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Jim,

You will have to pull out the front panel. There are a few flat-head screws along the front frame (top and bottom, maybe even sides - don't remember any more). Once you remove them, the front panel pulls out of the front frame, though it still has a couple of umbilicals attached. From there, you will see how to get the attenuator out.

The most common failure has to do with the tiny rubber O-rings on the plungers. This is all delicate magnifier work. Do not succumb to the "magnetized housing" myth of repair. The attenuator depends on magnets for latching. It's just that when the O-ring fails and either splits or falls off, the mechanism shifts closer to the magnet and the force of magnetic attraction increases. At that point, the solenoid (which has nothing wrong with it) no longer can pull the parts away from the magnet (which also has nothing wrong with it). This is when some people decide that demagnetizing everything will fix things. If you have the patience, study the design, it's interesting. The goal was to use current only when switching a stage is required and then interrupt all current to the coils as soon as the task is accomplished.

You open the attenuator by removing one of the end caps and sliding the U-shaped steel cover off. It comes off relatively easily. Don't try to remove it by prying with screwdrivers.

There are two versions of the attenuators. The older ones are all electro-mechanical, the newer ones have a p.c. board with some ICs on them.

Good luck, they can be fixed, but the work requires some patience and you may have to order no O-rings from Agilent.

Vladan