8364B VNA Repair

 We have a problem with our VNA.  The screen is blank and the thing wont boot.

In the end it seems we have 2 possibly independant problems.
1.  The LCD back light is dead.
2.  The Hard Drive is corrupt.

USB BOOT
We do not know
a) Can the 8363B even boot from USB at the best of times.
b) Is our USB drive bootable?

LCD

The LCD appears blank.  But close inspection using the light on my phone shone from an angle shows information on the display.  So the LCD is OK but the back light is out.

I get a copy of the service manual from here.

PNA B Service Manual 6-2006 E8364-90026.pdf

Page 6-10 gives

Ref. Desig.	Model	Part Number	Qty	Description
A1	All	E8356-60001	1	Keypad assembly
A2a	All	E8356-60002 0950-3379 2090-0386 1000-1161	1 1 1 1	Display assembly Inverter board (included in A2b) Display lamp for LCD (included in A2b) Display glass (included in A2b)
A3	All	E8361-60061	1	Front panel interface board

 0950-3379 INVERTER

literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/E8363B-06A.pdf · PDF file

0950-3379 DC/AC Inverter Board 1. Page 2 of 2 E8363B-06A Situation: The original fuse (see photo) in the DC/AC Inverter board (p/n 0950-3379) is prone to failure in normal use. Solution/Action: Replace the Inverter board with a board containing the new fuse (see photo). Original Fuse Daito is orange New Fuse KOA is black

I had read about this fuse elsewhere and now the above document confirms it is on the inverter board so it seems like a good thing to go looking at that board. 

REMOVING THE FRONT PANEL

1.  Hang the front over the edge of the work bench.
2.  Remove the main measurement cables AND the 6 little SMA loop cables.

XP-ACTIVATION

We did a "restore to factory defaults" and this actually wont run.  Wont even boot.
Then used a USB-DVD drive and a XP disk to do a Recovery.
This necesitated using the key on the sticker on the side of the VNA.
That boots and runs and that's nice but XP now says it needs to be activated and that is a problem.

What are the options?
a) Try ACtivate on line

ACTIVATE ON LINE
Australia (61) (2) 9870 2131
redirects to usa
Option  
1  windows
2  Office for Mac
3 pc games  --This worked
4  Remote desk top