Question about Keysight 33622A arb generator. Is this a fault or FW bug?

[analogRF]

I have got a Keysight 33612A that had been upgraded to 120Mhz before. The unit seems to work perfectly fine
and as far as I can tell all functions seem to work properly, however, the LED on the ch1 button
flashes (blinks) every once in a while when that channel is off. To make sure, i set the unit to factory default state
and the LED on ch1 button blinks every once in a while. It's not fast
it take several seconds and sometimes I dont think it is even a periodic thing. There is no output signal when the LED flashes and no relay click
Only the LED flashes.

The unit passes self tests.

Can somebody confirm if they had seen this bug or where I should be looking at? is this indication of an error?

[TheSteve]

I seem to recall a service note about bad front panels with some gens, it may not have been the 336x2 series though. It may also not be related, but I know I've seen something in the past. I assume you're running the newest firmware, if so I'd report it as a bug to Keysight and see what they say.

[analogRF]

yes it's the last firmware
i am not able to find any service note related to these models

[analogRF]

maybe I should downgrade the FW?

[analogRF]

i can now also confirm that even when ch1 is ON, the occasional blink happens but this time LED on ch1 turns OFF>ON and at the same time LED on ch2 button turns ON>OFF
but when ch1 is off, LED on ch2 never blinks. Looks like a FW bug to me....I cannot find any malfunction with the unit itself. But can it be some hardware issue?

[TheSteve]

I wish I could try to replicate but my 33622A won't enable the output due a stupid FPGA authentication error.

[analogRF]

I downgraded FW to 2.02 and 2.00 but the sporadic blinking of the ch1 LED still occurs.
I cannot see a pattern in its blinking if there is any... warming up the unit has no effect either....

[TheSteve]

I bet it is something related to them refreshing the LED status, some glitch or bug. It certainly sounds annoying though and would catch my eye if I had something doing it.

[analogRF]

I bet it is something related to them refreshing the LED status, some glitch or bug. It certainly sounds annoying though and would catch my eye if I had something doing it.

yes it is just annoying...but does not seem to have any effect on the operation...my only concern other than being irritated every time it does this, is that could it be due to some hardware fault (a driver chip or something...) that I can fix. 

[hpw]

yes it is just annoying...but does not seem to have any effect on the operation...my only concern other than being irritated every time it does this, is that could it be due to some hardware fault (a driver chip or something...) that I can fix.

I would ask Keysight support about or even post in the Keysight Forum...

Annoying is also:

- the screen saver that works after 8 HOURS (no other selection possible )
- always on outputs after restart
- random noisy fan
- PLL synchronization to external oscillator (unknown PN added as not in the specification noted)
- save to file, file name & selecting simple chars 

[analogRF]

yes it is just annoying...but does not seem to have any effect on the operation...my only concern other than being irritated every time it does this, is that could it be due to some hardware fault (a driver chip or something...) that I can fix.

I would ask Keysight support about or even post in the Keysight Forum...

Annoying is also:

- the screen saver that works after 8 HOURS (no other selection possible )
- always on outputs after restart
- random noisy fan
- PLL synchronization to external oscillator (unknown PN added as not in the specification noted)
- save to file, file name & selecting simple chars 

#2 is most probably because you power on  in the Last state. You can change it to power on in Default state.
However, I agree that even in Last state they should have turned the output off like my Tektronix AFG does. The FW still needs some work
but it looks like they have stopped producing FW for these 

Fan is ebm papst but yes it is noisy 

but on the other hand, the signal purity blows my mind... THD and harmonic way better than specs in datasheet 


 

[hpw]

@analogRF: but it looks like they have stopped producing FW for these 

Yes, over time SW/FW requires some maintenance! As the stupid 8h screen saver 

@analogRF: Fan is ebm papst but yes it is noisy 

So, as knowing about Papst fan, you may opened the box and could tell about the possible OXCO slot or it is already build in?

@analogRF: but on the other hand, the signal purity blows my mind... THD and harmonic way better than specs in datasheet 

I mean, this gear game out 2014, never would have touch screen and more than 16bit's