Chapter 5 Remote Interface Reference

System-Related Commands

SYSTem:ERRor?

Query the instrument’s error queue. A record of up to 10 errors is stored in the instrument’s error queue. Errors are retrieved in first-in-first-out (FIFO) order. The first error returned is the first error that was stored.

When you have read all errors from the queue, the ERROR annunciator turns off and the errors are cleared. The error queue is cleared by the *CLS (clear status) command or when power is cycled. The errors are also cleared when you read the queue.

See chapter 6 for a complete listing of the HP 34970A error messages.

SYSTem:ALARm?

Read the alarm data from the alarm queue (one alarm event is read and cleared each time this command is executed). The following is an example of an alarm stored in the alarm queue (if no alarm data is in the queue, the command returns “0” for each field).

1Reading with Units (31.009 °C)

2Date (May 1, 1997)

3Time (2:39:40.058 PM)

4Channel Number

5Limit Threshold Crossed (0 = No Alarm, 1 = LO, 2 = HI)

6Alarm Number Reported (1, 2, 3, or 4)

SYSTem:VERSion?

Query the instrument to determine the present SCPI version. Returns a string in the form “YYYY.V”, where “YYYY” represents the year of the version, and “V” represents a version number for that year (e.g., 1994.0).

*TST?

Perform a complete self-test of the instrument. Returns “0” if the self-test is successful, or “1” if the test fails.

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