electronics / Siglent Technologies
  idProduct          0xee3a
  bcdDevice            2.00
  iManufacturer           1 Siglent Technologies Co,. Ltd.
  iProduct                2 SDS1102CNL
  iSerial                 3 SDS00002140412
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength       0x0027
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                2mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       254 Application Specific Interface
      bInterfaceSubClass      3 Test and Measurement
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 TMC
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x84  EP 4 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0002  1x 2 bytes
        bInterval               1
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0001
  Self Powered

[tautech]

Yes, no LAN but I DO have an RS-232 port... 

Ah yes, a long time since we had the early CNL models.....

Dug through my archives and found some old documentation you might find helpful, as attached.

Thanks once again to all for their support.

These models are discontinued/updated so official support is no longer and finding staff that has experience with these would be impossible.
I do what I can to help anyone.

[clh333]

Thank you for the manuals, especially the programming manual: had no idea it existed.

-CH-

[clh333]

Is there a similar utility in the Linux world that can operate under Fedora?

I was unsuccessful in finding a Linux utility specific to Fedora among the NI software.  However, I did find, install and successfully execute sigrok (a cli utility) and pulseview (corresponding GUI) which, once installed, identified and communicated with the Siglent scope through the USB cable.  Dolphin still does not list the scope as a system device, however.

In short, it is possible.  (https://sigrok.org/wiki/Linux)

-CH-