Keysight (Agilent) E4419B Service Note

E4419B-09

SERVICE NOTE

SUPERSEDES: None

Agilent E4419B EPM Power Meter (Product Number E4419B)

Serial Numbers: GB40510000/GB40519999 MY40510000/MY405199 99

RS422 Serial Communication Interface Disabled

To Be Performed By:Agi le nt Q ua lif ie d P ersonnel

Parts Required:
Part Number Descriptio n Quantity

E4418-60012 Interface Assy 1

Situation:

Discontinu an ce of an inte gr a te d ci rcuit has forced Agil ent to temporaril y disa ble the RS422
serial communic a tion interface. Th is is e xpe c ted to be a tem por a ry co ndition, and to ensu re
product tracea bility all units shipped with th is r educed functiona lity will be given a ser ia l
prefix as shown abov e. The cu stomer will be made aware of thi s reduced functionalit y via
the instrument documentat ion.

Note that this r ed uc ed functionality does not affect the RS2 32 or GPI B communication inter­faces, and these will function a s nor ma l.

The changes being made are three-fo ld:
* Hardware - Board E4418-60012 is replaced by E4418-60030.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

SERVICE NOTE CLASSIFICATION:

MODIFICATION AVAILABLE

ACTION
CATEGORY:

LOCATION
CATEGORY:

AUTHOR:
FC

AGREEABLE TIME

CUSTOMER INSTALLABLE
ON-SITE
SERVICE CENTER

ENTITY:
E600

Continued

DATE: January 2 001

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT
SERVICE/RELIABILITY ENHANCEMENT

AVAILABLE UNTIL:
January 2004

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

© 2000 AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
PRINT ED IN U.S.A.

1 of 2

Page 2 Service Note E4419B-09

* Firmware - Revision A2.07.00 is superseded by A2.08 .0 0.
* System Version - This setting changes from ’2’ to ’3’.
As this is seen as a short term situation, board E4418-6 0030 will not be made availa bl e as a n or -

derable spare. A small support quantity of E4418-60012 boa rds ha s be e n r es erve d, a nd this
board should be use d in an instance where the E4418-60030 board is fo und to be faulty.

Also, instrum en t firmwa re updates will not be require d whe n RS422 functionality is re -i ntro­duced. Firmware revi sion A2.08.00 has bee n crea te d suc h tha t the System Version en ab le s/di s­ables the RS422 menu structure and associated SCPI commands. A value of ’3’ will disable
these menus/commands, and a value of ’2’ will enable them.

Note that the unit MUS T be fitte d with board E4418-60012 if Sys te m Ve rsion ’ 2’ is se le c ted.
Instrument oper a tion is not warranted for use if boa r d E4418-60030 is fitted and System Ver­sion ’2’ is selected. Co nve r se ly, Sys tem Ve rs ion ’3 ’ is wa rra nte d fo r use with e ither board.

The situation may also arise that a customer has purchased a unit specifically for its RS422 func­tionality, a nd is unaware of the fac t it is te m por a ri ly una va ilable. In this insta nce, the customer
unit will be repai red f r ee of ch arge usi ng the me thod detailed below. As supplies of the E4418­60012 board are limited in the short te r m, the se type s of r ep ai r sh ould be discussed and ag re ed
with the customer before the wor k is carried out. If the customer is willing and able to de la y the
repair until th e R S42 2 fu nc tionality has been r e-introduced, w e ca n en sur e tha t the limited stock
of E4418-60012 will not be pre maturely depleted.

Solutio n / A ction:

If any of the units listed above are received at the service center and require replacement of the
E4418-60030 board, then per form the following procedure:

1) Remove Interface Asse mbly E4418-60030.

2) Fit Interface Assembly E4418-60012.

3) Re-assemble the unit.

4) Use the follow ing command to loa d the Pr oc e ssor Assembly wi th the System Version
that will enable RS422 operation: SERV:VERS :S Y ST "2"

5) Power cycle the unit and verify that all the Power On Self Tests pass.

6) Press the following seque nc e of hardkeys [HK] and softkeys [SK], and ver ify tha t the
LCD display shows that the RS422 interface option is now available:

Preset/Local [HK]
Confirm [SK]
System/Inputs [HK]
Remote Interface [SK]
Select Interface [SK]

7) Perform the Zero Test and Instrument Accuracy Tests for both measurement channels
of the meter. De tails of these te st s are provided in the S ervice Guide for this unit.

8) The repair and verific a tion process is now com ple te .