Troubleshooting -
No LED's are lit
Waveform or spectrum has extra data
Waveform or spectrum has some errors
Does this board have Paging?
Waveform did not update after I changed parameters
Current changes when clock frequency changes
Current changes a few seconds after startup
Memory is underpowered
Module ignores trigger and continues to output waveform
Waveform appears shaky
The Module Status does not change
The waveform is truncated
The multi-tone waveform is truncated
Windows Device Manager says EEPROM missing
The firmware needs to be updated
What if I need to contact you for help?
No LED's are lit
This means there is no power to the board. Check your power connections. For details, please consult the power supply requirements. After turning power on, the +5V LED should be lit. If the USB is also connected, then the LED below the +5V LED will also be lit. Within a few seconds of powering up the board, the default waveform should begin, and a third LED will light to indicate the data writing phase.
Waveform or spectrum has extra repeated data
If the waveform or its spectrum appears to be nearly correct but has parts of the data repeated, try to increase the Memory Depth and toggle the checkbox for Data Length Enabled in the Waveform panel. Also see the Memory Depth and Data Length page for a description of how these can affect the waveform.
Waveform or spectrum has some errors
If the waveform or its spectrum appears to be nearly correct but has errors, make sure the clock frequency of your clock source matches that specified in the computer application. Then, adjust the SEL, VREF, DATAN, and ATE settings in the Signature panel.
If this doesn't fix all the errors, perhaps data was lost under an inferior signature setting, and you may need to reload the waveform data.
Also, you may try setting your clock source to 1 GHz frequency and 3dBm power and repeating the above steps, in case your clock source settings were beyond the range of the board capabilities.
Try to abort and restart the waveform by pressing the Abort button near the bottom of the Module Parameter page and then pressing the Restart button.
If the problem persists, troubleshoot further by setting the waveform to a ramp, downloading it, restarting, and adjusting the signature settings. If any memory bits are consistently bad, they will be apparent in this linear function.
Does this board have Paging?
Near the middle of the underside of the AWG module, you will find six spaces for surface-mount resistors labeled RT.R23~RT.R28, with 0 ohm resistors or wires shorting only three of them. If the resistors are at RT.R23~RT.R25, then you have 1 (full-length) page. at RT.R26~RT.R28, then you have paging with 8 pages of memory (each of 1/8th the full-length).
To enable full or partial paging, or to disable paging, please see Setup Paging.
Waveform did not update after I changed parameters
Press the Download button (at the lower right corner of the waveform panel) to download the parameterized waveform data to the AWG memory to allow the firmware to generate the actual waveforms. You must press this button each time you finish changing the parameters. Remember to wait for the waveform to finish downloading before you press the Restart button.
Current changes when clock frequency changes
This is perfectly normal. The memory requires more power at higher clock frequencies, so you can observe that the 1.8V supply current will increase from around 400 to up to around 1700 mA as you increase the clock frequency.
Current changes a few seconds after startup
This is perfectly normal, and you may not even notice it. The 1.8 V power supply current will be much lower when you first power on the AWG, but then the current will increase after the module achieves regular operation within a few seconds. The current will also increase significantly with clock frequency.
The hardware setup page lists the typical operational voltage and current.
Memory is underpowered
Check the voltage at the power plug (header) for the 1.8V supply. If the wires are too long from your power supply, the resistance will cause a voltage drop, and the voltage at the board will be too low. In this case, please shorten your wires. If this is not practicable, then you may need to raise your power supply voltage slightly to compensate for the voltage drop.
Module ignores trigger and continues to output waveform
You may have pressed the Arm & Ready button twice while the module was waiting for the trigger. This causes the module to generate a hardware trigger. The waveform output becomes endless because the processor is fully occupied and ignores the loop count or trigger requirements.
Simply press the Abort
button and then Arm the board again (only once).
Waveform appears shaky
Shorten the SYNCO width, which is the second box after SYNCO on the Module Parameter panel. Try setting it to 0. Or, try using a waveform with a longer data length. If SYNCO is too wide, or if the data is too short, the module may not have enough time to get the waveform data (for the next loop) ready at the next trigger, resulting in a possible delay.
The Module Status does not change
You must press the Update Status
button to see the current status of the module. The status monitor does not
automatically update.
Waveform is truncated
When your waveform data length exceeds the memory depth, the data will be truncated. Increase the memory depth by sliding the Memory Depth control bar upwards in the Waveform panel. If you have paging enabled, your maximum memory depth is reduced for each page, although your total memory depth is still the same. If your waveforms are typically of very long data length, you should consider disabling the paging option to use a single page with full-length memory depth.
To enable full or partial paging, or to disable paging, please see Setup Paging.
Waveform amplitude is truncated in multi-tone (n-tone) waveform
When the amplitudes are too high the multi-tone waveform (Waveform code 4), the instantaneous amplitude of the envelope waveform may at times exceed the full scale amplitude. If this occurs, the overflow data will be truncated and may appear to have wrapped around to a different amplitude.
Decrease the amplitudes in the second column of the table in which you specified the N Tones. Please see the Waveforms page for an example.
Windows Device Manager says Cypress Generic USB device -- EEPROM missing
Ensure that there is a jumper at JP3 and that the firmware is installed on the EEPROM if you have changed the firmware. Try turning the power off and on again.
The module firmware needs to be updated
Occasionally we update the firmware to improve the functioning of the board. If these updates are available, they can be downloaded from our website. To install the new firmware, please follow the instructions here.
What if I need to contact you for help?
In the event you need to contact us for help, please provide the software and firmware
versions, as well as the model and series number. The software versions are available
in the About page of the help menu in the AWG application. The model and series
numbers are marked on the board itself. This
information is also available in the Startup Notes provided with the module.
The AWG software records log files in your program directory. If the program is
not running properly, copying and saving these .log files before exiting the program
may provide helpful information.