Hello friends,
I have the ESA-L1500A spectrum analyzer bought as used. It is a E4411A with 1DN tracking, A4H and A4J Options, firmware rev. 19961224.
The problem concerns the impossibility of saving the 10MHz Timebase setting in the service menu.
I can remember, that when I have bought the SA, I tried to test the
saving of calibration, but although this error below appeared (if I can
remember), I thing that once I was able to save the data successfully.
After replacing the battery on the computer board (wanting to have the
SA perfect), I am getting only errors, it is impossible to save the
Timebase data. I think the problem is in some data storage such as EEprom or maybe after the replacing battery some wrong data appeared in some RAMs and were not correctly cleared ...I do not know and there is nothing written in the manuals (I do not have CLIP). I do not know what to do further and seeking help here and the local HP/Agilent support did not helped, because the instrument is obsolete.
So now to the problem:
After entering into the "Service" menu by using of password (****) ,
after pressing "Timebase" and entering new items under the "Coarse" and
"Fine", when pressing the "SAVE" button, on the second row on the left
just under the "HP" sign, there appears a message:
CMD ERR: TIMEBASES
and on the first row just above the end of the grid right a letter "S"
(black letter in white box). When I press the save again, the next error
text appears after the original, so it looks like (after three pressings):
CMD ERR: TIMEBASES TIMEBASES TIMEBASES ...
When I look into the temporary setting under the "System" menu (System,
Alignments, Timebase), than the new entered values are there given too.
The problem is, that after new switch on those new values are not saved
and some default ones still reappear. It is not a terrific error, but on
the other hand to adjust 10MHz every time when you switch the SA is
quite annoying, even because the internal VCXO is a few kHz tuned off.
The temporary change works without problem, I have not found any other
problem.
I will be very grateful for a hint, maybe somebody with the successors
(4411B or similar) has met with it.
Best regards,
Vojtech, OK1VAW.
I have the ESA-L1500A spectrum analyzer bought as used. It is a E4411A with 1DN tracking, A4H and A4J Options, firmware rev. 19961224.
The problem concerns the impossibility of saving the 10MHz Timebase setting in the service menu.
I can remember, that when I have bought the SA, I tried to test the
saving of calibration, but although this error below appeared (if I can
remember), I thing that once I was able to save the data successfully.
After replacing the battery on the computer board (wanting to have the
SA perfect), I am getting only errors, it is impossible to save the
Timebase data. I think the problem is in some data storage such as EEprom or maybe after the replacing battery some wrong data appeared in some RAMs and were not correctly cleared ...I do not know and there is nothing written in the manuals (I do not have CLIP). I do not know what to do further and seeking help here and the local HP/Agilent support did not helped, because the instrument is obsolete.
So now to the problem:
After entering into the "Service" menu by using of password (****) ,
after pressing "Timebase" and entering new items under the "Coarse" and
"Fine", when pressing the "SAVE" button, on the second row on the left
just under the "HP" sign, there appears a message:
CMD ERR: TIMEBASES
and on the first row just above the end of the grid right a letter "S"
(black letter in white box). When I press the save again, the next error
text appears after the original, so it looks like (after three pressings):
CMD ERR: TIMEBASES TIMEBASES TIMEBASES ...
When I look into the temporary setting under the "System" menu (System,
Alignments, Timebase), than the new entered values are there given too.
The problem is, that after new switch on those new values are not saved
and some default ones still reappear. It is not a terrific error, but on
the other hand to adjust 10MHz every time when you switch the SA is
quite annoying, even because the internal VCXO is a few kHz tuned off.
The temporary change works without problem, I have not found any other
problem.
I will be very grateful for a hint, maybe somebody with the successors
(4411B or similar) has met with it.
Best regards,
Vojtech, OK1VAW.
I do not have a functioning ESA-L1500A to do button pushing, however for the most part, I do remember how to adjust and store the coarse and fine tune timebase DAC values. It sounds like you've done everything correctly, but let's review.
You do need the instrument password to access the service menu, which I think you have. If not, the password is listed in the Service Guide which is posted on the Agilent website under Discontinued Spectrum Analyzer Products or you can search on "E4411A".
Once you enter the password and access the service menu you can adjust and save both the coarse and fine DAC values for the 10 MHz reference. These stored values should survive an instrument preset and power cycle. If you press Save and get an error, the analyzer most likely have a hardware problem and not a process issue. Since the product is well beyond the support life, servicing the analyzer at an assembly level will be difficult. Lower level components may still be available.
If all else fails, lock the analyzer to an external 10 MHz reference so you don't have to rely on the internal reference.