Author Topic: Re-enabling options on an Agilent DSO81204A? (Read 14093 times)

swperk · « **on:** January 23, 2018, 11:17:14 pm »

I just acquired an Agilent DSO81204A scope that had a bad power supply (now fixed), and a hard drive that was full of specialty software apps from the previous owner that interacted with the Infiniium scope app and managed to slow the scope to a crawl. According to the serial number tag, the scope originally came with factory installed options 001 (expanded memory) and 003 (serial analysis and mask testing).

I decided that the best way to get the scope to a known good state was a full restore from the hidden restore partition on the hard drive. The restore went well EXCEPT that the two options were no longer activated. I don't have the license keys for them, and Keysight can't seem to locate them either.

What's the best way to get these options reactivated? I really like this scope, and the expanded memory would be very helpful (and I wouldn't mind having the serial analysis and mask testing options either)!

Thanks,
Stan

TheSteve · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2018, 11:56:07 pm »

Ouch, the proper thing to do was to copy off the license files before restoring the scope.

G0HZU · « **Reply #2 on:** January 24, 2018, 01:07:58 am »

Quote

I don't have the license keys for them, and Keysight can't seem to locate them either.

I would have expected that Keysight would be able to regenerate your option keys based on your model and serial number.
Do you know the full serial number of the scope? If so what is it?

Quote

Ouch, the proper thing to do was to copy off the license files before restoring the scope.

I think the licence file will be (was) in a hidden folder so to find it I think you have to alter the folder options to allow them to be viewed and copied. But I guess it's too late now.

But post up the serial number anyway if that is OK.

swperk · « **Reply #3 on:** January 24, 2018, 03:30:02 am »

s/n MY44000238

The service manual said the scope would be restored to its original condition, so I assumed that since the options were factory installed they would survive a hard drive restore. Guess they don't!

Anyway, all is fine now. A Keysight engineer told me that I might find a factory label on the back of the scope with the license keys and indeed I did. Thank goodness the label survived the hard drive restore!

On a related note, since this scope is well out of support by Keysight, is there any way to enable more of the options?

G0HZU · « **Reply #4 on:** January 24, 2018, 11:40:40 pm »

That was a lucky break

Did you have to type in a (12 digit?) key for each option?

If so, can you post up one of the 12 digit keys? It will only work on your scope so I guess it's OK to do this. Just one key would be interesting to see and you don't have to say which option it enables.

swperk · « **Reply #5 on:** January 25, 2018, 01:43:02 am »

The two license keys are:

002-189B75364D9C and
CLK-36280F2C1F4A

When I keyed in just the 12 characters after the hyphen, it was rejected as invalid. I had to key in the whole string to activate each license.

Regards,
Stan

G0HZU · « **Reply #6 on:** January 26, 2018, 01:00:12 pm »

Those numbers don't seem to behave as I expect.
If you click on the help menu tab and click 'About Infiniium' what does it show for the model number at the top of the pop up window?

What does it show for the Option ID Number in the same help window?

Also, what SW version are you using? 5.71?

swperk · « **Reply #7 on:** January 26, 2018, 10:03:29 pm »

The model number is DSO81204A
The serial number is MY44000238
The Option ID number is 204AMY44000238
The SW version is 5.71.0000

Hope this helps you make sense of things!
Stan

G0HZU · « **Reply #8 on:** January 26, 2018, 10:35:21 pm »

Not really... those were the numbers I was expecting to see.

I managed to write licence files for a DSO80404B a while back and converted it from a 4GHz scope to 12GHz and this was proved with a >12GHz sig gen. But I didn't do it via the GUI keypad system. I bypassed the GUI and just wrote the raw licence file instead. So maybe this is why I can't make sense of your front panel nnn-nnnnnnnnnnnn numbers.

There is a dat file and I recall that it is in the (hidden) scope\bin folder but I think I know what text it will contain. This file gets created after you type in your keycode. But I did all this a year or so ago and I only had access to the scope for a short time.

G0HZU · « **Reply #9 on:** January 26, 2018, 10:51:44 pm »

I had a try at generating a keypad/GUI code but I can't test it and I don't know how to generate the correct 3 digits at the start.

But maybe try this:

EZJ-6C92E6EC3270

or maybe it could be:
EZA-6C92E6EC3270

I don't expect it to work because I can't generate your current keycodes correctly. I'm missing a trick somewhere...

swperk · « **Reply #10 on:** January 26, 2018, 11:41:46 pm »

Well, I tried your key (both with and without the prefix) and as you predicted, it didn't work. Do you have any other ideas? Is there any other information you need from me or anything else you'd like me to try?

Thanks,
Stan

G0HZU · « **Reply #11 on:** January 26, 2018, 11:44:14 pm »

Try posting up the contents of the license.dat file? I think this is a hidden file/folder in scope\bin?

It might show something new/useful?

swperk · « **Reply #12 on:** January 27, 2018, 05:07:07 am »

Here are the contents of the license.dat file:

FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C
FEATURE clock agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=36280F2C1F4A
FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C

Is this what you thought it would show?

Stan

swperk · « **Reply #13 on:** January 27, 2018, 06:05:07 am »

Interesting development: When I first tried your license keys I must have mistyped the second one, because when I tried it again it worked, and now I have EZJIT Plus!

Any chance of getting Option 005 (Noise reduction and bandwidth extension to 13 GHz)?

Thanks very much!
Stan

G0HZU · « **Reply #14 on:** January 27, 2018, 11:10:03 am »

Quote

and now I have EZJIT Plus!

Curiouser and curiouser...

I was trying for EZJIT but not the plus version. I think what is happening here is that I'm generating valid keys but I'm not quite getting the one I asked for.

Can you post up your latest License.dat file?

I don't know how to ask for option 005 (Noise reduction and bandwidth extension to 13 GHz) because I don't know the correct short 3 digit code for it. I can guess it but we could be here for ages until I get the right one. Probably best to give me your latest dat file and see if I can make sense of where I'm going wrong in the code generation.

G0HZU · « **Reply #15 on:** January 27, 2018, 11:15:27 am »

Quote

Here are the contents of the license.dat file:

FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C
FEATURE clock agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=36280F2C1F4A
FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C

Is this what you thought it would show?

You've got a duplicate entry for the memory option. Maybe you typed it in twice with the option keypad system? Otherwise, it kind of makes sense but I think I need time to work a few things out.

swperk · « **Reply #16 on:** January 27, 2018, 01:38:09 pm »

Yes, I did enter the memory option key twice. I was experimenting using the key both with and without the three-character prefix. Anyway, here are the latest license.dat file contents:

FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C
FEATURE clock agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=36280F2C1F4A
FEATURE 54857_memory agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=189B75364D9C
FEATURE ezjit agilent 1.0 permanent uncounted \
   HOSTID=VDH=204AMY44000238 SIGN=6C92E6EC3270

Just a thought: How about generating just the 12-character license key for Option 005 and then editing it into the license.dat file? The only difference between each of the lines (other than the actual key) is the descriptor. I wonder how critical it is to have the exact descriptor in the license file? Maybe trying a few well-reasoned guesses (e.g., "noise" or "bandwidth")?

G0HZU · « **Reply #17 on:** January 27, 2018, 02:30:29 pm »

I really need a bit of time to work out how the system works. You can see from your dat file that I was trying for ezjit yet it appears to unlock ezjit plus instead? The 12 digit code is a bit like an compressed/encrypted recipe for a cake and it can be unravelled to describe the ingredients that include the option, the scope model and S/N and expiry date etc etc.

Note that I'm fishing around inside a huge windows PE file to decrypt this stuff and their code is riddled with options. Some look to be hidden options and last year when I unlocked 'everything' on the 80404B scope, the list of enabled options was so long it was way, way too long for the options window on the scope display to cope with. But I don't know how many of them were actually valid for that scope model. Also there appears to be various ways to describe each option and it could be that you have to get the correct descriptor for a certain model.

There are dozens of bandwidth related descriptors in their options code so your best hope is to find someone who already has option 005 and report back?

swperk · « **Reply #18 on:** January 27, 2018, 02:48:43 pm »

I knew it wasn't likely to be a straightforward process! I will ask around and see if anyone has an Option 005 scope who might be willing to share the particulars, including the license.dat file. In the meantime, I am VERY thankful to you for all of the help you've given me on this. I'm starting to understand the process a bit better now, but I clearly have a long way to go to get anywhere close to your level!

G0HZU · « **Reply #19 on:** January 27, 2018, 09:04:05 pm »

I did some digging in the code and found a noise only option and this may be option 005?

edit: probably best to wait until you can prove this is the right option for your model number, but it appears to use noise as the feature. But I can't be certain.

I'm still struggling a bit but I did also manage to finally replicate your original factory codes on the back of your scope. So some things are making more sense. The other option I found was the low speed serial option for SPI and I2C etc. Do you already have this included in the high speed option?

swperk · « **Reply #20 on:** January 28, 2018, 01:29:33 am »

Sounds like you're making good progress! I didn't see an option for low speed serial in the options list I got from Agilent/Keysight. Right now the scope is down while I clone the hard drive to an SSD, but once it's all put back together I'll let you know if the high-speed also does low-speed (I assume it would, but might as well make sure). Thanks!

swperk · « **Reply #21 on:** January 28, 2018, 04:51:06 pm »

Turns out that low speed serial data analysis for I2C and SPI requires a separate license (option 021, or N5391A). Reading between the lines, there may also be another license for FlexRay and CAN (N5402A). Does this fit with what you've found?

swperk · « **Reply #22 on:** January 28, 2018, 06:45:54 pm »

That being said, this info comes from the built-in help file (which may be the exact same file on all of the Infiniium scopes of this vintage running Version 5.xx software), so certain features, options, etc. that it mentions might not be available on my particular scope. But it would be fun to find out!

G0HZU · « **Reply #23 on:** January 28, 2018, 07:18:40 pm »

I looked up how much these old/obsolete scopes cost (used prices

) and maybe it's best to play safe(r) and stick to keypad codes! It's up to you if you want to try the code below but it 'might' unlock the low speed serial option on your scope.

Type it carefully and double check every digit before you hit the install button

LSS-35162C869A44

swperk · « **Reply #24 on:** January 28, 2018, 09:15:11 pm »

Well, whatever you're doing, keep it up! Worked like a charm and now the startup splash screen shows "Memory, EZJIT Plus, High Speed Serial, Low Speed Serial" and I have the I2C and SPI options in the serial decode menu.

Thanks yet again!


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Author Topic: Re-enabling options on an Agilent DSO81204A? (Read 14093 times)

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