Rohde Schwarz R&S UPL Audio Analyzer Renovation

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B

Bjirre

Member
Joined 2011
Jackson75 said:
If going for a reinstall. How is this done? Is there an instruction available?
Is the software available?
Will the REF calibration files be overwritten?

CF might be a good solution, but I have a 32GB SSD with no use already.
Click to expand...


The reinstall is quite straightforward. Check my google drive link for all software details.

Start with backing up the ref folder. This is again optional but having a copy on a floppy is always a nice to have.

Install the blank ssd
Install dos (insert floppy 1 and run setup.exe)
Insert other dos floppys when requested during setup

Make sure you have a working dos setup with the correct partition size as you wish.

Insert the upl software disc 1 and run UPLINST batch file
Go through the optional settings for keyboard and B10 option

Insert disc 2 and run SETINST batch file for all user and example files

Upon examination of your new setup you’ll find new ref files generated from the eeprom memory. They should be identical to your backup.

I think the process is also explained in the beginning of the thread.

Cheers,

Bart
 
J

Jackson75

Member
Joined 2009
Thanks Bart for clear instructions.

I have ordered the same parts as you, the IDE adapter cable and CF cards 512MB.

Just a question, sometimes my UPL suddenly "hangs" - buttons gets no response from, signal generator still outputting signal, often the function is restored by itself but also I had to cut power to the unit.
Wonder if this can be a sign of a bad harddrive?
 
B

Bjirre

Member
Joined 2011
Jackson75 said:
Thanks Bart for clear instructions.

I have ordered the same parts as you, the IDE adapter cable and CF cards 512MB.

Just a question, sometimes my UPL suddenly "hangs" - buttons gets no response from, signal generator still outputting signal, often the function is restored by itself but also I had to cut power to the unit.
Wonder if this can be a sign of a bad harddrive?
Click to expand...


No problem,

When hearing that description, a reinstall should be the first option and indeed on a different drive.

In the end the UPL is a software program and relies on PC components and DOS.
 
J

Jackson75

Member
Joined 2009
Bjirre said:
I had a very annoying issue with my analyzer. An invalid INSTALL KEY was entered which normally should be prompted with an error and dismissed but in my case resulted in an EEPROM error. This also caused the EEPROM to be stuck in the way that nothing new could be entered or existing data could be altered in the diagnostic menu. This was very painful as I had the Extended Analysis option B6 which i could not install.

I did what every guy that loves his analyzer would do, cried in a corner.

But then i started thinking and made up a plan. The EEPROM chip is an AT24C164 from ATMEL and is located on the analog board.

I made backups of the CAL Files on the C-drive and noted everything i could find in the diagnostics menu of the EEPROM.

I needed a programmer. This had always been on my wish list and now i had a very nice cause. I settled on the TL866II+

TL866II+ Mini Pro USB Universal Nand Spi Eeprom Programmer | eBay

Since i wanted to avoid soldering on the fragile board, I also bought an SOIC8 Clip.

Test CLIP SOIC 8 SOP8 ESP8266 ICS BIOS/24/25/93 AVR Programmer Clip Adapter... | eBay

I also ordered some spare chips to play around and get comfortable.

Reading out the chip went rather flawless after getting the clip on right. Now I had a backup and could start to play around. Pro Tip: unplug all connectors from the analog board, otherwise the programmer will be unable to read the chip.

The first thing i tried was to see if I could find back the corrupt INSTALL KEY. In my case this was 59079. After finding a match i tried to set all the values to FF and programmed the chip. I used a very nice online editor.

HexEd.it - Browser-based Online Hex Editing

After restarting the UPL, the analyzer complained in full screen of an EEPROM Error so i quickly reverted back to my backup.

I then started wondering. I had the crazy idea that the EEPROM was probably empty when they produced the unit and only later programmed it during calibration. This would make sense since most of the items in the EEPROM are order based (Install keys), Calibration steps which would not occur in a production environment and the serial number. The final clue came from the Diagnostics menu where there is a hint that the serial number could be entered.

I decided to clear the chip and start up the unit.

The UPL took a bit longer in his selftest and then came up with some very nice messages saying, New EEPROM Detected! I then got the option to copy back calibration data and serial number data from the harddisk. After confirming all these steps I went back to the OPTION menu and reentered my missing INSTALL KEY which i could not enter anymore due to the EEPROM error and lo and behold the UPL nicely accepted it.

I have fixed my issue, I went back and took a dump of the working EEPROM.

I am a very happy guy right now, my analyzer is back complete!

All info can be found here.

EEPROM - Google Drive

Cheers,

Bart
Click to expand...


Do you know what was the reason for this? Did you self enter wrong option code during install ?
 
J

Jackson75

Member
Joined 2009
I was planning to start doing the drive replacement to Compact Flash but I stopped because I found a thing to solve first.
I have two options, B4 remote control with a sticker on the rear. And also I have option B2 digital audio saying "1.48" in UPL options list. For this there are no sticker.
So what will happen with I do the re-install of the DOS and UPL software?
Will I loose the B2 digital option if no code available ?
 
B

Bjirre

Member
Joined 2011
Jackson75 said:
I was planning to start doing the drive replacement to Compact Flash but I stopped because I found a thing to solve first.
I have two options, B4 remote control with a sticker on the rear. And also I have option B2 digital audio saying "1.48" in UPL options list. For this there are no sticker.
So what will happen with I do the re-install of the DOS and UPL software?
Will I loose the B2 digital option if no code available ?
Click to expand...


Hi,

Nothing to worry about.

Software options are stored in the EEPROM and will be copied back on the hdd if it’s a new one. The UPL will prompt you to confirm that during new install of the UPL software (i think there is a screenshot of that on my google drive). Even if that would fail (which i haven’t seen before) you can still enter the license key manually in the diagnostics menu (described in the manual and service manual).

Hardware options are detected automatically no matter what you do.

Cheers,

Bart
 
S

Shinja

Member
Joined 2008
I took UPD's HDD off and connected it to the modern PC to backup. Restoring it to the CF is one of the methods to do so.
On the other hand, your CPU board has CF card slot on that, thus I think you can put your CF card and prepare it.
Makeing CF card bootable, you need set it active partition from "fdisk" command and copying basic DOS using "format" command with /s switch or "sys" command. Making it active in fdisk need to be CF card is C: drive so you can't set it from stock HDD's DOS. So you need to boot from floppy, or you can do these preparation on the modern PC or on the virtual environment and copy the disk image to the CF card. Copying UPL files may be better to use some file manager such as volkov commander, using command is tedious and lead mistake.
 
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