Keysight N9038A MXE Service Guide 69
Instrument Messages
Introduction
Advisories Advisory messages tell the front panel user some useful information. (For example, “File saved
successfully” or “Measuring the fundamental”.)
Advisory messages appear in the Status Panel at the bottom of the display. The message remains
until you press a key, or another message is displayed in its place.
Advisory messages are not logged in the error queues.
Grayout messages are a special type of Advisory, which appear when you attempt to access a
function that is not available. This could be a grayed out front panel key, or an inappropriate SCPI
command. There are two types of grayout messages: Benign and Forced.
1. Benign: the requested function is not available because it does not make sense
with the current instrument settings. Changing it does not affect the current
measurement. (For example, setting the number of FFTs/Span when you are not in
the FFT mode.)
A benign grayout gives an Advisory type of message only when the front panel key
is pressed.
The requested function cannot be changed from the front panel, but it can be
changed remotely.
2. Forced: the requested function is not available either because changing it would
cause an invalid measurement, or because of hardware limitations, or because the
selection conflicts with other settings. (For example, selecting the electrical
attenuator when the frequency span includes frequencies above 3.6 GHz.)
A forced grayout function cannot be changed either from the front panel or
remotely. It generates a special type of Advisory message. It also only appears on
the front panel when the key is pressed. Remotely, the message will appear in the
event queue as a warning “-221, Settings conflict; <conflict description>”.