6890 / 18593B tower communication problem?

[edwsynergy]

Hello,

We have a 6890 GC/MSD set up with 18593B tower/tray and G1512A ALS controller. The ALS is installed on the front column; there is no rear. We run MSD Chemstation B.01.00 on Windows NT4.

The problem is: It appears that the tower has stopped communicating with the ALS controller.

Symptoms began when I went to fire an injection, noticed the bottle never made it to the tower, and there was an "injector communication error".

Upon starting MS Chemstation or trying to load a method, an error dialog appears stating, "The method being loaded requires an injector which is not installed. The method may not be usable. Either correct the configuration, edit the method, or load another method." Trying to fire the injection anyways leads to "Injector is not enabled - check method" error dialog. I can go to Instrument -> Inlet and Injection Parameters and select GC ALS, but the "Injection location" is greyed out.

Manual injection works fine.

I have run the Agilent Injector Diagnostics (document A15704). The tower operates normally; making me suspect a communication problem.

Nothing has changed since the whole set-up had been working earlier that day. The failure happened at about 12:30-1pm. Perhaps it was a power spike or something?

My question: What are some steps I can take to troubleshoot the injector? Is this an issue that I should just call Agilent for?

[James_Ball]

Hello,

We have a 6890 GC/MSD set up with 18593B tower/tray and G1512A ALS controller. The ALS is installed on the front column; there is no rear. We run MSD Chemstation B.01.00 on Windows NT4.

The problem is: It appears that the tower has stopped communicating with the ALS controller.

Symptoms began when I went to fire an injection, noticed the bottle never made it to the tower, and there was an "injector communication error".

Upon starting MS Chemstation or trying to load a method, an error dialog appears stating, "The method being loaded requires an injector which is not installed. The method may not be usable. Either correct the configuration, edit the method, or load another method." Trying to fire the injection anyways leads to "Injector is not enabled - check method" error dialog. I can go to Instrument -> Inlet and Injection Parameters and select GC ALS, but the "Injection location" is greyed out.

Manual injection works fine.

I have run the Agilent Injector Diagnostics (document A15704). The tower operates normally; making me suspect a communication problem.

Nothing has changed since the whole set-up had been working earlier that day. The failure happened at about 12:30-1pm. Perhaps it was a power spike or something?

My question: What are some steps I can take to troubleshoot the injector? Is this an issue that I should just call Agilent for?

Are you getting any flash codes from the tower? I know the 7673A towers would do this, where the lights on the tower would flash 1,2,3,4 or maybe more times which would indicate where to begin troubleshooting. Does the tower do anything at all when powered on? It should at least spin the turret to find its home then move the tray arm to rehome it also. If these are not happening then I would suspect the controller box could be bad. Not sure how easy it is to find parts, but I know Gentech, Alpha Omega and a few other places still rebuild these systems.

[edwsynergy]

When the controller is power cycled, green light comes on the tower steady, green light on the controller steady, controller gives one beep, the tray arm finds its center, but the injector tower turret does not cycle.

[lynoguchi]

Did you have a similar instrument to test the tower?

I already had a problem like this, but with the 7890. In this case I needed to change the ALS Controller.

[James_Ball]

When the controller is power cycled, green light comes on the tower steady, green light on the controller steady, controller gives one beep, the tray arm finds its center, but the injector tower turret does not cycle.

It could simply be the turret motor is bad, and if it can't complete the startup check it may send an error that locks out the autosampler. But to be sure move the tower to another instrument if possible. If it works on another instrument then question the controller.

[edwsynergy]

The turret runs the diagnostics fine - the motor and position sensor seem to work OK. I guess the controller needs replacement.

[Yama001]

Last time that happen to me we had to swap the controller out. We never did find out what was wrong with the old one.

[DrLarsen]

Hi, I know this is an old post but i was hoping somebody is rereading it.

I got exactly the same problem as described but changing controller did not fix it. An old HP 6890 with two injectors connected through a G1512A controller. When the system is turned on it seems like both injectors are going into service mode with red , yellow , green led flashing repeatedly, and the alignment led is on. The GC is writting Front/Back injector not installed. when i activate the alignment of the injectors it seems like they go through the aligment procedure, but afterwards the leds keep blinking and the alignment led does not go off. the same happens for both injectors.

I have tried switching the injection towers, controllers, cables, and even the mainboard in the GC, where the controller circuit is located. However the leds does not turn off, and the GC still writes "Front/Back Injector not installed".

Any help would really be appreciated.