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Trari › EEVblog
This week on the channel +467K views this week

EEVblog's AI firmware experiment gets a working-hardware sequel

Dave Jones follows a partly functioning multimeter rebuild with a Claude Code upload billed as a success.

Channel: EEVblog Story of Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

EEVblog 1784 - Claude Code Reverse Engineer 121GW Firmware SUCCESS!EEVblog 1784 - Claude Code Reverse Engineer 121GW Firmware SUCCESS!

Things we can learn from the video

EEVblog 1783 - Can AI Reverse Engineer the 121GW Multimeter Firmware?

Press to jump

  1. 3:55Dave supplies the multimeter's schematic and existing binary as the starting material for replacement firmware.
  2. 6:58Cursor stalls after evaluating the task under an offensive-cyber policy.
  3. 15:35Dylan helps configure Cursor's local workspace and invoke the reverse-engineering plugin explicitly.
  4. 30:58Claude's firmware operates the display, switch and basic beeps, but does not produce working measurements.
  5. 36:37Dave restores stock firmware after the experimental builds fail, demonstrating the protected bootloader's value.

"Offensive cyber? It's my multimeter!" Dave Jones protests when Cursor stalls during his attempt to reverse-engineer the EEVblog 121GW's firmware. It is an unusually funny obstacle in a very practical experiment: give an AI the existing binary and circuit schematic, then see whether it can produce usable replacement code.

That first attempt became the biggest of EEVblog's three uploads this week, reaching about 200,000 views. With Dylan helping configure Cursor, Dave also tries Claude, which maps the hardware and generates firmware. The physical test supplies the important distinction between producing code and finishing the job: the display, rotary switch and basic continuity beeps work, but measurements do not. Then the firmware hangs. Restoring the stock version gets the meter back in order.

The story has already moved on. "EEVblog 1784 - Claude Code Reverse Engineer 121GW Firmware SUCCESS!" arrived today, with Dave saying its replacement firmware works. His description makes a point of distinguishing Claude Code from Claude, and the follow-up includes direct programming attempts, real-hardware testing and a Bluetooth check.

Viewers on the first experiment are discussing the possibility of reviving unsupported equipment, sharing their own reverse-engineering experiences and suggesting ways to give the AI a hardware-testing feedback loop. One neatly adapts Dave's familiar teardown catchphrase into a call to recompile instead.

Away from AI, the week's Trezor Safe 3 teardown examines packaging, tamper protection and the wallet's electronics. It and the earlier budget Hioki multimeter review remain active, though the initial firmware experiment is comfortably the busiest upload right now. EEVblog's subscriber count held steady, while daily views are above their usual level.

Published on Trari

Where next?

More from EEVblogThis week on the channel +472K views this weekA Miele washing machine door lock goes under Dave Jones's knifeEEVblog 1777 reverse engineers the W1's failed interlock to find the broken part, while a three-week-old op-amp exam question draws the most viewers each day.Channel: EEVblog · Story of October 4, 2026 Also in Science and experimentsA video worth knowingHank Green's fiber rethink comes with a bean-blending shortcutLiam from The Plant Slant joins Green to turn a lesson about gut microbes into practical additions to familiar meals.Channel: Hank Green · Story of November 3, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 12x its usual first dayFrom "please don't leave" to "ask Grok": John Oliver's midterm tourThe election-week main story drew about 3.8 million views in under a day, and its comment section filled more than twice as fast as usual.Channel: LastWeekTonight · Story of November 3, 2026

What viewers say

The comments under "EEVblog 1783 - Can AI Reverse Engineer the 121GW Multimeter Firmware?"

  • This is so great. I can see a lot of old unsupported hardware becoming useful again and seeing a second life!!
    @fzigunovSee it on YouTube
  • Don't turn it on, Recompile It!
    @danmoon4661See it on YouTube
  • "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
    @waltwimer2551See it on YouTube
6 more comments
  • Remember in engineering school, you had to take an English/Writing credit and you asked ‘when will I ever need this?’. Well this is when you need it.
    @ekim2seeSee it on YouTube
  • I have reverse engineer a old project with lost source code with gemini and copilot with early Claude which took 2 month work last spring and got c code and fixed bug and improvement. It was very impressive
    @riscy00See it on YouTube
  • We have now reverse engineered 3 motor controllers, a valve programmer, and a 10 channel data logger at work and honestly it was stupid easy for most of them and took less than 2 days each. I have also reverse engineered 3 blackbox programs and made replacements that are much easier to use and have expanded capabilities.
    @Nanan00See it on YouTube
  • Please continue, its fascinating!!!
    @peterdkaySee it on YouTube
  • I have lost count of the times AI told me it would take weeks or months, then did the job in less than 15 minutes.
    @scottfranco1962See it on YouTube
  • Nice start -thanks for this introduction! Very cool!
    @EddieSLCSee it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube

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The videos drawing views on EEVblog right now

EEVblog 1783 - Can AI Reverse Engineer the 121GW Multimeter Firmware?199,672 views · 2026-10-31 EEVblog 1782 - Trezor Safe 3 Hardware Wallet Teardown Inspection50,389 views · 2026-10-27 EEVblog 1781 - A $95 Hioki Multimeter? (DT4215)107,296 views
The facts
Channel
EEVblog
Subscribers
1,010,000
Channel views, last 7 days
466,534
Videos published this week
3
Video published
November 3, 2026
Video views so far
3,299

The numbers

Here is EEVblog's week in views and subscribers.

views gained this week: this channel and similar channels
Konstantin - trendsetter
22,111,495
Cosmoknowledge
1,117,582
WeatherAdam
630,814
Reactions
472,541
EEVblog
466,534
Applied Science
397,377
Isaac Arthur
348,568
Tibees
344,117
Fun Science
189,541
subscribers
1,010,000
no significant change in the last 7 days
total views
225,236,734
views per day
81,409
typical day: 60,426
first-day views of each video posted this week
EEVblog 1783 - Can AI Reverse Engineer …
99,830
EEVblog 1782 - Trezor Safe 3 Hardware W…
27,375
subscribers: this channel and similar channels
Tibees
1,340,000
Isaac Arthur
1,170,000
EEVblog
1,010,000
Applied Science
891,000
Reactions
888,000
Konstantin - trendsetter
848,000
WeatherAdam
835,000
Cosmoknowledge
827,000
Fun Science
825,000
As of November 3, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube
Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.
Developed with YouTube

💡 Test your knowledge

Which organization developed Ghidra, the reverse-engineering tool Claude requests in Dave's experiment?