Software setup/Mainboard change for Agilent 16900A/16902A/16903A logic analyzer

[MarkL]

but no other cable is connected

i mean the long ribbon cables which are supposed to be connected to the circuits

I am not sure what you mean.

Is the long cable that goes to the clock pod connected or not?

[vishaldotgupta]

Please refer to the attached picture.

only W21 is connected

all other cables are disconnected

[MarkL]

Please refer to the attached picture.

only W21 is connected

all other cables are disconnected

Again: I was suggesting you try connecting the clock cable (W19).  Based on my experience with a similar card, your errors may be a result of W19 being disconnected.

If you don't have the cable, you could try a jumper in place of the clock cable as described in the link I gave a few posts ago.  That may allow self-test to succeed.

I no longer have my pattern generator card, so my ability to provide further help is very limited.

[vishaldotgupta]

thanks, i will try as suggested by yourself

[vishaldotgupta]

The cables i have look like this.  I do not have pod.  So i need to cross pins on w19 as suggested in your earlier post

[MarkL]

The cables i have look like this.  I do not have pod.  So i need to cross pins on w19 as suggested in your earlier post

If I recall correctly, you just need the clock cable plugged in and you do not need the clock pod connected at the other end to run the self-test.  But I am going from what I can remember more than a year ago.

And I believe the clock cable is special.  It is specifically labeled as the clock cable.  You have to use that one and not one of the data cables.

[vishaldotgupta]

thanks for the info.

i think you are referring to the cable on the right side in picture.

i got this pic online.  will search for this type of cable in the cable box and then connect it and re test it

i really appreciate your help and support

[Hamster]

all of those cables should be connected to the card

[kc7gr-15]

Reviving an old thread, again. I just became the proud owner of a 16903A in very good shape. I'd like to change out the motherboard and try using Win7, but I'm not 100% clear, from the previous posts, which board will work best.

The unit, at the moment, boots cleanly to the Windows XP login screen. Beyond that, I've not had a chance to dig into it (don't know the 'Administrator' password just yet... Need to pop the hard drive out and do some forensics on it).

Pointers to relevant posts and any other advice welcome. Thanks and 73, de KC7GR...

[squadchannel]

XP, you can use Ophcrack.

[Hamster]

XP, you can use Ophcrack.

i second this, just use ophcrack, you can also use Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor

[koakuma666]

@ingowien:
Thanks for sharing these information.

Recently I was trying to install the software for 16901A Win XP SP2. Since the Keysight page does not provide these legacy versions for Logic and Protocol Analyzer Software anymore, we cannot download them. So, I cannot get the correct version from Keysight. And I also sent an email to Keysight support team, but they said this product is out of support.

Could you please share these legacy versions of Logic and Protocol Analyzer Software if you still keep the local files? Thank you

Kind regards,
Evangeline

[gslick]

Recently I was trying to install the software for 16901A Win XP SP2. Since the Keysight page does not provide these legacy versions for Logic and Protocol Analyzer Software anymore, we cannot download them. So, I cannot get the correct version from Keysight. And I also sent an email to Keysight support team, but they said this product is out of support.

Are you looking for the recovery DVD that will clean install Windows XP from scratch on a 16901A mainframe? Does your 16901A have an Intel D915GUX motherboard or an ADLINK M-880 motherboard? (If you are fortunate do have an ADLINK M-890 motherboard, it should run Windows 7 instead of Windows XP).

For an Intel D915GUX motherboard you need the 16901-14101 recovery DVD.
For an ADLINK M-880 motherboard you need the 16901-14102 recovery DVD.

If you are looking for the Logic and Protocol Analyzer Software to install on top of Windows XP after installing Windows XP from the recovery DVD, the application software can still be downloaded from Keysight:

Versions 05.90.1104 (complete DVD image) and 05.90.1110 can be found here, click on the Download button.
https://www.keysight.com/us/en/lib/software-detail/instrument-firmware-software/logic-and-protocol-analyzer-software-32bit-2222812.html

[sponaugle]

This thread has been very helpful as I am trying to debug a 1680AD.   I purchased the 1680AD off ebay, and it is an early variant with the Tyan motherboard.  It has a working Windows 2000 OS plus version 1.40 of the LA software.  The unit boots and is able to connect to the LA unit over firewire, and I was successful in using it to capture some 68030 signal traces.

The issue I have is the unit will only work for between 10 and 60 mins before it faults with ' Lost Communication with the LA'.  I replaced the firewire cable, as well as the firewire card, and that made no difference.

In an attempt to debug further I built a newer Windows 7 PC and installed the latest 5.90 software from Keysight as well as a TI1394 firewire card.  That new machine was able to connect to the LA module, although I had to upgrade the firmware on the module from 0.90 to 1.03 first.

From the new machine the behavior is the same - the LA works for a bit, but if you run a self test loop it will always eventually fail some test.  The actual failed test is random, and sometimes you can run the same test again and it works.

It appears there is a problem with the communications side of the LA card that causes it to drop or corrupt data occassionally.

Has anyone seen this particular problem before?  I did pull the LA board and inspect it, but there was nothing obvious in any of the parts or traces.  It is a Rev A board, which is not surprising given the Tyan motherboard.

[gslick]

Has anyone seen this particular problem before?  I did pull the LA board and inspect it, but there was nothing obvious in any of the parts or traces.  It is a Rev A board, which is not surprising given the Tyan motherboard.

I have seen what appears to be 1394 interface related failures on 1680/1690-series logic analyzers. The main logic analyzer acquisition board is the same between the two series. I have a 1690-series logic analyzer which can no longer be recognized through a 1394 controller on a host PC. It appears that before I acquired that one, the front panel 1394 port must have stopped working, and then someone cut a hole in the side of the chassis and fed a cable into one of the internal 1394 ports. That might have worked for a while before both internal 1394 ports also stopped working. I have seen photos of more than one 1690-series logic analyzers listed on eBay in the past with 1394 cables fed in to one of the internal 1394 ports instead of the front panel port, so it might not be that uncommon of a failure. It has made me slightly cautious of this failure occurring on other 1680/1690-series logic analyzers.

On your 1680-series analyzer, have you tried plugging the cable into both of the internal 1394 boards, and are both ports non-functional?

I'd have to open up a 1690 and take a look at the 1394 interface implementation. It might be a two chip TI solution, with a 3-port PHY chip, and a Link-Layer Controller (LLC) chip. Maybe something is causing the 1394 PHY chip to fail. If I had any SMD rework skills, maybe I would try replacing the 1394 PHY chip on my failed 1690 and see if that made it work again. Of course those 1394 chips have probably been obsolete for many years and finding replacements might be a challenge.

[sponaugle]

Thanks for the reply.

For me, both internal ports have the same problem - and the problem is not a pure connection related problem.  The ports both work, but over the long term the interface eventually has problems.  It could be some kind of PCB noise problem, but I suspect something is wrong with the Firewire drivers on the LA PCB itself.   Could be the 1394 chipset itself.. and agreed the might be harder part to get a replacement for.  Good idea to look at the PHY.  I'll take a look at my PCB and see what is there.

[sponaugle]

I ended up getting another used 1690AD, and that chassis is working great with the new Windows 7 PC if I used one of the two internal firewire ports.  If I use the external firewire port (on the back of the card), it has occasional disconnects and transport errors.

I added a hole on the back of the case to pass a firewire cable in and that is working well.

I did look at the PCB in the microscope, and this PCB has certainly been reworked.  The firewire controller IC has been replaced, along with a few small components around that IC.  The jacks don't look to have been worked.   There were a few other ICs in one of the channels that was also clearly reworked, so perhaps this unit had some factory repair.

I will try reflowing the 1384 controller on my other unit and see if that makes a difference, and if not I'll see if I can find a spare IC for that part.

[Hamster]

i have a 1690 with a bad front 1394.. i may try swapping it with another working PHY chip from another board that has other issues.

FYI, i run windows 10 without issues as long as you put the Ti based 1394 in legacy mode.. ( windows 11 doesn't support 1394 legacy mode )

[gslick]

FYI, i run windows 10 without issues as long as you put the Ti based 1394 in legacy mode.. ( windows 11 doesn't support 1394 legacy mode )

I installed the 1394 legacy mode driver just fine on a Windows 11 system to use with a 1690AD.

[Hamster]

FYI, i run windows 10 without issues as long as you put the Ti based 1394 in legacy mode.. ( windows 11 doesn't support 1394 legacy mode )

I installed the 1394 legacy mode driver just fine on a Windows 11 system to use with a 1690AD.

Hmm, i failed do that, I may try again, are you using the one from Microsoft?

1394_ohci_legacydriver.msi ?

SHA-1: B529C0919249C3D30A2C67A7C2C3942253C11474
MD-5: 1158FED6C4E5AC0A33403532041672EA

[gslick]

Hmm, i failed do that, I may try again, are you using the one from Microsoft?

1394_ohci_legacydriver.msi ?

SHA-1: B529C0919249C3D30A2C67A7C2C3942253C11474
MD-5: 1158FED6C4E5AC0A33403532041672EA

Yes, that 1394 legacy driver version exactly on Windows 11 25H2

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44219

C:\tmp>certutil -hashfile 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.msi sha1
SHA1 hash of 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.msi:
b529c0919249c3d30a2c67a7c2c3942253c11474
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

C:\tmp>certutil -hashfile 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.msi md5
MD5 hash of 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.msi:
1158fed6c4e5ac0a33403532041672ea
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.


 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.zip (170.47 kB - downloaded 24 times.)

[Hamster]

Thanks for confirming, must of been something screwy when i did it.. I wish we could find a modern motherboard we can stick in the new 169xx frames and use a modern os.. even if the monitor doesn't work , i find using my 1690D is more convenient at times.

[AshotRezopeg]

Hello. Does anyone have .aex files for protocol decoder, especially for decoding serial interfaces (uart, i2c, etc)? Or how can I get them?

[Hamster]

@Ashotrezopeg

Did you install the serial decoder package from the additional products ?

[Hamster]

So, My LA Inventory:

1X 16801A - XP - Single Slot
2X 16802A - Both are Win7 Raptor MB, one has Option 103
1X 16803A - XP - Single Slot
1X 16806A - XP - Dual Slot
1X 16900A - XP - Multi Slot
1X 16901A - XP - Dual Slot
1X 16902B - Win7 - Multi Slot

Only unit in the 168xx series i don't own is the 16804A

I am planning on trying to update the 16901A to have the Option 103 and Raptor MB. If i am successful, I may do the 16806 as well.

Is there any interest in getting some high resolution pictures ? I am going to see if i can do some Serial EEPROM dumps on the chips.