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| HP E4406A Repair - /dev/ffs I/O Error |
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| sophiecat:
Hi all, I picked up a broken HP E4406A a few months ago at Dayton Hamvention. I have been working on getting it up and running. When I boot it, it eventually gets stuck trying to mount /dev/ffs. I've attached a screenshot. I believe I need a new flash module, but I also recognize the issue could be somewhere else on the CPU/system board. I'm having trouble locating either of these for a halfway-reasonable price. I've also considered doing a board-level repair, but even Googling the part numbers on the flash chips returns nothing of value. Even if I can get the flash memory replaced, I'm not sure how much effort it'll be to re-calibrate everything. It seems like it may be an ordeal. Is this a lost cause? Should I just part it out? I would really prefer getting it working if possible, even if it means making my own flash board. I've been having trouble locating schematics but if anyone has any, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Sophie |
| EggertEnjoyer123:
You could potentially try reflashing the firmware: https://www.keysight.com/us/en/lib/software-detail/computer-software/e4406a-vsa-transmitter-tester-firmware-201154.html |
| PA0PBZ:
Here's the "Service Guide" but it doesn't contain any schematics so it's useless: http://www.bitsavers.org/test_equipment/hp/vxi/E4406_Transmitter_Tester/E4406-90178_E4406A_Service_Guide_200603.pdf Updating the firmware requires a running OS on the VSA, it doesn't look like it gets that far in the boot process. If you download and unpack the firmware files you can see how it is done. |
| squadchannel:
do not understand the internal structure. Fortunately I think the CPU, display and boot ROM are working. Perhaps it failed during the update process and is an incomplete OS. What is the model number of the flash? Have you backed it up? Please back up the contents of the flash first. lucky if the adjustment data is not corrupted. Then you may be able to restore from the firmware update file available from Keysight. There may be a "DFU" mode that is not documented. We do not know. |
| squadchannel:
I have checked the contents of the updater available from keysight. It appears to be controlled via FTP or SSH (?) It seems to update the firmware by controlling it. I don't think it's linux, but it seems to be running shell commands commonly seen in Linux. chmod,chown etc... The data_files folder in the updater is very interesting. There is even what appears to be a way to enable options. can you run the updater anyway? However, it is quite possible that the flash or its peripheral circuits are damaged, as inferred from the IO error. |
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