Re: [AMMRL] Issue with Avance NEO BLABB1000 Amplifier on solids DNP #Bruker #Hardware #NMR_Solids

Hi everyone,

 

We recently had to upgrade the operating system on the workstation for our Avance

NEO DNP spectrometer. The spectrometer was previously being run on Topspin4.1.1 and the corresponding SpectrOS version on the EPU. In the process of upgrading our workstation OS from CentOS7 to AlmaLinux, we installed Topspin4.5.0 which was apparently not compatible with the SpectrOS that was running on EPU. During the cf process Topspin tried upgrading the firmware of one of BLABB1000 amplifiers, from which point the amplifier stopped working. We tried software reset, power cycling multiple times, and also pressing the reset button on the front panel of BLABB1000. The amplifier keeps flashing red and green lights on the front panel, and on the amplifier webpage the following error message is displayed: "Error code: 3758096394 Cannot perform operation because of an internal error". On the log it says "000013 ERROR 00200:894 Failed to open communication with the FPGA". The amplifier is being recognized during cf, but due to this error the preamp routing cannot be detected and thus no acquisition can be run. We managed to upgrade the SpectrOS to the version that works with TS4.5.0, but that also didn't solve the issue. We also tried manually updating the firmware with a file we received from Bruker, but again, no luck.

 

Bruker has said that there appears to be an issue with the FPGA board which cannot be cleared and that the amplifier would need to be sent back for repair. They also said that there could be an issue with boot-loader software and that reprogramming it on a site visit might bring the amp back to life, but that there is no guarantee that this would solve the issue. We were wondering if anybody else had experienced a similar issue and found a fix. Both options of fixes offered by Bruker are expensive and will result in even more downtime, so would like to be avoided if at all possible.