proper usage of oscilloscope

hello, I have some questions that borders on optimizing the use of my scope. 1) whenever i use my scope across a cristal oscillator, it merely shows a nice straight line that is offset above the DC level, even if they are done at the recomended test points with X10 probes.Of course the scopes are okay with one up to 100mHz.What could I be getting wrong?

2) The same thing could said of the reset pulses found on microcontrollers; how can one read the pulses for correct shape and duration without digital scopes or the analogue storage types which are way beyond my budget. Are there simpler, equally effective means of achieving the same objective? tanx very much in advance

kooool said:

hello, I have some questions that borders on optimizing the use of my scope. 1) whenever i use my scope across a cristal oscillator, it merely shows a nice straight line that is offset above the DC level, even if they are done at the recomended test points with X10 probes.Of course the scopes are okay with one up to 100mHz.What could I be getting wrong?

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What do you mean by 'across a crystal oscillator', you need a x10 probe connected to one side of the crystal, with the scope ground connected to the 0V line of the oscillator circuit. Try the probe on either side of the crystal, even with a x10 probe one side might stop it.

2) The same thing could said of the reset pulses found on microcontrollers; how can one read the pulses for correct shape and duration without digital scopes or the analogue storage types which are way beyond my budget. Are there simpler, equally effective means of achieving the same objective? tanx very much in advance

Click to expand...

You've no easy way of doing it without the two expensive items you mentioned, but it's rarely required. If the reset has quite a long delay on it, you can sometimes see the reset line go high shortly after the HT appears - but often it's too short to see the difference.

tanks Nigel 4 the prompt response. I used to read directly across its tags or between one of the legs and a recommended test point. I now know where my problem lies.