Tektronix DSA 602 error

[Peter]

What does error " error K.Acquisition G3A11 " mean ?

Peter.

 

[Dr. Anton T. Squeegee]

In article <8b298d71.0402211810.3ef65489@posting.google.com>,
vandaalen@chello.nl says...

What does error " error K.Acquisition G3A11 " mean ?

That one is pointing to a DRAM pipeline error on the acquisition
boards.

My system had much the same problem, and it was due to a failure
that many DSA602 series analyzers had. More specifically: When the
acquisition boards went through the wave-solder machine during initial
assembly, insufficient solder got flowed into the power and ground pins
on the DRAM banks to maintain good contact in the long term.

What you need to do is open the thing up, remove both upper and
lower ACQ boards, and CAREFULLY reflow the power and ground pins on all
the DRAM chips.

The best way I found is to use a good-quality soldering station,
set to about 750 degrees. Apply heat to the pin on the bottom of the
board, and then apply fine-gauge wire solder to the pin from the top
side. It should flow easily enough. I don't recall if you have two or
three pins per chip to worry about (I seem to recal that it's just two
-- the Vcc and Vdd pins -- but I could be wrong. Best to look up the
chip pinouts in the appropriate databook).

It takes about an hour or so per board if you're doing it right,
and you'll be able to clearly see, once you're actually looking for it,
where the original solder flow failed.

Once you get it all back together, run the self-test again. Your
problem should be gone.

Good luck.


--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute.
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR,
kyrrin (a/t) bluefeathertech[d=o=t]calm -- www.bluefeathertech.com
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped
with surreal ports?"

 

[Peter]

Woow, thanks , this is most helpful to me !

BTW, I stated erroneously " DSA602A " while it actually is a DSA602,
but I presume both of them have the very same acquisition board.

Let me explain.

I got some ( USA ) TEK engineer's help and this pointed to the to
service manual :

" Area DmxRAMPipe 4 : suspect hybrid IC FRUs DMUX ( U12050 or 1505 ,
U1450 )
Suspect board FRUs UPACQ WAVPROC ( SIGPROC ) ".

Another ( UK )TEK engineer told me that :

" the hybrid chips U1505 and U1450 should be replaced. Since it is
not quite well possible to replace the chips, the UP Acquisition board
should be replaced instead " .

So, those two TEK engineers' advices pointed obviously to the same
problem and your opinion correlates very well with them !
However, neither of the two could offer me any practical help and the
TEK service discontinued in 2000 ( and if not, it would have been too
expensive for me
But now, likely you can help me out !
Great.

I will do exactly as you say and I do hope sincerely that the 602 will
function again then.

Just one more thing.
Meanwhile, after the start up self test error " (k) acquisition G3A11
" ( which caused me to ask this question ) 3 ( related ? ) new errors
did show up ( they were not there before ) :

(l) L-11A32 index L1631 error 2
(m) C-11A32 Index L1631 error 2
R-11A72 index R1831 error 2 "

Obviously, the last 3 ( new ) selftest errors relate to the three plug
in amps i.e. 2 x 11A32 ( 400 Mhz ) and 1 x 11A72 ( 1 Ghz ).
The two 11A32's are indeed positioned left and center and the 11A72 is
plugged in at the most right position ( correlating to L , C , R ? ).
( BTW they never was any problem with these vertical amps ).

May I presume that the 3 new errors ( they were not there before )
relate to the very same acquisition board error as per my original
question ?
Meanwhile the DSA was not used in whatever way and just yesterday
after powering up these 3 new errors appeared.
Between Tuesday and Wednesday ( I live in Amsterdam, Holland, GMT +1 )
nothing happened to the DSA.

I would greatly appreciate to get your news since much depends on that
for me.
BTW the DSA 602 is a great rig indeed and I will afford much to keep
it running.

Thanks again and I am anxiously awaiting your news.

Peter.

That one is pointing to a DRAM pipeline error on the acquisition
boards.

My system had much the same problem, and it was due to a failure
that many DSA602 series analyzers had. More specifically: When the
acquisition boards went through the wave-solder machine during initial
assembly, insufficient solder got flowed into the power and ground pins
on the DRAM banks to maintain good contact in the long term.

What you need to do is open the thing up, remove both upper and
lower ACQ boards, and CAREFULLY reflow the power and ground pins on all
the DRAM chips.

The best way I found is to use a good-quality soldering station,
set to about 750 degrees. Apply heat to the pin on the bottom of the
board, and then apply fine-gauge wire solder to the pin from the top
side. It should flow easily enough. I don't recall if you have two or
three pins per chip to worry about (I seem to recal that it's just two
-- the Vcc and Vdd pins -- but I could be wrong. Best to look up the
chip pinouts in the appropriate databook).

It takes about an hour or so per board if you're doing it right,
and you'll be able to clearly see, once you're actually looking for it,
where the original solder flow failed.

Once you get it all back together, run the self-test again. Your
problem should be gone.

Good luck.