HP 8711C Firmware

[wolfg]

While trying to archive, I accidentally damaged the firmware flash (AM28F020) of my Hp8711C.
Its bricked now, I would be grateful for a working copy to revive....

[sarnau]

I've reverse engineered part of the firmware and put everything on Github, this includes the bootROM, that said: you should modify the serial number and MAC address to keep it clean.

https://github.com/sarnau/HP-8711C-RF-Network-Analyzer

[sarnau]

Oh, forgot to mention: I've also reverse engineered the way the option keyword is generated, so you can enabled IBASIC, LAN and Fault/SRL right from the UI without opening the device.

If you are really brave, you can reset the serial number that way as well. Or even convert it into an 8730A – I have so far tried neither of these.

[sarnau]

I found a way to convert a 8711C to a 8712C (or a 8713C to a 8714C) without even opening the unit. It abuses the LAN Firmware update feature in the BootROM and I created a 64 byte patch, which is uploaded to RAM, it reads the OC (option code), enables all the features and calls the internal BootROM debugger to write the licenses back out. It now only takes a few seconds.

A complete write-up is part of the GitHub Repo:

https://github.com/sarnau/HP-8711C-RF-Network-Analyzer