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owl [soylentnews.org] writes:

I ran across an oscilloscope in need of love and attention on the Internet's favorite online auction site. After some back and forth from the seller, I found out that the scope didn't boot, one of the tell tale problems of the Agilent 2000a / 3000a / 4000a X-series oscilloscope series. The no boot condition can be caused by one of three things: a failed power supply, the mischievous NAND corruption error, or both. The seller took my lowball offer of $220 and just like that I had another project in my life.

On initial opening, the scope looked like it had road rash. Every single knob and edge of the plastic shell had distinct pavement scuff marks. There were some cracks in the front plastic bezel and rear molded fan grill, further confirming that this scope was dropped multiple times. The horizontal adjust encoder was also bent and two knobs were missing.

Not the end of the world, let's double check the description. I plugged it in and the scope powered up with 3 of the 4 indicator lights. Ref, Math, Digital and were illuminated, nothing on serial. The scope stays perpetually in this state with nothing displayed on the LCD. Button presses yield no response. The continuously-on fan and 3 indicator lights are the only source of life. Using a special sequence of power button + unlock cal switch displays no lights on the instrument. The seller clearly did not test the instrument.

Original Submission