Readme.txt . . . . . o . o O o O O . . o O O o . . Agilent Technologies O O o O o . o . . . . . Agilent E7415A EMI Measurement Software Release A.01.50 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table Of Contents --------------------------------------------------------------------- - About This CD - Windows 95/98 Installation - Windows NT 4.0 Installation - PC System Requirements - Things To Note - What's New - Frequently Asked Questions * About This CD --------------------------------------------------------------------- This CD contains the following files that can install on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT4.0: - E7415A EMI Measurement Software - Agilent I/O Libraries - National Instruments I/O Libraries - DCOM95 NOTE: The E7415A EMI Measurement software is NOT supported on Windows 2000. * Windows 95/98 Installation --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Windows 95/98 users must install DCOM95/98 before installing the E7415A application. The parallel port control module (key) for the E7415A application does not function without the installation of the relevant DCOM. DCOM95 is provided on the E7415A install CD-ROM. To download DCOM98, go to the Microsoft web page at: http://www.microsoft.com/com/resources/downloads.asp To install the E7415A software, insert the E7415A install CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. If you do not have your drive configured to auto run, use Windows Explorer to select your CD-ROM Drive, navigate to the E7415A folder, and double-click Setup.exe. * Windows NT 4.0 installation --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: To install on Windows NT4.0, the user needs to have 'Administrative' privileges or the installation has to be done by an administrator. Special Requirement: - Windows NT4.0 must have service pack 3.0 or above installed. To install the E7415A software, insert the E7415A install CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. If you do not have your drive configured to auto run, use Windows Explorer to select your CD-ROM Drive, navigate to the E7415A folder, and double-click Setup.exe. * PC System Requirements --------------------------------------------------------------------- Minimum PC Requirements for Windows 95/98: - Pentium P5-133 - Win95/98 - 32MB RAM - 100MB free disk space - CDROM Drive - Supported GPIB card - Display: 800x600 Minimum PC Requirements for Windows NT4.0: - Pentium P5-200 - Windows NT4.0 - 64MB RAM - 100MB free disk space - CDROM Drive - Supported GPIB card - Display: 800x600 Recommended PC Requirements: - 300 MHz CPU or greater - Windows NT4.0 - 96MB RAM or greater - 200MB free disk space or greater - CDROM Drive - Supported GPIB card - Display: 1024x768 The following interface cards have been tested and verified to work with the E7415A application: Agilent GPIB cards: - 82341C - 82341D (Win95/98 only) - 82350A National Instruments GPIB cards: - PCI-GPIB - PCMCIA GPIB - AT-GPIB/TNT - AT-GPIB/TNT (PNP) Required libraries: If you are using an Agilent GPIB card with this software, you must use the Agilent I/O Library version G.02.02 or newer. To download the latest Agilent I/O Libraries go to: http://www.agilent.com/find/iolib To download the latest National Instruments I/O Libraries go to: http://www.ni.com/support/ All Windows (95/98/NT) users: The application's on-line help requires the presence of Internet Explorer version 3.02 and higher to work. If you have an earlier version, you may download a newer version from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie * Things To Note --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Using an Agilent E7403A, E7404A, or any E7400A Series EMC Analyzer with Opiton UKB Measurements made below 100KHz (10MHz for E7405A) will have significant amplitude errors in AC coupled mode. The analyzer should be manually put into DC coupled mode prior to making measurments to avoid this rolloff effect. Caution: To prevent damage to the input circuitry of the analyzer, please ensure that DC and transient signals are suppressed before selecting DC coupled mode. Because of this fact, the E7415A software will not do the switching automatically, you must do it manually. * What's New --------------------------------------------------------------------- Version A.01.50 1) Added support for Log Sweep Type in the E7400A EMC Analyzers. The E7400A EMC Analyzers added the Log Sweep capability with firmware revision A.08.00. 2) Added support for the latest Agilent I/O Libraries. Prior versions would only work with Agilent I/O Libraries version G.02.02 only. 3) Added support for the Agilent 82350A GPIB card. Prior versions would work only with ISA bus Agilent GPIB cards. New computers, that did not have an ISA bus, were only able to use the National PCI card. Now they can use the Agilent 82350A PCI GPIB card. 4) Bug Fixes: - Limit Lines not getting correctly put into E7400A EMC Analyzers with firmware versions A.06.00 or later - Now restores the instrument state properly after an Abort - Reformatted the Report Signal List - Limit Line Margins were not getting displayed on-screen when more than one limit line was used Version A.01.45 1) Added support for variable trace points with the E7400A EMC Analyzers. The E7400A EMC analyzers added support for variable trace points in firmware version A.06.00. This allows you to set the number of trace points from the front panel or via SCPI commands. This functionality has been extended to the E7415A software as well. You can set the number of trace points from the Sweep dialog box, and the software can import trace data from an E7400A EMC Analyzer regardless of the number of trace points. 2) Added support for low-frequency sweeps with the E7400A EMC Analyzers. On models of the E7400A EMC Analyzer with option UKB (Low Frequency Extension) installed, you can begin a sweep at 10 Hz. If option UKB is not installed, the minimum start frequency is 9 KHz. 3) Added all supported receiver control capability to the standard product. * Frequently Asked Questions --------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Installation 1. Why does the installation fail on Windows 95? Answer: Have you installed DCOM95? If not please install DCOM95 first and try the installation process again. If you have installed the application first and then DCOM95, you need to uninstall the application, and reinstall DCOM95 and then the application. *** Device Communication 1. Invoking Check Device from the Receiver property sheet is returning an error message. What's wrong? Answer: If you are using Windows 95, check that DCOM95 has been installed. Verify that the installed GPIB card is working properly. For installation of GPIB hardware refer to the installation guide for your particular card. Make sure that the installed GPIB drivers are supported: National Instrument Drivers version 1.5 or later Agilent GPIB Drivers version G.02.02 or later Make sure that the Communication Library that you have selected in the software matches the installed libraries. If you change the Communication Library setting in the software be sure to run the E7415A Shutdown Utility before trying to verify the communication with the newly selected library. Verify that there is no resource conflict for the hardware. Refer to the card's installation guide on resolving conflicts. If there is any resource conflict resolve the resource conflict first. A resource conflict can be in the form of IRQ, DMA or I/O address. Use the utilities provided with the drivers software to communicate directly with the receiver. Verify by using the SCPI commands and obtain the receiver ID. If this is successful the application should not have any problem communicating with the Receiver. 2. I am able to communicate with the receiver with the utilities provided by the driver manufacturer, but cannot communicate from the application. Answer: Verify that the installed drivers are 32-bit drivers and that the version number is the same as the ones mentioned above. Verify that the appropriate communication library is selected from the receiver's property sheet. - For National Instruments GPIB select National Instruments VISA. - For Agilent GPIB select Agilent/HP VISA. 3. I have an existing National Instruments GPIB card in my computer and its GPIB board is configured to GPIB0. I added an additional National Instruments card in the computer, and configured it to GPIB1. The Communication interface on the Receiver Property sheet is set to GPIB1. Invoking the Local or Remote functions from the receiver bar fails to set the receiver in local or remote. Answer: Currently GPIB0 is the only communication interface that can be used from the application. If you need to use the newly installed card you need to set the GPIB board to GPIB0. 4. I have an existing Agilent/HP GPIB card in my computer and its SICL name is set to hpib7. I added an additional GPIB card in the computer, and the new card's SICL name is not configured to hpib7. Invoking the Local or Remote functions from the receiver bar fails to set the receiver in local or remote. Answer: Currently hpib7 is the only communication interface that can be used from the application. If you need to use the newly installed card you need to set the SICL interface name to hpib7 using I/O Config from Agilent I/O Libraries. 5. Invoking the Check Device in the receiver setup wizard displays an error message "The device connection could not be verified. Check cabling, power, communications interface, and address settings." Answer: Currently the setup wizard works only with National Instruments GPIB card. If you are using GPIB card and invoked Check Device from the receiver setup wizard, Cancel the operation, and exit out of the application. Use the Shutdown Utility from Start->Programs->E7415A->E7415A Shutdown Utility Start the application again. 6. I selected the wrong Communication Library from Receiver configuration page, and pressed 'Check Device.' Now I cannot verify the instrument connection, even with the correct Communication Library. Answer: Once the 'Check Device' button has been pressed, subsequent button presses will not apply any changes you have made. You must run the E7415A Shutdown Utility or shut down and restart the program for these changes to take effect. 7. I clicked the 'Check Device' button in the Receiver configuration page, and the program seemed to hang. Answer: This can happen if the receiver is turned off or the GPIB cable is not connected, the software will wait for a response from the receiver. The software should come back and give you an error, but in some cases it may not. The only way to clear this condition is to shut down E7415A, connect the receiver, and restart. *** General 1. I have problems moving test database (.tdb) files between computers. Answer: A test database file is created when you select Save or Save As... from the File menu. A .tdb file captures relevant data that you have acquired or changed since starting the E7415A software. This includes trace data, limit lines, equipment such as cables and transducers, and signal list data. Some of this information - such as limit line and equipment definitions - are also saved in the resource database file Resources.rdb. What happens if you attempt to use a .tdb file on a different computer? There is the possibility of a conflict here, since the resource file on the target computer and the resource definition in the .tdb file may differ. How the conflict is handled depends upon the resource in question: * If the .tdb file contains a limit definition, AND the limit is defined on the target computer, AND the limit is marked as 'in use' in the .tdb file, then a warning dialog will appear asking you which version of the limit line you wish to use. Otherwise, the definition in the .tdb file is ignored, and the resource file version is used instead. * If the .tdb file contains an equipment definition, AND the equipment is defined on the target computer, AND the equipment is marked as 'in use' on the .tdb by virtue of being included in a signal path, then a warning dialog will appear asking you which version of the equipment you wish to use. Otherwise, the definition in the .tdb file is ignored, and the resource file version is used instead. Because of the subtleties involved in moving data between computers, take care to check that the data of interest is really being imported into the target computer. 2. How do I represent a jump or discontinuity in a corrections table? Answer: The E7415A software does not allow you to describe a jump in corrections values at one frequency point. The best workaround for this is to provide two different corrections at slightly different frequency values. 3. I can't find any FCC Class A setups in the 'FCC Test Setups' folder. Where are they? Answer: The Class A setups were accidentally omitted from the FCC setups folder. You must manually select the limits you need from the 'FCC Part 15 Limits' folder inside the 'Limit Lines' folder. 4. Some of the limit lines on the 'Limit Lines and Transducer Factors' disk that came with my E7400A EMC Analyzer do not appear in any of the Limit Lines folders in the software. How can I use the limit lines on the floppy disk? Answer: You can import limit lines into E7415A using this procedure: - Click on 'Limit Lines' in the toolbar to the left. - Right-click on the 'Limit Lines' folder that appears in the folder view, and click 'New Folder' from the popup menu. - Rename the new folder by right-clicking on the folder, and selecting 'Rename'. - Right-click on the new folder again, and click 'New Limit Line' from the popup menu. - A property sheet appears to the right. Click the Import... button, select the limit line you wish to import from the floppy, and click OK. 5. Why aren't the 'Cal Due Date' and 'Last Cal Date' fields saved when I exit the program? Answer: All devices in the Equipment folder have fields that allow you to enter the date the device was last calibrated, and the date the next calibration is due. If you enter a date in one of the fields and immediately exit the program, the date(s) you entered will not be saved. To ensure that calibration information is preserved, just click on another device in the Equipment folder, or click another icon in the Sidebar on the left side of the window. You can exit the program any time after this, and the calibration data will be saved. 6. The license information displayed in the Help...About dialog box doesn't appear to match the license keys I purchased. Why aren't they the same? Answer: As of version A.01.44 of the software, keys for the E740x, 854x, and 859x line of receivers are bundled together as one license option. If you have an older license that does not have a key for all three of these receivers, the Help...About dialog will not display your receiver licenses as you expect. The preferred way to view your licenses is by using the License Manager. Click Start->Program Files->E7415A->License Manager to start the program; your license keys will be displayed in the main program window. Copyright 2001 Agilent Technologies, Inc.