Problem with Varian Star Workstation / 800 MIB communication

Discussions about chromatography data systems, LIMS, controllers, computer issues and related topics.

3 posts Page 1 of 1
Hi,
I have a Varian 3400CX GC connected to a PC running Star Workstation 6.3 via a Star 800 interface box. There is no instrument control (it simply collects the data and injection start signal from the GC). Everything was fine until the hard disk began to fail – I’ve replaced the disk and reinstalled Windows 2000 and the Workstation software, but for some reason it will not detect the 800 box (i.e. assign it an Ethernet address – the box is connected directly to the PC network card via an Ethernet crossover cable).

I have followed the installation instructions which involve setting IP and subnet mask of the network card, and then setting up the BOOTP server in Workstation via System Control : Instrument : Setup Ethernet Connections (see screenshot). Presumably on switching on the interface box, I should be seeing its Ethernet address appear in the first row of the table, but despite trying every combination of manual/automatic settings and order in which things are done, I get nothing.

Image

The diagnostic lights on the 800 box indicate that the Ethernet connection is live, and I’m pretty sure it’s not a hardware problem, as everything was functioning perfectly before replacing the HD.

I feel like I’m missing something obvious so I’m hoping there’s someone out there familiar with Star workstation and /or W2K who can tell me what it is… any suggestions gratefully received!
Update: problem solved, and it was pretty obvious to be fair… it turns out the Workstation 6.3 installation disk I had although a full version was limited to reprocessing only – nothing on the disk or anything in the software to tell me this though – it was only after examining the startup.ins file and finding a message text “module communication disabled – REPROCESSING ONLY!” (which was never displayed) that the penny dropped. Presumably we have another full working installation disk lying around somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it. Luckily I found an iso + serial in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41061

and all is now back to normal.
Hi Richard,

Windows 2000. Wow!

If you would like to bring your instruments data processing platform bang up-to-date, CompassCDS will work with your Star 800 MIB on a Windows 10 PC giving you whole new lease of life.

Contact me if you are interested.
http://www.ciinformatics.co.uk/products ... mpass-cds/

Kind regards,

Bob Lott
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