A04 Firmware Upgrade Procedure for the 6221

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A04 Firmware Improvements
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The A04 release of the 6220/6221 firmware contains several improvements
and problem resolutions. Users interested in any of the following
should consider upgrading to the A04 firmware to take advantage of its
benefits:

- During Pulse Sweep operation, the pulse delay could be 6 milliseconds longer than requested. This would appear as pulses which occasionally took 1 linecycle longer, but the average pulse delay would be approximately 6 milliseconds. Also, pulse delay values of less than 5 PLC could show inconsistent timing, so this has been corrected.

- Under some conditions, an instrument paired with a 2182A may incorrectly
report that the 2182A is not present. A03 fixes this issue.

- Different trigger link input lines could still cause triggers. If the arm in line was different from
the trigger in line, either line could register the same event.

- The ":SYSTem:KEY?" query would return incorrect values. A -1 is supposed to be returned if a key is
pressed, but it would return 63.

- If the abort on compliance feature was used, it would not work if the unit was already in compliance before the sweep started.
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Upgrade Instructions
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Introduction

Firmware upgrades may be needed to correct bugs, implement enhancements,
or for compatibility with instrument drivers or accessory programs like
ExceLINX. Consult the documentation for your product to see what firmware
version is required for the functions/modules you intend to use, then
follow the steps below to upgrade if desired.


Step 1. Determine the firmware revision of your instrument

The firmware revision is briefly displayed during the power-on
sequence of the instrument. When the instrument's power is
turned on, all display annunciators will be illuminated for a
short period. Then the firmware revision is displayed briefly
as follows:

Model mmmm
Rev: yyy

where:
mmmm is the product model number
yyy is the firmware revision (e.g. A01) of the product

To determine the firmware revision via remote control, use
the *IDN? query command. After sending the *IDN? command and
addressing the instrument to talk, the following response is
sent to the computer:

KEITHLEY INSTRUMENTS INC., MODEL mmmm, xxxxxxx, yyy

Where: mmmm is the product model number, xxxxxxx is the serial
number, and yyy is the firmware revision.

Step 2. Determine next action

Based on the firmware revision of your Model mmmm, choose the
appropriate course of action:

Firmware Rev A03 or earlier

You may upgrade your 6220 or 6221 to A04 firmware
to benefit from the improvements listed above.

Step 3. Upgrade firmware

Please read first:
- Have only one instrument attached at the time of flashing.
The PC will scan to find the address of the unit to program,
but having additional instruments connected will cause the flash
operation to fail.
- If an attempt is made to install a firmware file for a
different instrument (i.e., install 6487 firmware into a 2750),
the flash operation will give an error message. No harm is done
to the attached unit.
- In most cases, instrument calibration is not affected by
upgrading firmware. Exceptions will be noted clearly in the
documentation accompanying the flash program files.
- In units which support both DDC and SCPI commands, such as
6485/6487/6514, select SCPI mode. Flash operations use SCPI!

To perform the firmware upgrade, a personal computer connected
to your instrument is required. The PC must be at least Pentium
class running Windows 98 or later.

The firmware can be installed via the IEEE-488 bus or
the RS-232 interface:

IEEE-488 Bus - If using the IEEE488 bus, a Keithley, CEC, or
National Instruments IEEE-488.2 interface board must be
installed in the PC. Use an IEEE488.2 cable to connect the
interface board to the instrument.

RS-232 interface - If using the RS-232 port, use an RS-232C
cable to connect the communications port to the instrument.
When using RS-232 interface, the RS-232 cable must be a
straight-through cable, not a null modem cable.

Perform the following steps:

Download the "mmmm yyy Firmware upgrade.exe" file from
the Keithley Web site, www.keithley.com to a temporary
directory on your PC.

From Windows, click Start>>Run>>Browse.

From the dialog box, navigate to the temporary
directory and select the "mmmm yyy Firmware upgrade.exe"
file. Click OK or Open. This will unpack the files
required to install the flash upgrade utility.

From Windows, click Start>>Run>>Browse.

From the dialog box, navigate to the temporary
directory and select the Setup.exe file. Click
OK or Open.

Follow all the prompted instructions to install the
upgrade utility.

From Windows, click Start>>Programs>>Keithley
Instruments>>Model mmmm Flash Upgrade yyy, and
follow all prompted instructions.



Known Issues:
When using RS-232 interface, The user may get a timeout error
at 99% (after instrument resets):
"Timeout Error: Error In Programming Model mmmm!".
This error can be safely ignored.