DEV TOOLS Signal 142
Tektronix TDS7104 works again after CMOS battery replacement and Windows 2000 reinstall
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Illustration only Photo by Lucas Kepner on Unsplash
A blog post details the refurbishment of a Tektronix TDS7104 oscilloscope, covering CMOS battery replacement and a full Windows 2000 Pro reinstall.
For engineers maintaining legacy test equipment, this walkthrough shows the practical steps to revive a Tektronix TDS7104, including dealing with a dead CMOS battery and reinstalling Windows 2000 Pro. It highlights the challenges of keeping old instruments operational, from hardware failures to software installation on aging hardware.
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The TDS7104's most common failures include dead CMOS and PowerPC batteries, dead hard drives, and leaking power supply capacitors.
Refurbishing this scope required replacing the CMOS battery and reinstalling Windows 2000 Pro from scratch.
The scope's PC motherboard uses an NLX form factor and runs Windows 2000 Pro Embedded, with a PowerPC controller running VxWorks.
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